100 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



inherited physical and chemical properties, they 

 may be regarded as the basis of the instinct of sur- 

 vival or self-preservation. But when we ordinarily 

 talk of the instinct of self-preservation, we do not 

 picture in our minds these defensive powers of the 

 cell. We mean rather these qualities of the indi- 

 vidual as a whole which enable him, and seem to 

 constrain him, to look out for his own interests as 

 opposed to the similar interests of other individuals. 

 We have in mind acts of offense and defense con- 

 nected especially with personal maintenance, based 

 on reactions of the nervous mechanism. 



Is there not, in reality, a close connection between 

 these self-protective reactions of the nervous system 

 and the defensive powers or survival instincts of the 

 non-nervous cells of the body? Nearly every kind 

 of fixed cell in the body receives nervous filaments 

 directly or indirectly connecting it with the central 

 nervous mechanism. I see nothing improbable in 

 the view that the receiving centers, including the 

 sentient apparatus of the nervous system, are kept 

 telegraphically informed in regard to the multiple 

 needs of the cells with which they are in mechanical 

 connection. And if this be true, I see no serious 

 objection to the view that the nervous system, as a 

 whole, reflects the combined survival instincts of 

 the cells which it serves. On the contrary, it seems 

 that such a view could be successfully defended in 

 respect to many details implicated in its acceptance. 

 It has already been pointed out that the cellular 



