THE INSTINCT OF SURVIVAL 109 



directly affected by the incision. There is, in other 

 words, a reparative reaction out of proportion to 

 the obvious necessities of the case. The same tend- 

 ency is shown by the cell reactions which follow the 

 injection of certain bacterial toxins into the living 

 body. The antitoxin produced is by no means 

 accurately proportioned to the immediate and 

 obvious needs of the body, but is far in excess of 

 these. 



Without forcing the analogy, may we not assume 

 that there is an essential likeness in these excessive 

 cell reactions to the injuries and the overactions of 

 the nervous system as a whole, which are evoked by 

 hostile stimuli (or stimuli interpreted as such) 

 coming through the pathways of the special senses ? 

 And does not such an interpretation somewhat aid us 

 in our conception of the real self-preservative nature 

 of many human acts which are repellent to our more 

 experienced natures? Since the self-preservative 

 reactions of the nervous system are in the highest 

 degree automatic and reflect the action of centers 

 controllable by higher ones, the individual and the 

 race has before it the possibility of bringing these 

 centers which voice the self-preservative instincts 

 under better and better control. 



These considerations bring us, in fact, to the most 

 significant of all human questions How far is it 

 possible to control the self-preservative instincts in 

 the interests of the race as a whole, without imperil- 

 ing the legitimate and essential interests of the 



