734 Dynamic Theory. 



menced in an exaggeration of this class of feelings, and the erroneous 



beliefs having been formed under their influence." (Carpenter. ) 



The cure for derangements of the brain centers is the diversion of the 

 stimulus from the unduly excited parts. This is done by directing at- 

 tention to other things and especially by engaging in physical labor 

 which requires a degree of intellectual attention. Where the attention 

 is directed, there the blood flows and so is largely withdrawn from the 

 excited parts, and the implicated cells are allowed to collapse and by 

 rest to recover a healthy tone. In certain sorts of muscular work very 

 little brain supervision is required, and so the blood supplied to the brain 

 is greatly reduced and its excitement allayed. It sometimes happens 

 that disease cuts off the cerebrum from the rest of the system so that its 

 action and influence are suspended. The subject is then reduced to the 

 condition of those very low vertebrates that possess but little cerebrum. 

 His actions are those only which are co-ordinated in the basal ganglia, 

 cerebellum, &c. This condition is congenital in the lowest grade of 

 idiots, and also characterizes. cretins of the "first degree" who only 

 know enough to sit in the warm sunshine or by a fire, and to go to the 

 habitual place for food when hungry. 



A case was reported by Dr. Rush of a man who was so violently af- 

 fected by some losses in trade that he was deprived almost instantly o* 

 his mental faculties ; he did not take the slightest notice of anything, 

 not even expressing a desire for food, but merely receiving it when it 

 was put into his mouth. A servant dressed him in the morning and 

 conducted him to a seat in the parlor where he remained the whole day 

 with his body bent forwards and his eyes fixed on the floor. In this 

 state he continued for five years, and then recovered completely and 

 rather suddenly. 



A sailor whose cerebral activity was destroyed for a year by a de- 

 pressed fracture of the skull, recovered it when the bone was raised to 

 its normal place and the pressure relieved. During the year he passed 

 the time in the same way as the man reported by Dr. Rush, and after 

 his recovery the period of his illness was a blank to him ; he retained 

 no recollection of anything concerning it. ( Abercrombie. ) 



In these cases the cerebrum was cut off entirely from influence over 

 the motor actions and also was deprived of the function of forming ideas. 

 The latter function depends upon the access of stimuli from the senses, 

 and it might and sometimes does exist when the motor connections from 

 the cerebrum downward are partially or entirely devoid of activity. That 

 is to say, a man may be conscious of the possession of ideas without 

 any power to give them expression in muscular movement. This is true 

 in those cases of semi-trance in which the subject hears and understands 

 all that is said, perhaps even plans for his own burial, without the abil- 



