Multiple personality : an experimental investigation into the nature of human individuality

Front matter

Class Book..

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CCP1HJGHT DEPOSED

Preface

The case of double personality described in Part II is of great interest and is specially recommended to the reader's attention. This case has been investigated in the Pathological Institute of the New York State Hospitals. Sincere thanks are therefore due to Dr. Ira Van Gieson, the former Director of the Pathological Institute, for his broad-mindedness and liberality in affording facilities for carrying on the investigation of the Hanna case.

The work of Parts I and III covers a period of eight years. Out of the material accumulated by Dr. Sidis and his collaborators, some experiments and observations of functional psychopathic cases have been utilized in the last part of this volume. Another portion of the work of Parts I and III has been accomplished in the Psychopathological Laboratory of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, and sincere thanks are therefore due to the Trustees and especially to Dr. Alexander Lambert and Julia B. de Forest.

Thanks are also due to Dr. Walter B. Cannon, Assistant Professor in Physiology at Harvard Medical School, for reading the first three chapters of Part I, and especially to Dr. H. Linenthalf for his valuable assistance, given in the reading of the proofs of this volume.

Boris Sidis, Brookline, Mass.

S. P. Goodhart, New York City.

Part I Personality Chapter Page

I. Individuality 3

II. Multiple Individuality and Neuron Organization . 8

III. Types of Neuron Organization 12

IV. The Law of Individuality and Evolution 22 V. Evolutionary Stages of Psychic Elements ... 27

/VI. The Attributes of Psychic Elements .... 34

i/ VII. Representations and the Break-up of Personality . 38

VIII. The Nature of Familiarity 45

IX. Neuron Organization and Multiple Personality . . 52

X. Plural Personality 58

Part II Double Personality, Or The Hanna Case

BY BORIS SIDTS AND S. P. GOODHART

I. Aspects of the Hanna Case ...... 83

II. The Birth of the New Personality .... 91

III. Education and Growth of the New Personality . . 95 x CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

IV. First Impressions 107

V. First Impressions {Continued) 115

VI. Biography 128

\J VII. Revelations from Dream Life 135

VIII. Upheavals of the Subconscious 142

IX. Picture Dreams and Subconscious States . . . 146

X. Resurrection of Outlived Personalities . . . 156

XI. Awakening of Primary Personality and Double Consciousness 160

XII. The Rise of Primary Personality 164

XIII. The Reappearance of the Secondary Personality . 171

XIV. The Arousal of the Subconscious . , . . . .174 XV. Dual Life 183

XVI. The Struggle and Union of Alternating Personalities . 189

Autobiographical Sketch of Dual Life Experience . 202

Part III Consciousness And Multiple Peesonality

I. The Moment Consciousness 229

II. Mental Organization 237

III. The Conscious and the Subconscious . . . . 240

IV. Automatism 243

V. The Psychic Minimum 246

VI. The Fading Moments 249

VII. The Brightened Moments 253

VIII. Transmutations of Subconscious Messages . . . 257

IX. The Process of Mental Resurrection .... 261

X. The Reawakening 264

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTEB PAGE

XI. The Threshold op Mental Life 269

XII. The Threshold in Abnormal Mental Life . . . 279

XIII. Memory Lapses and the Subconscious .... 304

i/XIV. Hypnoidic States or Resurrected Lives . . . 309

J XV. Hypnoid States or Underground Life . . . 327

i/XVI. The Twilight of Consciousness, or Dammerzustande . 341

XVII. Hysteria 347

XVIII. Types of Dissociated Personalities .... 356

XIX. A Single Appearance of a Secondary Personality . 364

XX. The Reawakening of the Secondary Person . . 376

XXI. Alternating Double Personality 383

XXII. Manifold Personality 387

XXIII. Manifold Personality {Continued) . . . . 420

XXIV. Secondary Infant Personalities 435

XXV. Multiple Personality and the Hypnoleptic State . 447

INDEX . 457

Part I Personality Part I

PERSONALITY

Chapter I Individuality

The question " What is an individual? " seems to be the easiest thing to answer. It is enough to point to some individual object as an example. The matter appears to be so simple. A closer examination reveals some difficulties. Suppose the individual object pointed out is a book. Do we not find that the book is made up of "individual " leaves, the leaves of individual sentences, the sentences of words, and the words of ' ' individual ' ' letters ? Physically and chemically the book can be analyzed into masses of molecules, and the molecules in their turn can be further analyzed into infinity of " individual " atoms. The individual book, therefore, is made up of masses of subordinate " individuals." In what sense then is- the book an " individual '"? The leaves are connected, the chapters, the sentences, the words, and the letters are so interrelated that they form a whole, — a compound system of subordinate individual systems. The unity or individuality of the book is purely relative. The book as an individual object is a system of systems.

If from objects we turn to organisms, we obtain the same result. If we ask what is an individual organism, we find on examination that the individual pointed out, apparently one and indivisible as a unit, can be resolved into systems of organs, the organs into tissues, and the tissues into individual cells. Modern biology goes even deeper and resolves the cell into complex structures and organizations, such as cytoplasm, cytolymph, cytoreticulum, microsomes, plastids, centrosomes and astrosphere, plasmosome or nucleolus, chromatin network, chromosomes, linin network, and so on. Recent research in biology makes more and more probable that the cells are built up of systems of simpler individuals. These individual elementary organic units are formed into complex systems giving rise to cells. The cells in their turn organized

Fig. 1. — Hydra fttsca, a fresh-water polyp. (^4), cut across at D ; B and C, the two pieces which have become independent individuals. (After Verworn.)

into multiple systems form the unity of the individual organism. The individual, therefore, is never something simple and indivisible; it is only relatively an " individual. ' ' In reality, the individual is an aggregate of systems of simpler individuals.

The systemic structure of the organic individual is strikingly manifested in the lower animals. The Hydra fusca can be divided and subdivided, the portions becoming separate individuals leading an independent existence. (See Fig. 1.)

INDIVIDUALITY 5

Similarly the Eucorallium rub rum, the precious coral, is an individual consisting of elementary coral polyps, each one capable of living its own individual life.

In the Microgromia socialis the cells are loosely connected, and each can lead its own independent individual life. (See Fig. 2.)

In the Codonocladium umbellatum, a colonial, flagellate protozoon, the same relation obtains ; the portions,

Fig. 2. — Micogromia socialis. (After E. Hertwig.)

when isolated, become independent individuals. (See Fig. 3.)

The Eudorina elegans is an infusorian belonging to the Flagellata. (See Fig. 4.) The individual organism of the infusorian consists of many subordinate individuals capable of an independent existence.

The Siphonophore is an apparently differentiated individual with many organs having different functions, such as movement, nutrition, reproduction. Now these organs are really single individuals arising by budding from the

Fig. 3. — Codonocladium umbellatum. (After R. Hertwig.)

Fig. 4. — Eudorina elegans. (After Verworn.)

main stem, and when separated from the stem can lead an independent existence. (See Fig. 5.)

Even individual infusorian cells can be divided and subdivided, and the cut portions can in their turn become

Fig. 5. — Siphonophore Colony. A, longitudinal section; B, external view ; sb. the float ; sg, the swimming-bells, the nutritive, reproductive, and other " persons " beneath. (After Hceckel.)

INDIVIDUALITY independent beings with a life of their own. The Stentor Roeselii may be taken as an example. (See Fig. 6.)

Unicellular organisms can be subdivided into many pieces, and provided some portion of the nucleus is preserved in each piece, the fraction of the cell regenerates the individual and lives an independent active life characteristic of the parent cell.

These facts, along with others drawn from the internal structure, from the process of karyokinesis or cell-reproduc-

Fig. 6. — Stentor Roeselii.

A, cut across at * ; B and C, two pieces which have become regenerated

into complete Stentors. (After Verworn).

tion, and from the various processes going on in the internal morphology and chemistry of the cell during the different stages of cell-reproduction, pointing to the constancy and individuality of the chromosomes and their constituent granules, — all these facts and many others go to show that even so apparently simple an individual as a cell is really a compound system of many subordinate systems of relatively simpler individuals. The individual is a composite, — "7 a multiple individuality.

Chapter II Multiple Individuality And Neuron Organization

The principle of multiple individuality underlies the organization of what may be regarded as the basis or counterpart of psychic life, — I mean the nervous system. The multiple systemic structure of neuron organization becomes more emphasized, more clearly denned as we ascend in the scale of evolution. The mode of neuron structure may be regarded as mirroring the mode of organization of psychic life. Although it may appear as a digression in a work on multiple personality to devote space to morphological structure of nerve elements, the reader is asked to bear in mind this important fact of intimate relationship of neuron and mental activity. One mirrors the other. The development of the various forms of neuron structure may be found to correspond or run parallel to the various modes of mental organization. It may, therefore, repay us to give a review of the modes and forms of neuron differentiation and neuron aggregation following the stages of organic evolution.

In the very lowest forms of animal life there is no nervous system. The neuron has not yet become differentiated, and the primitive cell possesses the fundamental characteristics which are afterward to develop in the highly differentiated functions of the neuron. In the monocellular organism, such as the Amoeba, Paramecium, Gromia oviformis, Vorticella, and others, there is present a sensitivity to external stimulations. Monocellular organisms react to touch, pressure, pricking, temperature, light, and chemical irritations. In the very lowest forms, sensitivity to all kinds

MULTIPLE INDIVIDUALITY 9

of stimuli is diffused and belongs to the protoplasm of the body cell as a whole. The tendency, however, is that the principles of physiological division of labor should work even in the lowest of cells, and without giving rise to any specially formed organs, certain parts of the protoplasm should become more sensitive to certain stimuli than others. In micro-organisms, in infusoria, for example, the pseudopodia or protoplasmic expansions manifest great sensitivity to touch, pricking, temperature, and chemical stimulations ; especially is this the case when the protoplasmic expansions become permanent organizations of the animalcule, as, for instance, in the ciliated infusoria in which the cilia show great sensitivity to touch, pressure, and other stimulations. The sensitivity shown by monocellular organisms to chemical stimuli may very well correspond to gustatory and olfactory sensations in higher forms, since these senses are of a chemical nature. In fact, we may say that such sensitivity is the germ out of which the senses of smell and taste are developed. Certain pigmented spots of the body of the monocellular organism may become more sensitive to light. Such conditions we find in the Glenodinium polyphemus, Panophrys fiavicans, Euglena viridis, and others. These pigmented spots scattered over the body of the monocellular animalcule may be the germs, or, truer to say, the forerunners of the delicate structure of the eye with its highly differentiated function of sight. Of course we must remember the fact that the different organs formed in the higher forms of animal life do not actually come directly as a further development out of the particular spots of the lower micro-organism, but they are probably analogous in function. The structure, of course, is fundamentally different in metazoa from that of the protozoa, but the germs of the different functions are already found in the monocellular organisms. In monocellular organisms the organs are but portions of the cellular protoplasm. Such primitive organs or organoids are to be found in the Amoeba proteus, Paramcecium caudatum, Yorticella, and others.

In multicellular organisms the organs subserving the highly developed functions are represented by systems of cells, and even by many aggregates of cell-systems, which go to form one functioning interconnected organic whole, possibly being a sort of syncytium, having cell-bridges and protoplasmic continuity. It is in the multicellular organisms that the nervous system first takes its origin. When organic development reaches a certain height, a group of cells becomes differentiated into a nerve ganglion, spreading out its protoplasmic processes like a network over the organism, and thus supplying with its ramifications every portion of the body. As we ascend the animal series the ganglia become multiplied, groups of neurons increase, and their association and co-ordination increase in number and complexity. In the course of development the neurons, even as the cells of the body in general, become arranged into groups of higher and higher complexity. Groups are aggregated into systems, communities, clusters, and constellations. This holds true of the structure of the higher animals as well as of the general evolutionary series of animal organizations.

The nervous system appears at first in a disseminated inco-ordinated form, and becomes more co-ordinated as well as more complex with the ascent in the scale of evolution. In the lowest forms this co-ordination of ganglia is merely a matter of repetition, the interrelation of the nerve-centres is at a minimum. What is present is simply a repetition of many ganglia similar, if not identical, both as to structure and function. Co-ordination or concentration is almost absent, so much so that each portion with its ganglion may be completely excised without in the least interfering with the function of the rest. Differentiation of structure and function of the various ganglia is at its minimum, and corresponding with this lack of differen-

MULTIPLE INDIVIDUALITY 11

tiation is also the lack of co-ordination and integration of the ganglia centres.

A repetition of ganglia is all that is present in the most elementary forms of neuron organization, and only in the subsequent ascending series of animal life do the separate ganglia become co-ordinated, integrated, and differentiated into a true neuron organization. In this respect neuron organization follows the law of organization in general which proceeds from a repetition of organs with like structure and function to a multiplicity of highly differentiated organs unlike as to structure and function. The lower forms of plants have a repetition of the same organ. The same holds true of animal life, the lower organized forms of the animal series have similarly a repetition of like organs. A similar state we find in the history of the various forms of nervous systems. The lowest form of the nervous system is essentially one of repetition, while the principle of differentiation comes to the foreground in the higher types of animal life. In fact, repetition of organs is taken as a fundamental characteristic of a low stage of development. The structure of the nervous system is systemic or segmental in character. The complexity is at first purely quantitative, and only afterward becomes also qualitative. From complexity of like systems or segments the nervous system progresses to complexity of unlike systems or segments. The diversity of structure and function of the system or segment increases with the course of development.

Chapter III

From this stand-point the types of the nervous system may be arranged into the following ascending series :

(I) The disseminated type.

(II) The systemic, or segmental type, which may he subdivided, according to form as well as degree of co-ordination, into the following subdivisions:

(a) The radial type.

(5) The bilatero-ventral type.

(c) The median-dorsal type.

In the Actinia the neurons are in a disseminated state. The neurons, as yet but little differentiated from the other cells, are found strewn in a more or less disconnected state under the ectoderm or outer layer of the animal. In the Planaria a similar structure is found.

In the Ascidian and others, the nervous system consists of a group of neurons, or of a single nerve-ganglion with protoplasmic processes radiating all over the body of the animal. Dendrons, axons, collaterals and the branches of terminal arborizations are distributed all over the organism, receiving impressions from the external and internal environments and reacting by muscular activity or glandular secretion. The same neuron receives its sensory impressions, and also sends out motor reactions in response to the stimulations, — that is, it is also motor — the neuron, therefore, is sensory motor in character.

In the Medusae, such as the Acaleplice, there is a series of groups of neurons or of ganglia, but they are not interconnected. The groups are not organically connected by radi- 12 ating fibres, but their co-ordination is extremely simple, being rather synchronous in nature. (See Fig. 7.) Each ganglion, with its portion, acts by itself, and all work together, because they belong to the same general body system of the particular individual. The co-ordination is established through the general synchronous action of the body cells, otherwise the cells could not possibly co-operate. Should the portion with its ganglion be cut off, it would still go on functioning independ-

ently. The ganglia are neither j$ f jfe— - ..^q

functionally nor organically di- jf \/~v \ ,-*--""

rectly connected, but have a co- I S^r ' f

ordination of a purely syn- \/ ^\J

chronic order, and are like **w-w«^

separate individuals working in Fig. 7.— Diagram of the

unison and performing their bel1 of Aurdia Aurita with „ , . , , i • eight sense-organs. (After

functions at the same given C1 ,

time. In other words, in this

stage the co-ordination is due not to internal unifying

organizations, but to the mere fact of the synchronous

rhythm in the physiological functions.

In Hydromedusce the interconnection of the nerve-centres is more organic in character. The groups of neurons or nerve-centres are connected by their protoplasmic processes and are organized into a double ring system. The upper ring consists of a layer of more or less sparsely strewn ganglia connected by delicate protoplasmic processes. The lower ring consists of more ganglia than the upper one. 'These ganglia are interconnected by more or less thick nervefibres. Both rings are brought into relations by nervefibres, thus giving rise to a further co-ordination of the two co-ordinated ring systems of neurons. From the ganglia of the two rings, fibres radiate in all directions, supplying every portion of the animal with sensory and motor fibres. (See Fig. 8.)

Similarly in the Radiata, such as the Echinus, or the

Fig. 8. — Htdromeddsa. a, umbrella; 6, manubrium; c, margin of tbe swimming bell with nerve-ring.

starfish, the nervous system consists of a series of ganglia co-ordinated into a central ring, localized round the mouth of the animal. This central ring of ganglia sends out nervefibres in different directions.

Each arm is innervated by its closely situated ganglion or group of neurons. All the ganglia or groups are connected by radiating protoplasmic processes, thus establishing a co-ordination of all the groups of ganglia. (See Fig. 9.)

In the Annelida, representing the bilatero- ventral type, we meet with a more complex structure of the nervous system. (See Fig. 10.) The ganglia instead of having a radial arrangement become organized in chains. The anterior or the central ganglion is the most massive, and is probably brought about by a coalescence of many minor ganglia. The rest of the ganglia are much smaller and form a longitudinal series which have a segmentation corresponding to the metameres of the body. The cerebral ganglion gives origin to the nerves of the sense-organs, the other ganglia supply the other organs, and also give rise to a visceral nervous system. Of the sensory organs present, there may be found an auditory vesicle, tactile organs, and a pair of eye-spots.

In the Annelida the segmental plan of structure stands

Fig. 9. — Nervous System of the Starfish, a, central nerve-ring that surrounds the mouth; b, peripheral nerves of the arms. (After J. Loeb.)

out clear and distinct. Each ganglion supplies and innervates its own segment. The individual is formed by associations of segments, and the nervous system consists of an aggregation of ganglia, largely preserving their individual independence. The differentiation of structure and function is at its minimum, the segments are practically similar as to constitution, and form so many repetitions of one and the same fundamental ganglion.

In the Radiata the plan of repetition is radial, in the Annelids the plan is longitudinal, and as such it is far more restricted as to co-ordination.

In the lower animals, in the Medusce, in the Siphonopliorce, the neurons and their ganglia are diffused without any plan and co-ordination; in the Radiata, such as the starfish, the neurons and their ganglia become organized on some general plan, but the plan is still diffused, the similar still undifferentiated ganglia become radially organized along many lines of repetitive co-ordina-

Fig. 10. — A, The Leech {Hirudo mediciri). B, The Nervous System of the Leech. (After J. Steiner.)

tion. The further advance of repetitive co-ordination is a restriction to two lines or even to one line, instead of manysimilar lines of development. In the lower forms of the Annelida, as well as the embryonic stages of the higher forms, two similar chains of ganglia run parallel to each other, and only in the adults of the more advanced forms do we find that the two parallel chains become integrated into one series. The course of evolution is to a greater integration of similarly functioning ganglia.

In the Molluscoidea, which probably descend from a common form with the Annelids, the nervous system is extremely simple, consisting of one ganglion or group of neurons, sending off their protoplasmic processes to various portions of the organism. In the Bryozoa, usually united to form colonies, the nervous system consists of one oesophageal ganglion placed between the mouth and the arms. In the Laphopoda this ganglion is contained in the concavity of the laphoplwre, the disk bearing tentacles on which the mouth is placed, and supplies the tentacles and oesophagus with numerous nerves.

When many individuals go to form a colony or a composite individual, a more or less co-ordinating colonial nervous system is found to take rise.

If from the Annelida, we pass to the Arthropoda we find the same fundamental type preserved. There is one supracesophageal ganglion that constitutes the brain and a suboesophageal ganglion and ganglionic chain, or ventral nerve cord. With the rise in the scale of evolution of the Arthropoda the cerebral ganglia become more massive and more complex and give rise to bundles of nerves innervating the different sense-organs which become finer and more complex in structure and function. The suboesophageal ganglion with the chain of ventral ganglia undergo a similar change: they grow and develop quantitatively as well as qualitatively; they become more massive, more complex, more integrated, and more differentiated. Thus in Limulus polyphemus, one of the oldest representatives of the Arthropoda, the nervous system consists of a dorsal or

Fig. 11. — Nervous System of Limulus polyphemus. o, Supraoesophageal ganglion ; c, commisure ; u, suboesophageal ganglion. A, b, c, d, abdominal ganglia. (After J. Loeb.)

supracesophageal ganglion, a commissure and suboesophageal ganglion, with a chain of six small abdominal or ventral ganglia.

The nervous system of the Limulus is highly segmental 3 in character. (See Fig. 11.) Each peripheral organ belonging to a segment of the body has its corresponding segment in the nervous system. This is well brought out in one of the experiments made by Professor Loeb. The whole nervous system was removed in a Limulus with the exception of a small portion of the left side of the commissure and the six ventral ganglia. No connection was left between the two portions, still the Limulus went on living; it had to be artificially fed. These ventral ganglia are indispensable, since they innervate the gills requisite in the respiration of the animal. The portion of the commissure left was also necessary, because some of the leg movements were requisite in the reception of food. The animal in such a state received the food and nourished itself like a normal individual. So independent are the groups of neurons, that Patten has demonstrated that in a Limulus each leg receives food in a normal way, when nothing else is left in the process of operation except the portion that directly innervates the leg.

In the crab the dorsal or brain ganglia are little developed; the ventral ganglia are, however, far more massive and better developed.

In the house-fly the dorsal ganglion is comparatively massive, and so are also some of the ventral ganglia. (See Fig. 12.)

In the honey-bee the dorsal ganglion, or the brain, is very massive and highly developed, and so are also the ventral ganglia. (See Fig. 13.) This is brought out clearly, when we compare the nervous system of the honey-bee with that of the house-fly.

If the fly is deprived of its brain, or of the dorsal ganglion, spontaneous movements disappear, the fly remains in the same position, never moving unless acted upon by an external stimulus. If one of the legs is tickled, it will respond by contraction, while the others will remain quiet; only when the stimulus becomes very intense, only then,

Fig. 12. — Nekvous System op House-Fly (Musca vomitoria). a, dorsal ganglion ; i, subcesophageal ganglion ; c, <?, ganglia. (After J. Steiner.)

Fig. 13. — Nervous System of the Honey-Bee (Apis mellifica). a, dorsal ganglion ; 6, subcesophageal ganglion ; c, d, e, rest of ganglia. (After J. Steiner.)

do all the legs respond and the body shifts its position. If the wings are left, then the brainless fly may even make flying movements. If now the abdomen is cut off, leaving only the middle portion, the peripheral organs are found to respond to stimuli, and even for quite a long time after the operation has been performed, clearly demonstrating the organic independence of the ganglia. More striking, however, is the following experiment : The abdomen of the fly is cut clear off the body, leaving the middle and anterior portions, care being taken that the wings should not be injured. The fly will immediately be on the wing in the most unconcerned manner. Bethe made a similar experiment on the bee; he cut off its abdomen and the bee went on feeding, as if nothing had happened.

Experiments demonstrating the functional independence of the different ganglia innervating the corresponding segments can be performed in all Arthropoda in which the segmentation is well emphasized. Segments of an operated individual, when thrown together, are from mutual stimulation seen struggling with each other like separate individuals. The experiment is very striking in showing the functional independence of the segments. Being functionally independent, the only bond that can keep the segments together is that of an actual physical union. The groups of neurons become physically connected by means of ingrowing protoplasmic processes. Such, in fact, is the condition that has been found by recent research in the nervous system of the lower forms of animal life, and to a certain extent in the lower ganglia of the higher forms.

Whitman has shown that the entire nervous system of Annelids may be regarded as a series of brains, and that normally a pair of these nerve-centres or brains belongs to each segment. The vertebrate as well as the human brain is also a complex system ; it is made up of segments, of many brains.

In the Vertebrates representing the median-dorsal type the aggregates of neuron systems are fused and highly complex. The nervous system of Vertebrates may be regarded as an organization of many segments, of many individual brain systems; it only differs from the lower types by the greater aggregation, co-operation, and differentiation of its constituent parts. The systemic or segmental structure of the vertebrate nervous system can be well demonstrated in cold-blooded animals, such, for instance, as the frog, but it can also be proven in warm-blooded animals, such as the dove or the dog. The spinal cord, the medulla, and the cerebral ganglia represent aggregations of complex systems of many segments, many individual brains organically interconnected.

Chapter IV The Law Of Individuality And Evolution

If we examine more closely the representatives of the lower forms of organic life, we find that the development consists in a mere multiplication of similar parts; in other words, organic evolution in the lower stages of life is purely quantitative in nature ; it is only in the higher forms that the ganglia become differentiated both as to structure and function, and their organization becomes qualitative in character.

In the lower forms the function of each ganglion does not differ in nature from those of the other ganglia in the chain. The functioning activity of the organism is not a synthesis of differentiated, intimately interrelated and functionally dependent ganglia, but simply a conglomeration of ganglia whose only union is their spatial interconnection, and whose only relationship is a sum of many similar actions occurring simultaneously. Proximity in space and functional simultaneity in time constitute the only bonds of union.

Since the ganglia are in reality functionally independent, in order to insure simultaneity of function, the bond is an organic one. The neurons of the different ganglia become organically connected — in other words, they become concrescent. Thus the findings of Apathy, Bethe, and others have shown concrescence of neurons in the lower forms of life, such as the leech, for instance, as well as in the lower ganglionic structures of the higher forms of life.

It is only when we reach the higher and more complex

INDIVIDUALITY AND EVOLUTION 23

stages of life that we leave the level of quantitative relations and enter that of qualitative interrelations. In the higher forms of life the ganglia become so differentiated and interrelated that they cannot work without the co-operation of other ganglia.