No. 388.] MAINTENANCE OF THE EQUILIBRIUM. 329 
we arrive at conclusions in regard to such questions. You 
have seen how we have laboriously to collect the material from 
different sources; not only anatomy and experimental physiol- 
ogy are studied, but we must add to this a knowledge of patho- 
logical conditions. And this latter furnishes us with particularly 
important and instructive facts ; therefore I have allowed my- 
self to devote considerable attention to the pathological disturb- 
ances of equilibrium. 
Finally, I wished to show you by this example how great a 
part of the functions carried on by our organism is performed 
entirely apart from consciousness. Our conscious activity is 
thus released from what would otherwise be a very considerable 
burden. 
If, then, as I stated at the beginning of my analysis, it is 
difficult for man to exist, yet we should be thankful to Nature 
that a great part of the labor imposed upon us is made essen- 
tially easier by the organization of our central nervous system, 
and that time is thus given us to engage in higher intellectual 
pursuits. 
Let us thankfully recognize the value of this gift. 
