178 Instinct and Intelligence 



If from one part of this system energy is set 

 free, an equivalent amount replaces it from 

 some other part by a process of irradiation or 

 overflow, by means of which the system is 

 maintained in a state of equipartition of 

 energy. 



We cannot obtain the same kind of evidence 

 regarding the functions performed by the 

 human basal ganglia as that procurable in the 

 lower animals, (see p. 133) but the clinical 

 evidence we possess on this subject tends to 

 confirm the idea, that specific forms of energy 

 on arriving at this part of the brain are trans- 

 muted into instinctive and emotional action, 

 and that this form of matter is passed on from 

 one to succeeding generations of beings through 

 the medium of germ cells. This fact is illus- 

 trated by the histories of the blind and deaf 

 children we have referred to, whose psychical 

 capacities remained dormant from infancy until 

 they had reached their tenth or eleventh years 

 of age; their hereditary dispositions during 

 this period of their lives dominated their be- 

 haviour, and led to frequent outbursts of uncon- 

 trolled passion, at other times to fits of meaning- 



