Specific Modes of Being of Nervous Currents 45 



Consequently the view is not only justified but almost 

 required that in plant bodies also there is a nervous cir- 

 culation or distribution, which, though it manifests itself 

 only in its variations dependent on some change in the 

 external influences, is certainly none the less present 

 during the repose of the organism when it is in a state 

 of dynamic equilibrium. It is this constant circulation 

 or continuous distribution of nervous energy, which con- 

 stitutes in plants quite as well as in animals the "small 

 yet mighty link" which unites the parts of the organism 

 into a "sympathetic whole," a function which Lewes 

 ascribes especially to the nervous system. 23 



As to the properties of each of the respective excita- 

 tations or currents which constitute this general nervous 

 flux, it is sufficient for our purpose to suppose that these 

 latter appear in specifically differing modes of existence 

 which are capable now of combining now of disjoining; 

 we mean by this that two specific modes of being are 

 able for example to combine with each other and so to 

 give rise to a third specific mode of being, or indeed that 

 this latter can break up giving rise to the two preceding 

 specific modes of being or even to others different from 

 them. 



While for the present we are not in a position to 

 discover what these different specific modes of being 

 really are, yet we can and indeed must necessarily regard 

 them as existing since in different tissues different specific 

 nuclear stimuli must certainly be present in the cells. 

 These different specific modes of being might consist in 

 something analogous with the intensity of the continuous 

 electric current, or perhaps in a rhythmic form correspond- 



"Lewes: The physical basis of mind. New edition. London. 

 Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. 1893. P. 61. 



