DISCUSSION 167 



acts, is naturally not a simple, but a very com- 

 pound total. But the inner, essential, underlying 

 principle of these acts can be nothing but a 

 simple, intellectual entity. 



4. ' In certain mental diseases, for instance in 

 what is called Softening of the Brain, the most 

 refined mental processes are first affected and 

 destroyed, whilst the so-called lower intelligence is 

 affected later, and is not completely destroyed. 

 Another instance is given in the case of melancholia, 

 where only the most valuable qualities of the soul 

 are affected.' 



Answer to No. 4. Juliusburger's reference 

 to the symptoms of softening of the brain is 

 not to the point, and certainly proves nothing 

 against the unity of the soul of man. As the 

 brain contains the inhibitory centres for the 

 lower impulses, a morbid condition of certain 

 parts of the brain may naturally afford the 

 animal part of man an opportunity of asserting 

 itself, as we frequently see in cases of softening 

 of the brain. But it is difficult to arrive at any 

 general conclusions from Dementia paralytica, 

 for the course of this disease varies greatly 

 according to its symptoms, whether vasomotor, 

 psychical, or motor. Cf. on this subject 

 Krafft-Ebing, Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie, 7th ed., 

 Stuttgart, 1903, p. 573, etc.; Obersteiner, 



