Nerve Culture 133 



are really due to what the psychologists call a 

 defense reaction in men and women, especially 

 the latter, who fail to adjust themselves to their 

 surroundings. They have an inner feeling of 

 inadequacy and unconsciously fall back on some 

 functional and obscure nervous trouble as a way 

 of escape. The only thing that will really and 

 permanently help these neurotics, — re-educa- 

 tion, — is overlooked. Perhaps it is too hard 

 and honest for trial. 



It is much more hopeful to try to check this 

 tendency at the beginning by proper educa- 

 tion. The earliest years are the impressionable 

 ones; intellectual and emotional instability can 

 get a good start at this time. While it is gener- 

 ally thought that heredity is responsible for ner- 

 vous instability, I believe the condition is 

 oftener due to faulty en\dronment during the 

 early years. According to Freud, the neurotic 

 is manufactured before the age of six years. 



Modem psychology has explained, to a cer- 

 tain extent, how these phenomena arise. What 

 are known as complexes may consist of certain 

 groups of co-ordinated motions called into play 



