A mechanistic view of war and peace . ause any adaptivemuscular response and therefore there is no like manner the emotion of fear in the soldierholds possession of the final common path sothat muscular action against local flesh injuries isprevented. Not only in war does emotionovercome pain; so does great anger; so does theexaltation of religious fanatics in their emotionalrites. An explanation of the fact that even when otherstimuli do not possess the final common path a rifleball may pass through the body without causingpain is found in the postulate that the sense organsreact only
A mechanistic view of war and peace . ause any adaptivemuscular response and therefore there is no like manner the emotion of fear in the soldierholds possession of the final common path sothat muscular action against local flesh injuries isprevented. Not only in war does emotionovercome pain; so does great anger; so does theexaltation of religious fanatics in their emotionalrites. An explanation of the fact that even when otherstimuli do not possess the final common path a rifleball may pass through the body without causingpain is found in the postulate that the sense organsreact only to those stimuli in the environment towhich they have become adapted and to those stimulionly when they are applied within the limits ofadaptation. Too bright a light blinds; too loud asound deafens. There is no receptive mechanismadapted to the stimuli of the X-ray. The high-speed bullet is a recent development, and even were itnot recent, no muscular action could have availed as adefense against it. The force of its impact and its. Section of Normal Cerebellum(X 310) B Section of Cerebellum ShowingEffect of Extreme PhysicalExertion (x 310) THE PHENOMENA OF WAR 31 speed is beyond the range of muscular adaptation andtherefore it elicits no muscular response — no pain. As for the diminished pain in exhaustion, especiallyexhaustion in which loss of sleep is an importantfactor, the following explanation seems adequate:As we have stated already, pain is always associatedwith muscular action. Therefore if the kinetic sys-tem is so completely exhausted that no more mus-cular action can be excited, pain is impossible. Ina state of exhaustion, therefore, unless the injury issufficient to mobilize the dregs of energy remaining inthe kinetic organs there will be no muscular actionand no pain. This explanation is strongly supportedby the fact that as soon as exhausted soldiers hadslept long enough to restore in some measure theenergy of the brain, the adrenals, and the liver, thenmuscu
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
