502 BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS 



happiness, and the personal success of life, as well as the 

 solution of the greatest of all mysteries, the destiny of 

 the immaterial and indestructible ego in its relationship 

 to the great "beyond." 



Sleep may be said to be " sound " when the whole 

 mechanism of consciousness is in complete abeyance, and 

 to be " disturbed " when any part of that mechanism is 

 in activity from any cause ; in the former of these con- 

 ditions we may take it that the whole neuronal elements, 

 with their related and relating contiguous dendritic 

 extensions, withdraw themselves into a state of individu- 

 ality so complete, as to render their united action 

 impossible, and, therefore, the resulting sleep is sound ; 

 in the latter, in like manner, we may take it that one or 

 more of the neurons, or it may be a group or groups of 

 neurons, remain or become contiguously related, and, 

 therefore, active, and so result in the state of sleep 

 becoming disturbed. The latter condition is that in 

 which "dreams," "talking," and "walking in sleep," and 

 other bodily movements take place, the condition itself 

 being due to, or resulting from, the non-inhibition, or 

 the defective inhibition, of one or more of a group or 

 groups of more or less related neurons, psychic, sensory, 

 or motor. If the dreams be elaborate, consistent, and 

 well remembered, we may regard them as the product 

 of grouped neurons ; if not, then we may infer that the 

 neuronal area implicated is proportionately smaller, and, 

 when absolutely no memory of the dream cerebration is 

 left, we may further infer that the leakage of nerve 

 energy has been almost nil. The motor neurons are 

 affected in like manner by, it may be, the primary motor 

 determination or automatic discharge or escape of motor 

 nerve energy along, it may be, much frequented paths, 

 and on a considerable scale, or to single muscles, or 

 groups of muscles, according to the degree in which the 

 motor phenomena are manifested, and to their manner of 

 combination and co-ordination. All such phenomena, 

 therefore, whether purely psychic, sensory, or motor, are 

 due to faulty inhibition or undue instability of the nerve 

 energy storage mechanisms, or both, it may be, in certain 

 individuals and in certain conditions of health. 



