240 WARFARE IN THE HUMAN BODY 



think of ourselves. Note well then when a part of an army 

 begins to think only of itself, and by itself, there is danger 

 of disaster, perhaps of dissolution. A healthy man never 

 thinks about himself as parts. Only sick people do that. 

 When all things work together easily that is health. Your 

 officers know this is true of a company or a battalion, and 

 of themselves. If the nervous system is out of hand, the 

 whole body goes to pieces. They are the nervous system 

 of the part they command, just as the Headquarters 

 Staff is of the whole. It is well to know this, but not to 

 brood on it. Knowledge should sink in and become 

 wisdom — a proved instinct. If the Staff knows this prac- 

 tically it will work all the better, with greater certainty. 

 If there is friction and separation at Headquarters the 

 whole body suffers. 



Now, although the training and organization of an 

 army make a special branch of study, all organized bodies 

 can be analysed by similar methods. At first it may 

 seem difficult for you to understand that there is a real 

 resemblance, a true analogy, between the workings of a 

 committee or corporation of any kind and an army. 

 Nevertheless it is true that an army is something very 

 different from the individuals who compose it, just as a 

 committee or any corporate body is different from its 

 members. An organized body with a head and subor- 

 dinates will do things which none of its members would 

 or could attempt. Motives affect it differently. The whole 

 is another thing than the units. If the motives and 

 stimuli affecting it are of a high and noble order this 

 organized body will move instinctively towards great 

 things that might not have moved its members singly. 

 Their better instincts are appealed to. They would be 

 ashamed to show they think of themselves. In such an 



