Translation from Hering 75 



be broken up into as many fragments as we had lived 

 seconds but for the binding and unifying force of memory. 

 We have already repeatedly seen that the reproductions of 

 organic processes, brought about by means of the memory of 

 the nervous system, enter but partly within the domain of 

 consciousness, remaining unperceived in other and not 

 less important respects. This is also confirmed by numerous 

 facts in the life of that part of the nervous system which 

 ministers almost exclusively to our unconscious hfe pro- 

 cesses. For the memory of the so-called sympathetic 

 ganglionic system is no less rich than that of the brain 

 and spinal marrow, and a great part of the medical art 

 consists in making wise use of the assistance thus af- 

 forded us. 



To bring, however, this part of my observations to a 

 close, I will take leave of the nervous system, and glance 

 hurriedly at other phases of organised matter, where we 

 meet with the same powers of reproduction, but in simpler 

 guise. 



Daily experience teaches us that a muscle becomes the 

 stronger the more we use it. The muscular fibre, which 

 in the first instance may have answered but feebly to the 

 stimulus conducted to it by the motor nerve, does so with 

 the greater energy the more often it is stimulated, pro- 

 vided, of course, that reasonable times are allowed for 

 repose. After each individual action it becomes more 

 capable, more disposed towards the same kind of work, and 

 has a greater aptitude for repetition of the same organic 

 processes. It gains also in weight, for it assimilates more 

 matter than when constantly at rest. We have here, in 

 its simplest form, and in a phase which comes home most 

 closely to the comprehension of the physicist, the same 

 power of reproduction which we encountered when we 

 were dealing with nerve substance, but under such far 

 more complicated conditions. And what is known thus 

 certainly from muscle substance holds good with greater 

 or less plainness for all our organs. More especiahy may 



