TRAINING AND ORGANIZATION 245 



sacrifices in the same way as the combatant branches make 

 theirs. They give up a portion of themselves for the bene- 

 fit of the army. It is a curious fact, with which many of you 

 are probably not acquainted, that, though most of the cells 

 of the body are capable of reproducing themselves and do 

 constantly reproduce themselves throughout the life of 

 man, the nerve cells are incapable of reproduction. The 

 nerve cells and the whole brain composed of them, with 

 which you begin your life, you carry to the grave. This 

 may be a heavy burden to some unlucky people, but if you 

 think a minute it emphasizes amazingly the necessity of 

 training the nerve cells of the brain and whole nervous 

 system at an early stage of their career, and it shows us 

 why we should endeavour to keep them elastic. The man 

 who keeps his mind fresh through life is the man who is 

 interested in everything and is never stale or satisfied, for 

 he gives his nerve cells all kinds of work and keeps them in 

 training. But if he belongs to a highly specialized branch, 

 such as the Staff of an army, he must necessarily sacrifice, 

 or partially atrophy, much of his capabilities and capacities 

 for the definite ends of the body to which he belongs. If the 

 chief nerve cells and the main nervous system of the army 

 do this they must be very different from those of you who 

 are to be, if I may put it so, the nerve endings in the mus- 

 cular portions of the army organization. Those on the 

 Staff have much more to take into account, and above all 

 things must avoid being affected by the corporate enthu- 

 siasm which enables a battalion or a company or even 

 a platoon to be carried away by the passion of the fight. 

 If, therefore, the Staff keeps itself aloof from these passions, 

 as indeed it must, it often seems cold and alien from those 

 who do the actual work. For efficiency all must sacrifice 

 something of their individuality. All their nervous power 



