I.

Pavlov
 EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
AND OTHER ESSAYS
by I. P. Pavlov

The publishers deem it a privilege

to present, in this comprehensive
anthology, some of the basic writ¬
ings of the Russian physiologist and
psychiatrist, winner of the Nobel
Prize in physiology.
The new era in one of the major
branches of human knowledge —
physiology—is linked to the nam^
of its foremost representative, Ivan
Petrovich Pavlov.

His work towards solving the

problems of higher nervous activity
can only be properly appreciated in
its historical association with his
uncompromising struggle for the
true nature of the inherent wisdom
of the human body.

Pavlov’s research has become of

paramount influence in the shaping
not only of psychosomatic medicine
but psychiatry and experimental
psychology as well.

Some rare pictorial material

included.

Published by
Philosophical Library, Inc.
New York

Distributed to the trade by

Book Sales, Inc., New York
EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
and
OTHER
ESSAYS
Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov
i
EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
and
OTHER
ESSAYS

1. P. PAVLOV

Philosophical Library
NEW YORK
 Copyright, 1957
Philosophical Library
15 East 40 Street
New York 16, N. Y.

Printed in the United States of America

 CONTENTS

I
Page
Frontispiece . 3
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov and the Significance of His
Works . 21
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Autobiography. 57

II
WORKS ON BLOOD CIRCULATION
AND THE TROPHIC ACTION
OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
An Abstract of a Paper by V. N. Veliky
and 1. P. Pavlov . 65
Experimental Data Concerning the Accommodating
Mechanism of the Blood Vessels . 66
Concerning Trophic Innervation .• . . 74

III
WORKS ON DIGESTION
Lectures on the Work of the
Principal Digestive Glands . 83

7
 Page

Lecture One. General Survey of the Subject.

Methods. 83
Lecture Eight. Physiological Facts, Human In¬
stinct and Medical Empiricism.105
Nobel Speech Delivered in Stockholm on December
12, 1904 129

IV
PROBLEM OF THE STUDY OF HIGHER NERVOUS
ACTIVITY AND THE WAYS OF ITS
EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION
Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology in
Animals .151

V
METHODS OF INVESTIGATION
AND FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF DEVELOPMENT
Lectures on the Work of the Cerebral Hemispheres 171
Lecture One. The substantiation and the history
of the fundamental methods employed in the
investigation of the activity of the cerebral
hemispheres. The concept of the reflex. The
variety of reflexes. Signalling activity as the
most general physiological characteristic of the
cerebral hemispheres.171

Lecture Two. Technical methods used in objec¬

tive study of the work of the cerebral hemi-

8
 Page

spheres. Signalling as a reflex action. Uncon¬

ditioned and conditioned reflexes. Conditions
for the development of conditioned reflexes 188

Natural Science and the Brain.206

"Pure Psychology” of the Brain.220

Relation Between Excitation and Inhibition, Delimita¬

tion Between Excitation and Inhibition, Experi¬
mental Neuroses in Dogs .231

The Conditioned Reflex.245

Physiology of the Higher Nervous Activity .... 271

VI
THEORY OE ANALYZERS, LOCALIZATION OF
FUNCTIONS AND MECHANISM OF
VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS

Summary of Results of the Experiments with Extirpa¬

tion of Different Parts of the Cerebral Hemispheres
by the Method of Conditioned Reflexes .... 289

Physiological Mechanism of the So-Called Voluntary

Movements.306

VII
THEORY OF TYPES

General Types of Animal and Human Higher Nervous

Activity .313

9
 Page

VIII
PROBLEMS OF SLEEP AND HYPNOSIS

Some Facts about the Physiology of Sleep (Jointly with

Dr. L. N. Voskresensky) .345

Concerning the So-Called Hypnotism in Animals . . 352

Physiology of the Hypnotic State of the Dog. (Jointly

with Dr. M. K. Petrova) .354

The Problem of Sleep.369

IX
PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY

Physiology and Psychology in the Study of the Higher

Nervous Activity of Animals.391

Reply of a Physiologist to Psychologists.409

Dynamic Stereotypy of the Higher Part of the Brain . 448

Concerning the Possibility of Fusion of the Subjective

and the Objective.454

X
EXPERIMENTAL PATHOLOGY OF THE HIGHER
NERVOUS ACTIVITY

Experimental Pathology of the

Higher Nervous Activity.459

10
 Page

Types of Higher Nervous Activity, Their Relationship

to Neuroses and Psychoses and the Physiological
Mechanism of Neurotic and Psychotic Symptoms 481

Fusion of Principal Branches of Medicine in Modern

Experimentation as Demonstrated by the Example
of Digestion .487

XI
PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

Psychiatry as an Auxiliary to the Physiology of the

Cerebral Hemispheres .499

An Attempt of a Physiologist to Digress into the

Domain of Psychiatry .509

Essay on the Physiological Concept of the Symptomat¬

ology of Hysteria .516

Feelings of Possession (Les Sentiments D’Emprise)

and the Ultra-Paradoxical Phase (Open Letter to
Prof. Pierre Janet).542

XII
FRAGMENTS OF STATEMENTS
AT THE "WEDNESDAY” GATHERINGS

Struggle of I. P. Pavlov Against Idealists [Experiments

with Anthropoids. Criticism of the Concepts of
Yerkes and Koehler].551

11
 Page

The Nature of Intelligence in Anthropoids and

the Erroneous Interpretation of Koehler . . 558

Criticism of Sherrington’s Idealistic Concepts . 563

Criticism of the Gestalt Psychology.569

Criticism of the Gestalt Psychology (Continued) 576

Concerning the Artistic and Thinking Human

Types .589

Experiments on Apes and Criticism of Koehler’s

Concepts.592

Criticism of Koehler’s Idealistic Concepts . . . 599

Concerning the Animism of Sherrington and the

Conservatism of English Science.605

Concerning the Idealism by Pierre Janet . . . 606

Experiments with "Raphael” .610

Criticism of Claparede’s Book The Genesis of the

Hypothesis.611

Concerning Kretschmer’s Book Physique and

Character.616

The Influence of the Idealistic World Outlook on

the Attitude of Scientists Towards the Theory
of Conditioned Reflexes.6l9

Notes and Commentary.623

12
Maxim Gorky Visits Ivan Pavlov. Painting by A. Rudnev.
EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
and
OTHER
ESSAYS
i A .1 //1.

f ■} :J'' r
' r .■i ^
The House in Ryazan in which Academician Pavlov
was born and lived, now a museum.
Ivan Pavlov, the eminent physiologist. Painted in 1935
by Mikhail Nesterov.
 ■ 1"

„ •> 3,'.: -

i '

r:

»
 I
IVAN PETROVICH PAVLOV

and the Significance of His Works

 I
IVAN PETROVICH PAVLOV

and the Significance of His Works

new era in one of the major branches of human knowledge-

physiology—is linked with the name of the great physiologist Ivan
Petrovich Pavlov.

The year in which Pavlov was born was the year in which the
founder of experimental physiology in Russia, A. M. Filomafitsky
(1807-49), died. The work and writings of Filomafitsky, Professor at
Moscow University, strikingly illustrate the high level reached bv
physiology already in the forties of the 19th century. It was in
Filomafitsky’s laboratory that another remarkable surgeon, V. A.
Basov, first performed a stomach fistula operation. This operation
was of immense significance for the further study of the physiology

23
of digestion and formed the bedrock for the classical works of Pavlov
in this field. At the end of the forties, and the beginning of the fifties,
A. N. Orlovsky, a neglected Moscow physiologist and compatative
anatomist—a contemporary of Filomafitsky—carried out experiments
jointly with the famous surgeon F. Inozemtsev for the purpose of
studying the influence exerted by the nervous system on the nutiition
of organisms, i.e., to disclose the so-called trophic influence of the
nervous system, to which Pavlov subsequently devoted a number of
brilliant works. In his student days at Moscow University I. M. Se-
chenov was also drawn to the study of the influence exerted by the
nervous system on the nutrition of tissues that was carried out by
Inozemtsev and Orlovsky; among his early works there is an article
on the influence of the nervous system on the nutrition of organs.
S. P. Botkin was also a student in the Moscow University at that
time; later on, Botkin introduced into clinical medicine the profound
physiological theory of the trophic influence of the nervous system.

In his conclusions relating to the trophic influence of the nervous

activity Pavlov originally proceeded from his classical works on the
nervous regulation of the heart and the cardiac vessels, on the func¬
tions of the centrifugal cardiac nerves.

It should be pointed out that the work carried out by Russian

physiologists along these lines had already made a big contribution to
physiology. On the basis of a special article published by I. T. Glebov,
an authoritative Russian physiologist of the fifties of the 19th century,
it can be affirmed that the first proof of the existence of a nerve acceler¬
ating the work of the heart was adduced by A. N. Orlovsky way back
in the early fifties of the last century. Shortly after this discovery by
Orlovsky (who was unable to get his works published) two other
Russian physiologists, the Cyon brothers, confirmed the existence of this
nerve, and this time it won general recognition. One of the brothers,
I. F. Cyon, was Pavlov’s teacher in the field of experimental technique.

To F. V. Ovsyannikov, another of Pavlov’s teachers, belongs the

honour of discovering (1871) the so-called vaso-motor centre in the
central nervous system. Ovsyannikov’s laboratory investigated the

24
trophic influence of the nervous system at the outset of Pavlov’s experi¬
mental work. Finally, it should be mentioned that influence was also
exerted on Pavlov by S. P. Botkin, one of the outstanding representa¬
tives of medicine of the 19th century, in whose clinic Pavlov worked.
It was in this clinic that his basic idea of the ^leading role of the
nervous system in all physiological processes (the idea of nervism)
came into being and matured; and it was here that his views on the
connection between physiology and medicine took shape.

Even these fragmentary data relating to the history of Russian

physiology testify that the source of the main lines of Pavlov’s experi¬
mental research can be traced to the works of the Russian physiologists
of the period between the forties and seventies of the 19th century,
that they are historically connected with them.

Pavlov s theory of conditioned reflexes was a landmark in the devel¬

opment of advanced philosophical thought and natural science in our
country, where the question had been resolutely raised of overcoming
the dualism of matter and consciousness, of substantiating the material
foundation of the psychical processes on the basis of the unity of
matter and spirit, while the idealists affirmed the non-material nature
and immortality of the spirit in contradistinction to the material nature
and mortality of the body.

In the sixties of the last century D. I. Pisarev, an ardent popular-

izer of natural science and materialism, carrying forward the material¬
ism and revolutionary democratism of A. I, Herzen, V. G. Belinsky,
N. A. Dobrolyubov, and especially of N. G. Chernyshevsky, did much
to publicize the highest achievements of the biological science of the
time—Darwinism, physiology, etc.

Pisarev’s ideas greatly influenced the development of Russian

science. K. A. Timiryazev, A. N. Baks, N. A. Morozov and other out¬
standing naturalists emphasized its beneficial influence. Pavlov, too,
was influenced by it.

In an autobiographical note Pavlov stated: "Influenced by the liter¬

ature of the sixties, and particularly by Pisarev, our intellectual inter-

25
ests turned to natural science, and many, myself included, decided to
take this subject at the University.”*

The philosophical writings of Her2en, Pisarev and Chernyshevsky

were of enormous significance in moulding the advanced traditions
of the Russian school of physiology in the fifties and sixties of the
19th century. The ideas of the great Russian physiologists I. M.
Sechenov and I. P. Pavlov were also influenced by these works.

The fundamental similarity and the historical and logical link

connecting the works of Sechenov and Pavlov consist in that the two
men attributed a leading role in the shaping of the highly complex
processes of psychical activity to environment, or, as Sechenov expressed
it, to the conditions of existence. Pavlov’s theory of conditioned
reflexes showed that all the diverse manifestations of higher nervous
activity are caused by constant interrelations between the organism
and its environment, that they arise under certain conditions of the
organism’s existence. Sechenov’s basic postulate that the organism
cannot exist without its supporting external environment, is experi¬
mentally proved and, in a way, rounded off by Pavlov’s theory of
conditioned reflexes.

Also typical both of Sechenov and Pavlov is the application of

objective physiological methods in studying complex psychical phenom¬
ena. Prior to Sechenov and Pavlov all the outstanding explorers of
nature proved helpless when it came to the investigation of the so-
called spiritual activity; unable to find the way to objective study of it
they remained prisoners of philosophical dualism. Sechenov and
Pavlov were the first to escape from this captivity, adducing convinc¬
ing proof of the unity and interdependence of psychical and physical
phenomena.

Pavlov’s theory of the higher nervous activity rounded off the long
searching by Russian philosophers and naturalists who had persevered
in their efforts to overcome the constant counterpoising of spiritual and
physical processes. This so to speak, completed a definite stage in the

* See present edition, p. 59.

26
development of science, the path of diligent searching which led from
the philosophical concepts of Radishchev, Belinsky, Herzen and Cher-
nyshevsky to the ideas of the Russian physiologists of the 19th and
20th centuries.

The historical and logical sequence linking Sechenov’s and Pavlov’s

works is marked by a significant date: two years before his death,
in 1903—a memorable year for Russian physiology, Sechenov issued
a revised edition of his famous book Elements of Thought. This was
the last word of the great reformer of the teaching on the nature of
consciousness. That same year Pavlov read his first paper on condi¬
tioned reflexes at the International Medical Congress in Madrid.

Pavlov stated that Sechenov’s Reflexes of the Brain exerted enor¬

mous influence on him in his youth (in his last years at the Ryazan
Seminary), and gave an impulse to his work in the field of the
physiology of higher nervous activity, which later developed into the
theory of conditioned reflexes. This extremely interesting fact illus¬
trates the complexity of the problems encountered in scientific work,
the history of the appearance of varied and important generalizations
in science and their links with the generalizations of earlier scientists.
The following remarkable excerpt taken from Pavlov’s statement
describes most convincingly the influence that a genuine teacher exerts
on his pupils, testifying to the tremendous effect of a truly scientific
book.
"When Tolochinov and I began our investigations the only thing
I knew was that the extension of physiological research (in the form
of comparative physiology) to the entire animal world would involve,
in addition to abandoning our favourite laboratory objects (dogs,
cats, rabbits and frogs), abandoning the subjective standpoint and
essaying the application of objective methods of investigation and
objective terminology (J. Loeb’s doctrine of tropism in the animal
world and the objective terminology suggested by Beer, Bethe and
TJexkull). Indeed it would be difficult and unnatural to think and speak
of any thoughts and desires of an amoeba or infusorian. But I believe
that in our case, in the study of the dog, man’s best friend since pre-

27
historic times, the chief impetus to my decision (although I was not con¬
scious of it at the time) came from the brilliant pamphlet by Ivan
Mikhailovich Sechenov, the founder of Russian physiology. It was
entitled Reflexes of the Brain (1863) and influenced me as a youth.
And the influence of ideas which are strong by virtue of their
originality and faithful reflection of reality—especially in one’s
youth—is profound, lasting, and it should be added, often concealed.
This pamphlet was an attempt, brilliant and truly extraordinary for
the time (of course only theoretically, in the form of a physiological
outline) to picture our subjective world in a purely physiological
aspect.

"At that time Ivan Mikhailovich made an important discovery (con¬

cerning central inhibition) which deeply impressed European physiolo¬
gists and was the first Russian contribution to this essential branch of
natural science which had just been greatly advanced by German and
French scientists. The strain and the joy of this discovery, together,
perhaps, with some other personal emotion, brought about this flower¬
ing of Sechenov’s thought, which, without any exaggeration, can be
described as the thought of genius.”*

Thus, we see that pre-Pavlovian physiology in Russia paved the way

for the tremendous contribution which the great physiologist made.

Pavlov is the outstanding representative of that brilliant galaxy of

thinkers, who, in their endeavour to wrest from nature her innermost
secrets, always proceeded from strictly scientific experience, from the
verification of all scientific discoveries in practice. Physiological experi¬
mentation, close contact with clinical medicine, "observation and still
more observation,” real facts—these were the principles which guided
Pavlov, the explorer of one of the most intricate domains of nature.
All speculation about natural phenomena without trustworthy experi¬
mentation was alien to him.

He wrote: "The more complex the phenomena (and what can be

* I. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, Vol. Ill, Academy of Sciences of the

U.S.S R., Moscow-Leningrad, 1949, p. 18.

28
more complex than life?), the greater the need for experiment. Experi¬
ment alone crowns the efforts of medicine, experiment limited only by
the natural range of the powers of the human mind. Observation dis¬
closes in the animal organism numerous phenomena existing side by
side and interconnected now profoundly, now indirectly, or acciden¬
tally. Confronted with a multitude of different assumptions the mind
must guess the real nature of this connection. Experiment, as it were,
takes the phenomena in hand, sets in motion now one of them, now
another, and thus, by means of artificial, simplified combinations, dis¬
covers the actual connection between the phenomena. To put it in
another way, observation collects that which nature has to offer,
whereas experiment takes from her that which it desires. And the
power of biological experimentation is truly colossal. This experi¬
mentation has created in the course of some seventy or eighty years
practically the entire modern, highly developed physiology of the
organs of the complex animal. The ordinary educated man, even if
he is not yet familiar with biology, upon acquainting himself with
the usual, but somewhat more thoroughly arranged course of demon¬
strative physiology of animals, designed for medical students, would
undoubtedly be extremely surprised at discovering the power which the
present-day physiologist wields over the complex animal organism. And
his surprise would be all the greater upon discovering that this power ‘
is the result not of millenniums or centuries, but only of decades.”*

The entire scientific activity of Pavlov, spread over a period of

almost sixty years, is a brilliant example of experimental investigation
of the laws governing the development of living organisms. In
the same convincing way he demonstrated the significance of the
experimental method for the study of the chemism of digestive proc¬
esses, for the understanding of the mechanism of the digestive glands,
for disclosing the trophic role of the nervous system and the basic
laws of the nervous regulation of the work of the cardiovascular
system, and finally, for elucidating the complex processes which under¬
lie the phenomena of higher nervous activity in animals.

* See present edition, p. 488.

29
 But Pavlov was not just a continuer of the existing traditions of a
strictly scientific, experimental study of organic nature; his experi¬
mentation is distinguished for the new and original methods of investi¬
gation which he employed. The introduction of new methods of
research that elevate the theory of science to a higher level is the typical
feature of any classical research worker; and it is this feature that is
manifested with particular force in Pavlov’s work. Pavlov was a rev¬
olutionary in science; he proclaimed and substantiated the objective,
natural methods of science in studying the functions of the brain and of
the higher nervous activity.

In the third quarter of the last century when he began to investigate

the processes of digestion in animals, he set himself the task of elucidat¬
ing new methods for his investigation. He fully realized that only new
methods could provide the key to new theoretical conclusions. "It is
often said, and not without reason,” he wrote, "that science advances
in leaps, depending on the development of experimental methods.
With every advance in method, we rise, so to speak, a step higher, and
a wider horizon with hitherto imperceptible objects unfolds before us.
Our first aim, therefore, was to develop a method”** (1897).

And Pavlov’s anticipations were realized. Having found a correct

solution to the problems relating to the new methodological approach,
and having worked out, as we shall see later, methods of investigation
most appropriate to the conditions of the intact organism, Pavlov and
his colleagues made a number of major scientific discoveries.

In the eighteen years that passed between his first description of

the method of the isolated "stomach-pouch operation” (1879) and the
appearance of his summary work Lectures on the Work of the Prin¬
cipal Digestive Glands (1897), Pavlov and his school described a
number of fundamental facts relating to the physiology of the digestive
glands, thus bringing clarity into the "chaos” which prevailed in this
sphere prior to the publication of Pavlov’s works. As is known, these
works formed the bedrock of the modern concepts of the nervous and

** Ibid., p. 86.

30
chemical regulation of digestion; they gave a clear idea of the sequence
of digestive processes in the different parts of the gastrointestinal
system; they revealed certain peculiarities of the fermentative processes
that take place in the intestinal tract; these works strikingly revealed
the dependence of the nature of secretion of various glands on the
kind of alimentary stimulus (Pavlov’s classical salivation curves);
they also laid the foundation for profoundly biological research into
the adaptation of the glands of the digestive system to qualitatively
different prolonged nutrition. The works of Pavlov and his school in
the field of the physiology of digestion equipped practical medicine
with a new and invaluable theoretical weapon.

The Soviet scientist, A. F. Samoilov, now deceased, one of Pavlov’s

closest disciples, vividly describes the circumstances in which Pavlov
realized with complete success his plan for re-equipping physiological
research in the sphere of the complex study of the digestive glands.
In a tribute on the occasion of Pavlov’s 75th birthday, he said:

"I was an eyewitness of the ’stomach-pouch’ operation. I remember

being fascinated by Ivan Petrovich’s courage and belief in the cor¬
rectness of the plan he had worked out for the operation. 'The first
essays were unsuccessful. About thirty dogs had been sacrificed and
much energy and time—almost half a year—had been spent to no pur¬
pose. The faint-hearted were already beginning to lose confidence. I
recall that some of the professors working in branches of science
related to physiology asserted that the operation could not succeed
on the grounds that the location of the blood vessels in the stomach
made the operation impossible. Ivan Petrovich laughed, as only he
could, at these assertions. A few more efforts and success was on
the way.”*

The Pavlovian operative-surgical method of physiology, one of the

major achievements of natural science at the end of the 19th century,
had its origin in this searching for new methods of physiological

* A. F. Samoilov, Selected Articles and Speeches, Academy of Sciences of

the U.S.S.R., Moscow-Leningrad, 1946, p. 98.
investigation. In order to grasp the tremendous significance of this
new trend, it suffices to point out that at the time Pavlov was perfect¬
ing his operative-surgical method, the so-called vivisectional method,
which violated the integrity of the organism, prevailed.

Here is what Pavlov stated in this connection: "It seems to me

that in modern physiology a firmer stand is to be taken by the sur¬
gical method (I counterpoise it to the purely vivisectional method),
which implies performing (skillfully and creatively) more or less
complex operations with the aim of either extirpating certain organs, or
of ensuring access to physiological phenomena taking place in the
depths of the body; of disrupting one or another connection linking
the organs, or, on the contrary, establishing a new connection, and
so on; it also implies ability subsequently to heal the animal and restore
its state, in the measure that the nature of the operation allows,
to normalcy.

"I regard the promotion of such surgical technique to be a matter

of the greatest importance, because the usual method of simply vivi¬
secting the animal in an acute experiment is, as is now becoming
clearer day by day, a major source of errors, since the act of crude
violation of the organism is accompanied by a mass of inhibitory
influences on the functions of the different organs. The organism as a
whole, the realization of the most delicate and most expedient linking
of an enormous number of separate parts, cannot, in the nature of
things, remain passive to destructive agents; it must, in its own
interests, strengthen one part and weaken another, i.e., temporarily
leaving aside, so to speak, all other aims, and concentrating on saving
whatever can be saved. While this circumstance has been and still is a
big obstacle in the way of analytical physiology, it appears to be an
insurmountable obstacle to the development of synthetic physiology
where it is necessary to determine exactly the true course of one or
another physiological phenomenon in an intact and normal organ¬
ism”* (1897).

* See present edition, pp. 101-02.

32
 It should be stressed that the results achieved by Pavlov in elabo¬
rating methods for investigating the digestive glands—methods now
used in all physiological establishments—are important because they
confirm the great significance of integrated study of the animal
organism. This extremely important biological trend in studying the
physiological processes in animals that had fully recovered from
operations and behaved in a normal manner, a trend that took shape
in the course of studying the physiology of the digestive glands,
became more and more pronounced and assumed dominance during
Pavlov s work on conditioned reflexes. In a paper which he read before
the Ledentsov Society in Moscow in 1910, Pavlov stressed the necessity
of creating better laboratory conditions for his experimental work—
conditions that would permit the study of physiological processes
in the organism of the animal without damaging its integrity
and its normal relations with the surroundings. In this paper he stated:

"There are in addition a number of external influences which have

in a greater or lesser degree a destructive effect on the organism. If
the fixation of the animal on the stand is connected with very strong
pressure on any part of the body, or if the thermal and mechanical
apparatus attached to the skin for the purpose of its stimulation (a
slight burn or excoriation) damages its integrity, if the introduction
of an irritant into the mouth causes an injury of the mucous mem¬
brane, even to a minor degree, in all these and similar cases our
conditioned reflex will suffer, in a greater or lesser measure, and
finally disappear entirely.”*

Of particular significance is the fact that the operative-surgical

method worked out by Pavlov was regarded by him, in his own ter¬
minology, as a method of "physiological thinking.” Precisely because
of this he was able, at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the
20th century—the period when analytical physiology reached .full
bloom—to become one of the few adherents of the integrated study
of physiological processes. And it was not fortuitous that he linked
the development of the methods of integrated study of physiological

* I. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, Vol. Ill, pp. 110-11.

33
processes with the development of synthetical physiology. The subjec¬
tive experience of Pavlov as a scientist at that time is vividly described
by A. F. Samoilov in his reminiscences:
"On one occasion, shortly after I joined the laboratory, I was read¬
ing an article in the library of the Institute. Ivan Petrovich came in
and began to scan the latest magazines. I noticed that something had
upset him. He read and re-read the headings of articles and then he
exploded: 'We won’t get very far if we waste our time on questions
such as these!’ He threw the magazine on to the table and leaving
the room added: 'The very sight of it makes me sick!’

"Greatly puzzled, I immediately picked up the magazine that Ivan

Petrovich had thrown away and began to leaf through it. It con¬
tained articles devoted to the investigation of separate cells, muscles
and nerves; then articles discussed the nature of excitation and con¬
ductivity. To me at that time it seemed extremely interesting and
valuable. I confess that even now, thirty years later, I am of the
same opinion. The general physiology of tissue excitation is fully
confirmed and is not in need of any special advocacy. But I think
I know why Ivan Petrovich was so scathing and hostile towards the
above-mentioned trend in physiological research.
"In his view all investigations devoted to separate parts of the body
were divorced from the animal mechanism as a whole, from the entire
organism; he considered them too abstract and too distracting; in
his view, they were not of an urgent character. His talent took him
in an altogether different direction, and, fortunately for science, he
had the skill and the audacity to brush aside those trends in physiol¬
ogy which were out of his way. This approach enabled him to devote
himself more fully to the lines that attracted him most. The sphere in
which he was in his element was the animal as a whole and its inter¬
relation with the environment influencing it; and this preoccupation
reveals the pronounced biological inclination of Pavlov’s talent. Above
all he preferred experimentation with intact, non-narcotized animals,
which react normally to stimulation and are gay and cheerful.’’*

* A. F. Samoilov, Selected Articles and Speeches, pp. 94-95.

54
 Thus we see that Pavlov’s work was a striking example of experi¬
mental investigation of vital phenomena. He blazed new paths in this
direction and equipped physiologists with the method of integrated
study of physiological processes. But Pavlov’s significance as an experi¬
menter is not confined to this; a distinguishing feature is that he
closely connected theoretical analysis of the problems with practice,
the problems of physiology with those of medicine. The hours spent
with his pupils observing the work of the digestive glands and dis¬
closing the truly majestic picture of the law-governed development of
this process, gave Pavlov the naturalist the greatest satisfaction. He
wrote: "Indeed, the course of secretion under similar conditions has
now become truly stereotyped. The deep impression produced by such,
almost physical, precision in a complex vital process, is a pleasant
entertainment enjoyed during many hours of observation of the work¬
ing glands.’’** In 1899, in a speech dedicated to the memory of
S. P. Botkin, Pavlov again pointed to the "strikingly majestic picture’’
which opens up before the research worker observing the normal
course of the digestive process. Pavlov said:

"But should we, as experimenters,, be satisfied with this? I think

not. When we see deviations from the normal and delve deeply into
their mechanism, is it not natural to want to restore them to normal?
This and this alone is the only final criterion of the completeness of
our physiological knowledge and of our mastery of the subject.’’***
And as if concentrating his thought on the necessity of establishing
the closest contact between theory and practice, of verifying any
physiological theory by its practical application in medicine, Pavlov
went on to say: "The mechanic completes his apprenticeship by passing
a test which consists in assembling the mixed-up parts of the dis¬
mantled machine. This should hold for the physiologist too. Only
he who is able to restore the disordered course of life to normal can
say that he has acquired real knowledge of life.’’*

** I. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, Vol. II, p. 37.

*** Ibid. p. 354.
* Ibid.

35
 This manifest clarity of purpose, characteristic of Pavlov the
experimenter, helped him scientifically to ground experimental therapy
and lay the foundations for the Pavlovian tradition in physiology—
to study so as to be able to control the process. According to Pavlov,
experimental therapy is "in essence the verification of physiology.”

Here we come to an essential feature of the teaching of Pavlov,

who developed physiology in close connection with practice. Convinced
of the great significance of experimentation for the study of the proc¬
esses developing in a normal organism, Pavlov became a''true cham¬
pion of the experimental method in medicine. "Only by passing
through the fire of experiment will medicine as a whole become what
it should be, namely, a conscious and, hence, always purposefully
acting science. . . . Therefore, I make so bold as to predict that the
progress of medicine in this or any other country, in this or any
other scientific or educational medical establishment, depends on the
attention and care which the experimental branch of medicine enjoys
there.”** Consequently, it is not accidental that Pavlov’s laboratory
became an educational centre for the more advanced representatives
of medical science who came there to prepare their dissertations. The
hundreds of dissertations written in Pavlov’s laboratory became
valuable contributions to physiology and to experimental pathology and
therapy. Pavlov’s school produced many leading scientists not only
in theoretical physiology, but also in the clinical field. His dream of
creating an experimental base for medicine which would satisfy the
"craving of men for health and life” (^Pavlov) has been realized now,
thanks to the founding of the Institute of Experimental Medicine.
Later, there developed out of this Institute, in which Pavlov worked
right up until his death, the present U.S.S.R. Academy of Medical
Sciences.

Pavlov regarded the correlation between physiological theory and

clinical practice as an organic connection of two supplementary aspects:
not only physiological experimentation and the conclusions drawn

** Ibid., pp. 360, 364.

.36
therefrom help to understand the pathological process and the ways of
influencing it, but the pathological process, in its turn, is essential
for understanding the physiological processes. It was but natural that
physiological experimentation brought Pavlov to experimental therapy.
Summing up his experimental work in the sphere of studying the
digestive glands, Pavlov plainly stated: 'This, naturally, brings us to
experimental therapy. Discard the practical aim of experimental ther¬
apy and there remains a new and fruitful method of studying life,
because you approach it from a a new aspect, and in any case you will
be always filling the gaps in the theory of modern physiology.”* These
conclusions were the result of Pavlov’s profound biological comprehen¬
sion of the normal course and pathology of physiological processes. The
pathological process and the normal process are, in Pavlov’s view,
not dissociated phenomena, they are phenomena of one and the same
order.

'Throughout Pavlov’s scientific activity, observations, not only on

normal animals, but also on sick human beings and animals, served as
an inexhaustible source for his strictly scientific conclusions in physiol¬
ogy. The enormous significance of his observation of diseased organ¬
isms in forming the theory of conditioned reflexes, and particularly
in achieving comprehension of psychopathological states, is well
known. At first Pavlov carried out his observations on casual patients,
and then systematically, in hospital conditions; and he did this with
the same consistency and perseverance which characterized his work
in the physiological laboratory. Clinical cases stimulated and directed
his work of elaborating methods of investigation of physiological
processes in the normal organism—methods now regarded as being
classical.
For Pavlov a diseased organism was first of all an organism with
new relations established between its organs and systems as a result
of the illness; and from this point of view he appraised the signifi¬
cance of pathological cases for physiological observations. The organic
essence of his entire work was based on the premise clearly expressed

* Ibid., p. 354.

37
in the following proposition: "The domain of pathological phenomena
is an infinite series of all kinds of specific—i.e., such as do not occur
in the normal course of life—combinations of physiological phenom¬
ena. This, undoubtedly, is something like a series of physiological
experiments carried out by nature and life, frequently it is a combina¬
tion of phenomena of a kind that would not have entered the minds
of modern physiologists for a long time to come and which sometimes
could not even be reproduced deliberately by the technical means of
modern physiology. Hence, clinical cases will always be a rich source
of new and unexpected physiological facts. It is, therefore, natural
for the physiologist to desire a closer union between physiology and
medicine.”

Pavlov’s views on the essence of the profound biological law of

development-adaptation took shape in the course of his work in
the sphere of the physiology of blood circulation and digestion.

Already in his early works devoted to the nervous regulation of

blood circulation, Pavlov advanced for the first time the idea of the
reflex adaptation of cardiovascular activity. His work on this subject
was published in 1877 under the significant title: "Experimental
Data Relating to the Accommodative (adaptive—Kh. K.) Mechanism
of the Blood Vessels.” In our time the vast scientific and practical
problem of the reflex regulation of blood circulation under diverse
conditions of the vital activity of organisms and of their organs has
been elaborated in great detail; the sources of this elaboration can
be traced in the works of the physiologists I. F. Cyon, N. O.
Kovalevsky, A. S. Dogel, and especially in Pavlov’s work.

With the utmost thoroughness Pavlov developed the idea of the

adaptive character of physiological phenomena; in doing so he took
as his starting-point the numerous observations on the law-governed
responses of the glandular cells of the digestive tract to certain natural
stimuli acting on the digestive glands (bread, meat, milk), the
so-called alimentary stimuli he also based himself on his research
on the adaptation of the fermentative composition of the digestive
juices to one or another kind of prolonged diet. Pavlov first approached

58
 these problems when he analysed the rich experimental data obtained
by his co-worker Yablonsky who proved that the protein ferment units
in the pancreatic juice sharply increase under protracted meat feed¬
ing—a diet rich in protein—and then gradually diminish when the
animal is switched to milk and bread—a diet poor in protein. In
this connection Pavlov wrote:

"A more or less stable state of the gland, constantly intensified by

prolonging the given diet, could be changed repeatedly in one and
the same dog, in one or another direction by means of changing the
diet. This circumstance completely precluded the suspicion that in
our experiments there took place a certain spontaneous and irrevocable
change of the gland as a result of performing an operation or of
some other pathological cause.”*

But this was not the only thing that interested Pavlov; in apprais-
, ing the experimental data obtained by his colleagues, he, as a biolo¬
gist, came to broader conclusions of a general biological character.
He stated: "If the diet acts so sharply and powerfully on the chemical
nature of the gland, then probably, in the usual natural conditions or
under the influence of prolonged (lifetime) domestic routine (as, for
example, is often the case with various breeds of dogs), firm and
definite types of the pancreatic gland were to be developed. Our experi¬
mental data, as we see it, really furnish us with certain indications to
this effect. In absolutely identical conditions of feeding, the pancreatic
juice of different dogs in our laboratory often differs in respect to
contents of ferments.”**

We meet with these fundamental ideas of a general biological

character, expressed by Pavlov on the basis of the above-mentioned
research, in the subsequent long years of his work in the sphere of
the physiology of the higher nervous activity. Pavlov chiefly devoted
his attention to analysis of the processes which reveal a strict cor¬
relation between definite conditions of the environment and definite

* Ibid., p. 54.
** Ib/d.

39
forms of the organism’s reflex activity; at the same time he posed the
cjuestion of the possibility of developing new, so-called conditioned
reflexes in the individual lives of animals, underlying the historical
formation of complex phenomena of the animal’s adaptation to the
surrounding world. Here we come to the definition of the profound
theoretical essence of his teaching on conditioned reflexes.

The history of the theory of conditioned reflexes testifies to the

highly intricate and interesting path travelled by Pavlov and his
school in the course of shaping this great achievement of natural
science of the 20th century.

In a preface to the 5th edition (1932) of his book Twenty Years

of Objective Study of the Higher Nervous Activity (Behaviour) of
Animals Pavlov stated: "The present book is the living history of this
vast branch of human knowledge, and, I make bold to say, deals with
one of the urgent subjects in the elaboration of which this branch
is engaged. Here, as in the history of all things, many mistakes have
been made, inaccurate observations, wrongly arranged experiments
and ill-founded conclusions; but there have also been many edifying
instances when much of this was avoided or corrected, and, all in
all, there has been a steady accumulation of scientific truth.”
Indeed, when we read the Twenty Years of Objective Study . , .
article after article and paper after paper, we can clearly picture the
conditions of Pavlov’s work, the enthusiasm and loyalty of his col¬
leagues, the brilliant manifestations of his thought, his painstaking
work on the contradictions which emerged during the elaboration of
this complex problem, and the errors and doubts engendered in the
process of this work.
The beginning of this great scientific feat was the paper read by
Pavlov at the International Medical Congress in Madrid in April
1903. The paper was entitled "Experimental Psychology and Psycho¬
pathology in Animals.” Typical of the man are the simple and clear
opening words of his paper: "Regarding the language of facts as most
eloquent, I shall take the liberty of proceeding directly to the experi¬
mental material, which gives me the right to speak on the subject

40
of my present communication.” The audience assembled at the congress
probably anticipated that a paper with the afore-mentioned title
would abound in psychological and psychopathological terminology,
as well as in logical propositions, that it would describe cases of
pathological activity of the nervous systems of animals under experi¬
mental conditions. But Pavlov’s paper dealt with altogether different
questions, namely, with the results of observations on the work of
the salivary glands in the different conditions of physiological experi¬
ments. Of course, this paper both in regard to its formulation of the
problem and its factual material substantiating highly complex psych¬
ological problems, struck the congress as something completely new,
and it can be said without any exaggeration that it was like a bolt
from the blue.
We shall first dwell on the well-known fact that Pavlov’s work in
the sphere of the physiology of the higher nervous activity was closely
connected with his brilliant cycle of works on the physiology of the
digestive glands. A distinguishing feature of the research conducted
by Pavlov and his school in the sphere of physiology of digestion was
that they investigated with the utmost thoroughness the highly com¬
plex problems of the nervous, reflex regulation of the digestive glands.
But in the course of this extensive experimental work they came up
against the fact that the forms of the nervous regulation of digestive-
gland secretion are often conditioned not only by pure physiological
factors, but also by factors known as "psychical.” The attention of
Pavlov and his school was attracted by the fact that reflex influences
on the salivary glands exist not only when the alimentary stimuli are
in direct contact with the various sensory zones of the animal’s diges¬
tive tract, but also when the alimentary stimuli are at some distance
from the animal and act upon the nervous system not by their primary
but secondary properties (by means of signals, according to Pavlov)
and, in addition, through the system of sensory (or receiving, accord¬
ing to Pavlov) elements outside the digestive apparatus (eye, ear,
skin, etc.). It is interesting to recall that by the term "distant reflexes”
or "signalling reflexes” Pavlov originally described the type of reaction
which he later termed "conditioned reflexes.”

41
 The connection between Pavlov’s work in the sphere of the physiol¬
ogy of digestion and his work in the sphere of conditioned reflexes is
of a very broad character: they are united not only by their common
ideas but also by their common methodological principles. The per¬
fection which Pavlov attained in preparing animals for physiological
experiments after well-performed operations, and which enabled him
to preserve the integrity of the animal’s nervous connections and its
normal connections with the environment, was of great significance
in disclosing the actual relations in the digestive processes and made
possible a new approach to the study of the reflex relations of the
organism. It goes without saying that so long as this basic fact was
ignored in studying the work of the different glands of the digestive
tract, including the salivary and gastric glands, it was difficult to dis¬
cern and, what is still more important, to analyse the specific form
of the reflexes—the distant reflexes emerging only under definite con¬
ditions of the animal’s interrelations with the environment.
Pavlov approached this problem after a profound study of the
specific forms of secretory activity of the digestive glands which he
himself called "psychical secretion.’’ This term was used by him also
in his Lectures on the Work of the Principal Digestive Glands, pub¬
lished in 1897. In this book Pavlov details the most diverse cases of
psychical secretion; however, he did not at that time pose the question
of the possibility of analysing this form of secretion, too, as a specific
manifestation of reflex activity.
In the second half of the nineties of the last century Pavlov started
in earnest his experimental analysis of the essence of "psychical
secretion.’’ Although his observations revealed this kind of secretion
both in the gastric and salivary glands, he concentrated his attention on
the latter. By that time his closest colleague, D. L. Glinsky, had elabo¬
rated the splendid method of a constant salivary gland fistula—a
method which made it possible to perform successful experiments
on the dog’s salivary glands over a period of months and even years.*

* D. L. Glinsky, Experiments on the Work of the Salivary Glands (I. P.

Pavlov’s paper on them). Proceedings of the Russian Medical Society in St.
Petersburg, 1895, 6lst year.

42
 The very first experiments, carried out by Doctor S. G. Wolfson in
accordance with Pavlov’s instructions, showed that the mere sight of
food was sufficient to obtain a secretion of saliva. The most striking
thing in these experiments was that the quality and quantity of saliva
varied depending on what the animals were shown, whether edible or
inedible substances. In other words, the salivary secretion caused by
the sight of food reproduced, although on a somewhat smaller scale,
the salivary secretion which takes place when the mouth is directly
irritated by respective substances. Such results were obtained when
natural food substances (meat, milk, dry bread, meat-powder) were
placed in the mouth or shown to the animal.

Similar experiments were carried out by another of Pavlov’s col¬

leagues, Doctor A. T. Snarsky, who obtained very interesting facts.
For instance, the repeated introduction into the dog’s mouth of acid,
which was coloured black, invariably produced profuse salivation.
Afterwards, when Snarsky introduced water into the mouth, also
coloured black, it produced the same abundant secretion of saliva. A
similar effect was obtained when the animal was shown a bottle con¬
taining black liquid. The conclusion was quite unexpected for that
time: "The black water began to stimulate the glands from a distance
only when coloured (black) acid had been preliminarily introduced
into the dog’s mouth.”

Another experiment consisted in the following: when the dog with

constant salivary gland fistula smelled for the first time in its life
the odour of anise oil or of any other odorous substance, it did not
react with a salivary secretion. But when, simultaneously with the
effect of the odour, the oil was brought into contact with the oral
cavity, causing a strong local irritation, the odour alone began subse¬
quently to produce a secretion of saliva.

Snarsky erroneously interpreted the results of these experiments as

a manifestation of the animals’ specific psychical activity, and he sug¬
gested taking into consideration the thoughts, desires and emotions
of the animals undergoing the experiment. Discussing with Pavlov
the results of his experiments he emphasized the great significance of

43
the dog’s inner life and declared that the animal’s behaviour was a
manifestation of its psychical reaction, that the salivary gland merely
reflected a certain inner state of the animal which was hardly acces¬
sible to physiological investigation.
These experiments date from the very beginning of the 20th cen¬
tury—Snarsky’s dissertation was published in 1901. By then Pavlov
had become firmly convinced that it was necessary to replace the con¬
cept of psychical secretion with very definite physiological concepts.
Hence his heated argument with Snarsky. The latter stubbornly insisted
on his subjective anthropomorphic interpretation of phenomena and
finally had to leave Pavlov’s laboratory.

The more than thirty years’ work of Pavlov and his school clearly
showed that, apart from inborn reflexes, which rest on the anatomical
connection of the central nervous system and of its conductors with
the peripheral organs (muscles, glands), there are additional reflexes;
the latter may arise in the individual life of the animal as a result
of the coincidence of the action of various, to a certain moment indif¬
ferent, stimuli coming from the environment, with stimuli that are
unconditioned agents of one or another reaction (secretory, motor,
etc.). This is the principal theoretical premise for the elaboration of
the methods underlying Pavlov’s theory of conditioned reflexes, accord¬
ing to which such indifferent agents of alimentary reaction, as light,
sound, pricking, etc., become conditioned stimuli of the digestive
glands if they coincide in time with the action of the unconditioned
alimentary stimulus of the food itself.

From the general biological point of view the experiment carried

out by Pavlov’s pupil Tsitovich are of special interest. The results
obtained by him were published in his dissertation entitled "The Origin
and Development of Natural Conditioned Reflexes” and supplied, for
the first time, the clearest experimental corroboration of Pavlov’s
views on the existence of two types of reflexes—inborn, or uncondi¬
tioned, and individually acquired, or conditioned. Tsitovich proved that
pups with constant salivary gland fistulae, kept on a milk diet for a
long period, acquired complex forms of conditioned reflex connec-

44
tions with everything that had a bearing on milk. But the appearance,
colour and sounds connected with other foods and the conditions of
their feeding, in particular such strong alimentary stimuli as meat
and bread, did not evoke conditioned salivary secretion in the animals
until they were given a meal of meat or bread. After their first meal
of these substances the odour of meat or bread sufficed to evoke a
profuse conditioned secretion of saliva.
Pavlov’s discovery of conditioned reflexes, his description of new
types of the animal’s nervous connections with the conditions of life
(conditioned reflex connections), represents a great step forward in
the development of the theory of reflexes in physiology. Whereas
throughout the more than two and a half centuries since Descartes
introduced into physiology the concept of reflexes, the reflex had been
regarded as the reaction of the animal’s organs or of its entire organ¬
ism to certain stimuli, the physiologists Sechenov and Pavlov, on the
basis of anatomically fixed nervous paths, raised and experimentally
solved a problem of exceptional significance—the reflex connections
of animal organisms bearing an adaptive character and emerging and
vanishing during the individual development of the organisms in
complete unison with the conditions of existence. Pavlov proved that
the reflexes discovered by him are, according to the mechanism of
their formation, of a coupling nature, being the result of the coupling
of connections between two foci of excitation in the brain, and that
they are also temporary, because they vanish under definite conditions.

That the problem could be formulated in this way is due to the

school of physiology the founder of which I. M. Sechenov, as early
as 1861, advanced the thesis that "the organism cannot exist without
the external environment which supports it, hence, the scientific
definition of the organism must also include the environment by which
it is influenced.’’*
Proceeding from this thesis and from the Darwinist interpretation
of the laws of development of life, Sechenov asserted that there are

* I. M. Sechenov, Vegetative Processes in Animal Life, "Medical Herald,”

No. 26, 1861.

45
in the first place inborn reflexes (effected on the basis of anatomical
reflex paths which exist at the moment of birth) and acquired reflexes,
elaborated in the course of the individual life experience, and that,
in the second place, all the more complex forms of nervous activity
are, by the nature of their origin, reflexes.
Sechenov waged a bitter struggle against those physiologists who,
unable to comprehend the unity of the organism and the environment,
as well as the evolution of the nervous activity, were inclined to
endow even the spinal cord with a soul, since they were unable to
explain the origin, development and action of the spinal cord reflexes
co-ordinated for the given conditions of existence.

That which I. M. Sechenov theoretically substantiated and which he

began to elaborate experimentally, was completed by I. P. Pavlov
in his theory of conditioned reflexes and in his works on the reflex
nature of the cerebral activity.

The reflex theory is, above all, a biological theory. According to

Pavlov, the development of a conditioned reflex is first of all a biolog¬
ical process which creates the prerequisite for proper metabolism and
exchange of energy between the organism and the external environ¬
ment. Abundant experimental data revealed to Pavlov the tremendous
role played by the nervous system in the basic biological process—in
the process of metabolism, Pavlov and his school demonstrated much
more convincingly and with greater completeness than anybody before
them, that the nervous system plays a leading part in the processes
of reception and digestion of food, in its procurement, as well as
in the delicate processes of the chemical transformation of the nutri¬
tious substances in the organism. The brilliant discovery made by
Pavlov is that this continuous process of metabolism and exchange of
energy between the organism and the external environment is effected
not only by means of a complex of inborn nervous-reflex acts; in the
course of the animal’s individual development, in each concrete case
and situation, there arise new, acquired nervous connections condi¬
tioned by the environment (temporary connections, conditioned
reflexes) which, in the given conditions, make the interrelations of the

46
animal and the external environment most optimal. In his paper
"Natural Science and the Brain” Pavlov defined with the utmost
clarity the biological significance of the conditioned reflexes dis¬
covered by him. He wrote:
"The most essential connection between the animal organism and
the surrounding world is that brought about by certain chemical
substances which constantly enter into the composition of the given
organism, i.e., the food connection. In the lower forms of the animal
world it is the direct contact between food and the animal organism or
vice versa, which chiefly leads to alimentary metabolism. In the higher
forms these relations become more numerous and remote. Now odours,
sounds and pictures attract the animals to food substances already in
wide regions of the surrounding world. . . . Along with this variety
and remoteness, there takes place a substitution of the temporary for
the constant connection between the external agents and the organism;
first, because, essentially, the remote connections are of a temporary
and changeable nature, and secondly, because, due to their variety
and number, they cannot be covered as constant connections, even by
the most capacious apparatus. The given food object may be now in
one place, now in another; it may, consequently, be accompanied at
one time by certain phenomena, at another time by quite different
ones; it may be part of one or another system of the external world,
and therefore now these now other natural phenomena must tempo¬
rarily serve as stimulating agents producing in the organism a positive
motor (in the broad sense of this word) reaction to this object.”*

Pavlov regarded the conditioned, or temporary, acquired reflexes

as an organ of the animal organism especially adapted constantly to
effect a more and more perfect equilibration of the organism with
the environment—an organ for the appropriate and immediate reaction
to most diverse combinations and fluctuations of phenomena in the
surrounding world, and to a degree, a special organ for the con¬
tinuous development of the animal organism. Pavlov said: "The
basic functions of the higher part of the central nervous system are

* See present edition, p. 210.

47
the coupling of new and temporary connections between the external
phenomena and the work of the different organs, and the decompos¬
ing by the organism of the complex of the external environment into
its separate elements, that is, functions of coupling and analysing
mechanisms.

"By means of these activities there are established finer and more
delicate adjustments of the animal organism to the environment, or,
in other words, a more complete equilibration of the system of mat¬
ter and energy which constitute the animal organism, with the matter
and energy of the environment.”**

The method of conditioned reflexes opened fundamentally new

ways for studying the function of the brain, namiely, the cerebral cortex
and its different functional parts. Pavlov radically revised the views
then prevailing on the physiology of the cerebral cortex and based
this important branch of physiology on new principles. The old static
concepts of the localization of functions in definite, strictly confined
sections of the brain were superseded by Pavlov’s absolutely original
concept of the functions of the cerebral cortex. Of particular signifi¬
cance in this concept is the theory of the so-called analysers. By
analysers of the cerebral cortex Pavlov implied the "head end” of
the receiving sensory nerve elements. Pavlov’s theory of analysers
threw new light on the aims and methods of the physiology of the
sense organs as the physiology of the central and peripheral receiving
mechanisms, as the physiology of analysers.

The peculiarities of the process of excitation and inhibition in

the cerebral cortex were disclosed and elucidated on an absolutely
new basis; Pavlov and his school experimentally proved the applicability
to the cortex of the remarkable proposition advanced by N. E. Weden-
sky, one of I. M. Sechenov’s disciples, concerning excitation and inhi¬
bition as stages of one and the same process.

Pavlov founded the biological theory of sleep and the remarkable

theory of protective inhibition as a physiological method of mobilizing

** Ibid., p. 221.

48
the defensive reactions by means of regulating the processes of excita¬
tion and inhibition in the cerebral cortex. In Pavlov’s lifetime highly
valuable data were obtained on the methods of therapeutic regulation
of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex
(by means of bromide and caffeine).

The last fifteen years of Pavlov’s life (i.e., from the early twenties)
were the best and most fruitful years of his school. By that time the
number of his followers had grown considerably; they were able to
establish their own, independent laboratories; considerable funds were
also allocated by the Government to the existing Pavlov laboratories for
the purpose of extending them and supplying them with better equip¬
ment; in addition, the famous Koltushi Biological Station was built
specially for Pavlov’s research.

The turning-point in all this was the decree signed by Lenin in

1921 and providing for all the facilities needed for his work. Lenin
placed Maxim Gorky at the head of a special commission appointed
to carry out a number of measures designed to secure normal conditions
for Pavlov in the hard times of the early twenties.

Considerable sums were allocated by the Government for the

Koltushi Biological Station, where every opportunity was provided for
the work of Pavlov and his school. They devoted special attention to
problems connected with the evolution of the higher nervous activity.
Here, over a period of ten years, they conducted their well-known
investigation of the higher nervous activity of anthropoids.*

In 1922 Pavlov’s immortal work Twenty Years of Objective Study

of the Higher Nervous Activity (Behaviour) of Animals was pub¬
lished. This was a symposium of articles, papers, lectures and speeches
devoted to this important branch of natural science—a branch elabo¬
rated by Pavlov and his numerous followers. The book was soon trans¬
lated into a number of foreign languages.

* Prior to this work and parallel with it the problems of conditioned reflex
activity of apes were thoroughly studied in the Sukhumi Subtropical branch of
the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine.

49
 In the spring of 1924 Pavlov delivered a series of lectures at the
Army Medical Academy before a large audience of physicians and
naturalists. These lectures summed up the work carried out by Pavlov
and his school for a period of almost twenty-five yeaxs in the sphere
of the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres. Before sending them to
the printer Pavlov spent more than one and a half years editing his
lectures. In 1927 his fundamental book Lectures on the Work of the
Cerebral Hemisphere appeared in Leningrad; together with Twenty
Years of Objective Study . . . this book can be regarded as a major
contribution to the development of the natural science of the 20th
century.
During the Soviet period new trends have appeared in Pavlov’s
teaching on conditioned reflexes. A number of his followers have
elaborated a new branch of the theory of the higher nervous activity
—the comparative physiology of conditioned reflexes; they have
disclosed the common and differing features in the formation of con¬
ditioned reflexes, and the functions of definite sections of the brain
in different animals under the peculiar conditions of their existence
(oecological peculiarities).
According to Pavlov’s designs, the major problems of the develop¬
ment of conditioned reflexes, in the light of the problems relating to
the evolution of functions of the nervous system, were to be elabo¬
rated at the biological station founded by him in Koltushi.
There has been opened a new vast field of conditioned reflex con¬
nections, which are established on the basis of reflex connections
between the internal organs and the cerebral cortex (the work of
K. M. Bykov and his colleagues). The extensive application by
physiologists of modern delicate electro-physiological methods in
investigating the cerebral cortex must be regarded as a considerable
achievement of the objective study of the laws governing the forma¬
tion of temporary connections.
The theory of conditioned reflexes has been theoretically advanced
by Pavlov’s followers; it has found wide practical application in ana¬
lysing the various disturbances of the nervous activity and in elaborat¬
ing ways and means of restoring it to normal.

50
 The development of the theory of higher nervous activity is
seen in the contribution made by Pavlov himself, for instance, his
broad biological generalizations of the role of conditioned reflexes, his
elucidation of the specific properties of the human conditioned-reflex
activity, his new principles in the experimental therapy of nervous
disturbances, and his vigorous struggle against idealism.

In appraising the significance of conditioned reflexes Pavlov, as a

naturalist, invariably took up major problems of general biological
significance. For example, when classifying the reflexes, he stated that
the inborn reflexes are the reflexes of species, whereas the acquired
reflexes are those of the individual. "From the purely practical point
of view, we call the first reflex unconditioned and the second—con¬
ditioned. It is highly probable (and there are indications to this effect)
that newly formed reflexes, given the same conditions of life in the
course of successive generations, invariably become constant reflexes.
Consequently, this must be one of the acting mechanisms in the
evolution of the animal organism.”*

In his last, summary article "The Conditioned Reflex” written for

the Big Medical Encyclopaedia in 1935, Pavlov touched on the gen¬
eral biological significance of conditioned reflexes; he pointed out that
conditioned reflexes provide all that is required for the well-being of
the organism, as well as the species.

In the speech which he delivered at the International Physiological

Congress in 1913, Pavlov resolutely stated: "It can be accepted that
at a later stage some of the newly formed conditioned reflexes are
transformed into unconditioned reflexes by heredity.”**

In the early twenties N. P. Studentsov initiated a special investiga¬

tion in Pavlov’s laboratory with the aim of verifying the correctness
of his idea. In 1924 the American geneticist Morgan came out against
these experiments and their interpretation.

* See present edition, pp. 221-22.

** I. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, Vol. Ill, p. 217.

51
 However, Pavlov did not relinquish his elaboration of the problem
in this biological direction; on the contrary, he continued it, adhering
to his fundamental principle that the conditioned reflex is one of the
"acting mechanisms in the evolution of the animal organism,” the
transforming of individually acquired conditioned reflexes into uncon¬
ditioned, hereditary ones.

Here begins a new stage in Pavlov’s activity—study of the genetics

of the higher nervous activity. This new field of research, the bedrock
of the work of the Koltushi Biological Station, was designed to give
final shape to Pavlov’s complex concepts of the biological significance
of conditioned reflexes as the basis for the development of inborn
(unconditioned) reflexes.

Pavlov and his school elaborated with the utmost thoroughness the
typology of the behaviour of different dogs and utilized these observa¬
tions as a biological base for experiments with different animals and
for eventual conclusions in each particular case. In the above-men¬
tioned summary article "The Conditioned Reflex,” he pointed out that
"the study of conditioned reflexes in numerous dogs gradually led to
the idea of different nervous systems in different animals, until, finally,
sufficient data were obtained to systematize the nervous systems accord¬
ing to some of their basic properties.”

"Thus,” wrote Pavlov, "type is a congenital, constitutional form

of the nervous activity of the animal—the genotype. But since the
animal is exposed from the very day of its birth to the most varied
influences of the environment, to which it must inevitably respond
by definite actions which often become more and more fixed and,
finally, established for life, the ultimate nervous activity of the animal
(phenotype, character) is an alloy of the characteristics of type and
the changes produced by the external environment.”*

These Pavlovian ideas laid the foundation for a grand plan for
the further investigation of the animal’s higher nervous activity by
the methods of genetics and physiology and opened up new prospects

* See present edition, p. 260.

52
for this sphere of research. Death prevented Pavlov from accomplish¬
ing this task as fully as he had elaborated a number of other branches
of physiology—digestion, blood circulation, conditioned reflexes and the
trophic role of the nervous system.

Pavlov’s theoretical generalizations disclosing the nature of the

higher nervous activity culminated in his concept of the first and
second signalling systems, of which the latter was regarded by him
as inherent only in the human brain.

He said: "When the developing animal world reached the stage of

man, an extremely important addition was made to the mechanisms
of the nervous activity. In the animal, reality is signalized almost
exclusively by stimulations and by the traces they leave in the cerebral
hemispheres, which come directly to the special cells of the visual
auditory or other receptors of the organism. This is what we, too,
possess as impressions, sensations and notions of the world around
us, both the natural and the social—with the exception of the words
heard or seen. This is the first system of signals of reality common
to man and animals. But speech constitutes a second signalling system
of reality which is peculiarly ours, being the signal of the first signals.
On the one hand, numerous speech stimulations have removed us
from reality, and we must always remember this in order not to distort
our attitude to reality. On the other hand, it is precisely speech which
has made us human, a subject on which I need not dwell in detail
here. However, it cannot be doubted that the fundamental laws gov¬
erning the activity of the first signalling system must also govern
that of the second, because it, too, is activity of the same plervous
issue.”**

These exceptionally important ideas were brilliantly expressed by

Pavlov in the article "The Conditicrtied Reflex,” written for the Big
Medical Encyclopaedia. Before sending the article to the Encyclopae¬
dia Pavlov read it at one of his regular "Wednesdays.” According to
one of his closest colleagues, those present at the gathering were

** Ibid., p. 262.

53
struck by the depth and originality of the problems raised by Pavlov.
Most striking, of course, were his ideas concerning the second signal¬
ling system; they opened before his followers new avenues of research
in the sphere of the physiology of the higher nervous activity, the way
indicated to future generations of physiologists by their great teacher.
Pavlov’s ideas concerning the second signalling system were histori¬
cally related to the remarkable psycho-physiological views of I. M. Se-
chenov who advanced the profound problem of objective thinking.
Sechenov stressed at the same time that abstract thought arises in the
course of human interrelations with surrounding objects, and although
their verbal expression is sometimes far removed from the original
object reality, it is, nevertheless, profoundly connected with it.
The problem raised by Pavlov of the second signalling system and
the highly important question of the interrelation between the first
and second signalling systems are of exceptional significance for the
physiology of the higher nervous activity, as well as for psychology,
pedagogics and clinical medicine. At the same time the solution of
this problem, to the extent that it concerns man, his words, speech and
thought, goes far beyond the bounds of physiology.
The facts obtained by Pavlov and the generalizations made by him
in the sphere of conditioned reflexes which he had discovered, appeared
at the beginning of the 20th century as a new and powerful corrobora¬
tion of the materialistic view of the unity of mental and physical
manifestations of the physiological foundation of the complex mani¬
festations of behaviour and consciousness. This explains why the
teaching was so ardently supported and developed in the young Soviet
State.
Among the critics of Pavlov’s teaching was Charles Sherrington,
leading British physiologist. In London, in a conversation with Pavlov,
he said: "You know, your conditioned reflexes would hardly be
popular in Britain because of their materialistic flavour.” In this way
Sherrington openly declared his negative attitude to the theory of
conditioned reflexes, which to him, as a representative of idealistic
philosophy, was unacceptable because it was a materialistic theory.
Sherrington proclaimed that thought, emotions, etc., are not sub¬
ordinated to matter and to the concept of energy, that they are beyond
it, and consequently beyond the confines of natural sciences.
Pavlov entered into heated polemics with scientists in many
countries. Highly appraising Pierre Janet as a neuropathologist, Pavlov
at the same time criticized him for his psychological views: "Of course
he is an animist, i.e., he believes in a specific substance which is not
subject to any laws and which is unknowable.”* For years Pavlov
carried on a heated discussion with the American Lashley. He sharply
criticized the so-called Gestalt-psychologists—Woodworth and others.
Pavlov never lost confidence in the victory of materialism over
idealism. In 1932, in Rome, the great Russian materialist-physiologist
declared from the rostrum of the International Congress:
"I am convinced that an important stage in the development of
human thought is approaching a stage when the physiological and
the psychological, the objective and the subjective, will really merge,
when the painful contradiction between our mind and our body and
their contraposition will either actually be solved or disappear in a
natural way.”**
Pavlov passionately combated idealism, which maintained that the
immortal soul and the mortal soma (body) are disunited and funda¬
mentally opposed. Carrying on the traditions of his teacher I. M.
Sechenov, Pavlov founded the theory of conditioned reflex connections,
which in his view were indispensable for the maintenance of individual
life and for the development of the species. In the course of more
than fifty years’ work in the sphere of physiology, Pavlov took as his
starting-point the principle of active intervention in physiological
processes. According to him, the aim of the scientist is to "control”
physiological phenomena; the physiologist must always bear in mind
the interests of practical medicine and experimentally elaborate means
for restoring to normal the vital processes deranged by illness.
Kh. S. Koshtoyants

* See present edition, p. 563.

** Ibid., p. 286.

55
IVAN PETTROVICH PAVLOV

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
 ’^Vl

✓
I was born in the town of Ryazan in the year 1849 into
the family of a priest. I received my secondary education at
the^ local theological seminary, which I recall with grati¬
tude. We had a number of excellent teachers. One of them
was the priest Feofilakt Antonovich Orlov, a man of lofty
ideals. In general, in the seminary at that time (I do not
know how it was afterwards) one could follow one’s own
intellectual inclinations, which was not the case, regrettably
so, in the notorious Tolstoy gymnasiums* (and, I think,
also in the present ones). One could lag in a given subject
and get on in another, but this did not threaten one with
trouble, including expulsion; in point of fact it focused at¬
tention on one, and gave rise to speculation about the tal¬
ents and abilities of the student in question.
Influenced by the literature of the sixties, and particu¬
larly by Pisarev, our intellectual interests turned to natural
science, and many, myself included, decided to take this sub¬
ject at the University.
In 1870 I entered the Petersburg University and studied
in the natural history section of the physics and mathe¬
matics faculty. The faculty was in its heyday at the time.
We had a number of professors with great names in sci¬
ence, men who were outstanding as lecturers. I chose animal

* Named after D. Tolstoy, tsarist Minister of Public Education,

who converted the gymnasiums into scholastic schools with barrack¬
like discipline.—Ed.

59
physiology for my major course and took chemistry as a
minor. We physiologists were tremendously impressed by
Cyon. We were fascinated by his ingeniously simple expo¬
sition of the most complex physiological questions and his
skill in conducting experiments. One can never forget such
a teacher. I did my first physiological work under his tuition.
In 1875, after obtaining the degree of Candidate of Nat¬
ural Sciences, I enrolled in the third-year course of the Med-
ico-Chirurgical Academy. I did so not for the purpose of be¬
coming a physician, but with the idea that after getting the
degree of doctor of medicine, I would qualify for a chair
in physiology. I must say, however, that at the time this
plan seemed a vain dream because a professorship ap¬
peared as something unattainable, incredible.
When I entered the Academy I was to become assistant
to Prof. Cyon (he read lectures on physiology at this Acad¬
emy too) in place of S. I. Chernov, who had to go abroad.
But an incredible thing happened: the brilliant physiologist
was expelled from the Academy. After some time I obtained
a position as assistant to Professor K. N. Ustimovich, lec¬
turer on physiology at the Veterinary Institute. When Pro¬
fessor Ustimovich left the Institute—in 1878 I think—I en¬
tered the laboratory attached to Professor S. P. Botkin’s
clinic, where I worked for many years after taking a course
at the Institute for the Perfectiorr of Physicians, and after my
subsequent two years’ sojourn abroad; I remained there up
to the time I obtained a chair. Despite certain unfavour¬
able circumstances in this laboratory, the chief of which
were, of course, its scanty means, I consider that the time
I spent there was most beneficial for my future in science.
First of all I had complete independence and the opportu¬
nity to devote myself entirely to laboratory work (I had
no duties in the clinic itself). I worked without distinguish¬
ing what came within the range of my duties and what with¬
in the range of others. For months and years I participated
with my entire laboratory work in the researches of my
colleagues.

60
 But I constantly profited by this work: I had an ever grow¬
ing practice in physiological reasoning, in the broad sense
of this word, as well as in laboratory technique. Besides,
there were the always interesting and instructive (though,
unfortunately, very rare) conversations with Sergei Petro¬
vich Botkin. I prepared my thesis on the cardiac nerves in
this clinic, and it was there, upon returning from abroad,
that I began my research into digestion, which later won
me considerable fame abroad. Both these researches were
conceived by me quite independently.
My journey abroad was of great importance, above all,
because it enabled me to make the acquaintance of such
scientists as Heidenhain and Ludwig—men who devoted
their whole life, with all its pleasures and sorrows, exclusive¬
ly to science.
Until 1890, when I obtained a chair, I, now married and
the father of a son, had always been hard up. However,
thanks to the help of friends, as well as to my passion for
physiology, I cannot say that this situation caused me any
undue worry.
Finally, at the age of forty-one I was given a chair, my
own laboratory, and filled two posts simultaneously: I was
nominated professor of pharmocology (afterwards physi¬
ology) at the Military Medical Academy, and Head of the
Physiological Department at the Institute of Experimental
Medicine. Thus I suddenly found myself with ample finan¬
cial means and every possibility for carrying out in my own
laboratory any research work I liked. Before this the con¬
stant necessity to pay for every experimental animal, at a
time when there was a scarcity of financial means, told heav¬
ily on laboratory work.
Since then life has gone quite smoothly, marked with or¬
dinary laboratory and family events. The only thing which
grieved me very much for a full decade was the strained
atmosphere in the Military Medical Academy caused by its
late chief.

61
 In conclusion I must say that looking back on my life I
would describe it as being happy and successful. I have re¬
ceived all that can be demanded of life: the complete real¬
ization of the principles with which I began life. I dreamed of
finding happiness in intellectual work, in science—and I
found it. I wanted to have a kind person as a companion
in life and I found this companion in my wife Sara Vasi-
lievna, nee Karchevskaya, who patiently endured all the
hardships of our existence before my professorship, al¬
ways encouraged my scientific aspirations and who devoted
herself to our family just as I devoted myself to the labo¬
ratory. I have renounced practicality in life with its cunning
and not always irreproachable ways, and I see no reason for
regretting this; on the contrary, precisely in this I find now
certain consolation.
Above alt I am forever grateful to my father and mother;
they taught me to live a simple, unassuming life and made
it possible for me to get a higher education.

62
 II
WORKS ON BLOOD CIRCULATION
AND THE TROPHIC ACTION
OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
 [AN ABSTRACT OF A PAPER
BY V. N. VELIKY AND I. P. PAVLOVio]

V- N. Veliky and I. P. Pavlov have given an exposition

of their joint works: a) The Influence of the Laryngeal
Nerves on Blood Circulation,]:)) The Centripetal Accelerators
of the Heart-Beat.
On the basis of experiments they have reached conclu¬
sions that are the opposite of those drawn Iby Sohiff; they
cannot, therefore, admit that there are in the laryngeal
nerves of the dog fibres accelerating the heart-beat and
emanating from the n. accessorius Willissi,^* and have con¬
firmed the experiments of Bezold and Cyon, which showed
that the accelerating nerves come from the spinal cord
through the ganglion stellatum.^2 jj^jg viewpoint is con¬
firmed not only by their first work, but also by the second,
which is not yet completed; it follows from the latter that
there are centripetal accelerating nerves, which can be -
traced as follows: one of the nerve bundles proceeding from
the heart enters the lower cervical ganglion in the angle
formed by the n. laryngeus inferior and the n. vagus;^*
thence it turns into the ganglion stellatum and then, judg¬
ing by one observation, it goes to the brain. The irritation
of the central end of this nerve causes acceleration of the
heart-beat. Consequently, it can be assumed that this is a
sensory nerve and that its action on the heart is of a reflex
character.

5—773 65
 m>€>^

EXPERIMENTAJ. DATA CONCERNING

THE ACCOMMODATING MECHANISM
OF THE BLOOD VESSELSi^

(physiological laboratory
or PROFESSOR A. O. USTIMOVICH IN ST. PETERSBURG)

In la whole number of articles received in recent years

from Professor Ludwig’s* laboratory in Leipzig many of
the outstanding properties of blood circulation have been
touched upon and experimentally elucidated.^® Thanks to
these highly valuable experiments it has become known that
1) adaptability to larger or smaller amounts of blood is in¬
herent in the vascular tube, the average blood pressure not
showing any prolonged fluctuation over a considerable
period; 2) this adaptability is of a nervous origin.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that this opens up a
new field for further investigation. No matter how signifi¬
cant the above-mentioned research may be, the elucidation
of the mechanisms governing the adaptability of the blood
vessels, as well as of their immediate properties, still re¬
mains a matter for future research.
These considerations have prompted us to carry out a
number of investigations of the role of certain nerves in
the accommodation of the blood vessels. But with the pub¬
lication in the meantime of the results of various investiga-

* Collected Papers of the Leipzig Physiological Institute, 1873,

1874, 1875. (Papers by Tappeiner, Worm-Miiller and Lesser.)

66
 tions relating to the action of the vaso-dilatory nervous
system, part of our own work provided for in our original
plan of investigation, nad to be dropped; still, this field of
research proved extensive enough for our investigations as
well.
Below we shall dwell only on one of a series of experi¬
ments the results of which will be published later. But we
believe that this particular case, due to its promising sig¬
nificance, speaks for itself.
When numberless facts convinced us that the curve of the
blood pressure in a curarized animal’** cannot be always
compared with the normal curve, and that in all cases with¬
out exception the given curve in an intoxicated animal
undergoes certain fluctuations evoked by known and un¬
known causes, we deemed it necessary to carry out our first
investigations on non-intoxicated, intact dogs. The dog
selected for the purpose was tamed to such a degree that
when the operation was being performed and the blood
pressure taken, it lay perfectly still, tied to the opera¬
tion board. Because of this we obtained curves of blood
pressure which, in respect of evenness, can be regarded as
model.
The manometer was as a rule connected with the artery
which lies almost at the surface of the inside of the knee
joint. Only two or three minutes are needed to bring the
artery out and the operation is absolutely painless. The
pressure in the art. cruralis was taken only once. The
animal was well fed and given drink twenty-four hours be¬
fore the experiment; twelve hours before the operation it
was given drink once more.
After the blood pressure had been taken under these con¬
ditions, we began to feed the animal with dry bread or
dried meat; the blood pressure was taken at different inter¬
vals after the feeding. It was established that the maximum
decline of blood pressure (including that in the art. cruralis)
reached only 10 mm. Hg.

5* 67

«
 Sometimes comparative measurements of the iblood pres¬
sure within twenty-four hours after the feeding, recorded
no changes whatever. It should be further pointed out that
the pressure remained unchanged for 20-30 minutes after
feeding and only then began to decline. These results once
again confirmed the data obtained by Tappeiner, Worm-Miil-
ler and Lesser, according to which, in a normal state of the
organism, too, there is, apparently, a tendency towards re¬
tention of average pressure. As is known, the above-men¬
tioned states produce conditions that should have consider¬
ably contributed to a decline of blood pressure, namely, an
appreciable dilation of the visceral arteries and secretion
of large quantities of digestive juices from the blood flow;
meanwhile the decline was a mere 10 mm. and sometimes
the pressure even remained unchanged. Hence, the ques¬
tion arises: what kind of mechanisms maintain this equi¬
librium? Proceeding from the above-mentioned observations
by Ludwig’s pupils on the accommodation of the vascular
tube, we considered it necessary first of all to find an an¬
swer to this question: is it really the case that the constric¬
tion of the blood vessels alone is responsible for this equi¬
librium of the blood pressure? Everything could have been
accounted for simply by stating that simultaneously with
dilation of the visceral vessels, there would be constriction
of the vessels of other parts of the body, for example, of
the skin, muscles, etc. It is possible that in these condi¬
tions there is a two-way reflex action- of food, stimulating
both the vaso-dilatory visceral nerves and the vaso-con-
strictory nerves of other regions. As is known, stimulation
of the sensory cutaneous nerve evokes dilation of the cuta¬
neous vessels and at the same time constriction of the
visceral vessels. We had also to take into account the as¬
sumption that the reverse could have taken place, namely,
that to stimulation of the sensory viscenal nerves of the
abdomen the abdominal vessels could have reacted with
dilation, and the cutaneous vessels, on the contrary, with
constriction.

68

*
 We considered it important first of all experimentally to
elucidate whether constriction of the cutaneous vessels is
really caused Iby stimuliation of the sensory viscerial nerves.
We chose the ear of la rabbit as the most suitable object
for our observations. Dissection of the internal organs
served as a stimulus; we gave preference to this method
over the application of electric land other stimuli because,
above all, we wanted to reproduce as much as possible
the conditions brought on by mechanical stimulation by
food. In this respect electric stimuli seemed to us least
suitable.
Our expectations were soon justified by the experiment.
Each time the stretching of the intestinal loops out of the
labdominnl cavity of a curarized rabbit under artificial respi¬
ration caused constriction of the ear vessels, and this persist¬
ed for some time even after the peritoneum had been closed.
Now it was necessary to preclude any suspicion of a passive
reflux of blood from the ear vessels to the abdominial cavity,
since it could be said that, given active hyperaemia of the
abdominal vessels as a consequence of active dilation, the
rabbit’s ear revealed passive anaemia. Two kinds of exper¬
iments were carried out in order to refute this objection.
In one case the cervical sympathicus was sectioned on one
side and the effect of the dissection of the intestines on
both ears, that is, on the intact and paralyzed vessels, was
compared. In the other case, together with this compara¬
tive observation on the vascular lumen of both ears, the
blood pressure in the art. carotis was measured.
Both series of experiments definitely proved that the con¬
striction of vessels in the rabbit’s ear under the dissection
of the abdominal cavity is caused by a reflex transmission
of the stimulation, since in the ear, on the side where the
sympathicus was sectioned, no change whatever was ob¬
served in the lumen of the vessels, whereas in the ear vessel
of the intact side, in all cases without exception, the dissec¬
tion of the intestines led not only to the disappearance of
the lumen, but also to the complete disappearance of the

69
vessel branch. Measurement of the blood pressure revealed
the phenomenon already observed by Ludwig land Cyon,
namely, no decline whatever; on the contrary increased
blood pressure followed dissection of the peritoneum a
state which lasted from fifteen to sixty-six seconds after
the abdominal cavity had been closed.
By way of illustration we give below a description of
two typical cases taken from a series of experiments.
I. A curarized rabbit. The right art. carotis is connected
with a rnercuriial manometer. The vessels of the left ear are
under observation. (Chiefly it is the changes in the lumen
of the medium branch of the lartery that are taken into con¬
sideration.)

Blood pres¬
Time The lumen of the vessel
sure

1 h. 07 m. Of average width
1 h. 08 m. Narrower
1 h. 09 m. Still narrower
1 h. 10 m. Wider
1 h. 11 m.
1 h. 12 m. Narrower
1 h. 13 m.
1 h. 14 m. Still narrower 88
1 h. 15 m.

The peritoneum is closed

1 h. 15 m 30 s. Considerably widened 106

1 h. 16 m. 30 s. Narrower 95
1 h. 17 m. 92
I h. 18 m. 90
Still narrower 87
1 h. 19 m.
1 h. 20 m. 85

The peritoneum is opened

One intestinal loop is stretched

1 h. 20 m. 30 s. Fully disappeared 115

1 h. 21 m. Appeared again 89
1 h. 22 m. 1 86
Wider Not measured
1 h. 23 m. I
1 h. 24 m. Narrower 85

70
 Time The lumen of the vessel Blood pres¬
sure
The peritoneum is re-opened
1 h. 24 in. 30 s. 1 Practically disappeared 102
The peritoneum is closed
1 h. 25 m. 1
1 h. 26 m. 1 Wider i 85
1 h. 27 m. 1 80
1 h. 28 m. 1 Narrower 77
76
The peritoneum is opened
1 h. 28 m. 30 s. Disappeared | 100
The peritoneum is closed
1 h. 29 m. 30 s. .
87
1 h. 30 m. 1 Wider
74
The peritoneum is opened
1 h. 30 m. 30 s. Disappeared | 95
The peritoneum is closed
1 h. 31 m. 30 s. Wider 77
1 h. 34 m. Narrower Not measured
1 h. 36 m. Wider 74
The peritoneum is opened
1 h. 36 m. 30 s. [ Disappeared | 97
The peritoneum is closed
1 h. 37 m. 1 Appeared again | Not measured
Artificial respiration interrupted
1 h. 37 m. 30 s. | Considerably widened | Not measured
The peritoneum is opened
I Disappeared | Not measured

A detailed analysis of the above figures would yield

conclusions of no small importance. For example, one can
hardly disregard the regular decline of the effect of stimu¬
lation of the intestines on the rise of the blood pressure,
which represents, apparently, a phenomenon of fatigue!
For the time being we shall labstain from such an analysis,
especially since this case, as stated previously, must be re¬
garded as only one of an extensive series of experiments.
71
 In conclusion we should like to make one more casual ob¬
servation.
When the abdominal cavity remained open for a longer
time (one minute), or when opened more frequently for
shorter periods, there was oibserved towards the end of the
experiment, under interrupted respiration, \a decline in the
still considerable blood pressure (more than 60 mm. Ilg),
without any preliminary increase.
II. A curarized rabbit. The manometer is connected with
the right lart. carotis. The medium vessel of the left ear is
under observation.

Time ■pressure in the

The lumen of the vessel art. carotis

4 h. 23 m. 77
4 h. 24 m. 77
4 h. 25 m. V Dilated 76
4 h. 26 m. 74
4 h. 27 m. 74

The abdominal cavity is opened,

one intestinal loop is stretched
4 h. 28 m. > Constricted, almost dis- 95
appeared

The peritoneum is closed

4 h. 29 m. The medium artery dis- 75
4 h. 30 m. appears 74
4 h. 31 m. Some branches of the 70
4 h. 32 m. ; vessel appear 69
4 h. 33 m. The medium vessel appears 67
4 h. 34 m. 1 The vessels are filled to 64
4 h. 35 m. i a still greater degree Not measured
4 h. 36 m. Constriction 60
4 h. 37 m. Dilated 73
4 h. 38 m. Continues to dilate 81
4 h. 39 m. 1 Considerably dilated 87
4 h. 40 m. ' 90

72
 Time The lumen of the vessel Pressure in the
art. carotis

The peritoneum i^ opened

4 h. 41 m. Insignificant constriction 97 .
The peritoneum is closed
4 h. 42 m. 88
4 h. 43 m. 83
4 h. 44 m. 79
4 h. 45 m. 76
4 h. 46 m. The lumen of the medi- 75
4 h. 47 m. um vessel is consider- 76
4 h. 48 m. ably constricted 79
4 h. 49 m. 76
4 h. 50 m. 75
4 h. 51 m. 75
4 h. 52 m. 77

In similar cases stimulation of the ischiadici,^^ even un-

der la current of considerable strength, either did not pro¬
duce any effect, or resulted in a decline of blood pressure
instead of the usual increase. The ear vessels, on the con¬
trary, remained unchanged. We leave the interpretation of
this phenomenon until a detailed account of our experi¬
ments is published.*

* The above-mentioned observation is one of a series of experi¬

ments conducted in our laboratory by Mr. Pavlov in the autumn of
1876. Publication of the results of these experiments has been delayed
for the reason that a number of similar papers on the same subject
were published before Mr. Pavlov had completed his experiments.
They will be published in the near future. (An editorial note of the
Pfluger Archiv.)
 m>o<m

CONCERNING TROPHIC INNERVATIONI8

^ It is perfectly clear that the horizon of medical observa¬

tion of life is immeasurably wider than the sphere of vital
phenomena which the physiologists have before their eyes
in their laboratories. Hence the permanent incongruity be¬
tween that which medicine knows, sees and empirically ap¬
plies, and that which physiology can reproduce and explain.
This relates, incidentally, also to the shock and neurotroph¬
ic phenomena of the clinic. For the former the physiolo¬
gists have no generally accepted explanation; as for the
latter, until now they cannot be observed under conditions
of precise experimentation.
In the laboratory, however, not experimentally, but also
clinically, I gradually came to the conclusion of the clinicians
that there are special trophic nerves. Having operated for
years on the digestive canals of animals (various fistulae,
artificial separation and connection of different parts of the
canal, etc.), for the purpose of facilitating experimentation
during weeks, months and even years, I often unexpectedly
observed extraneous and striking symptoms in surviving
animals. I have read a number of papers on these symptoms
at gatherings of the Russian Medical Society in St. Peters¬
burg. I have seen various trophic disturbances of the skin
and of the mucous ihembrane of the oral cavity as well as
tetany and paresis; on one occasion I observed a case of
acute and typically progressive paralysis of the spinal cord
which lasted from ten to twelve days, on another occasion
I observed a case of disease of the cerebral hemispheres (in

74
the form of strong infiltration) with complete distortion
of the lanimal’s normal attitude towards the external world;
and finally I have seen shock phenomena, now quickly re¬
sulting in death, now manifesting themselves in temporary
syncope of the animal almost fully simulating death. And
all the cases were of a nervous character, either steadily
progressive, or the reverse.
These observations gradually strengthened my supposi¬
tion that such phenomena could be interpreted as reflexes
coming from the abnormally stimulated centripetal nerves
of the alimentary canal to the special inhibitory trophic
nerves of various tissues. It has been assumed that the inten¬
sity of the chemical processes taking place in each tissue
are regulated by special centrifugal nerves and in accord¬
ance with the principle inherent in the entire organism,
i.e., in two opposite directions. Certain nerves intensify
these processes and thereby increase the vitality of the tis¬
sue, while others weaken them, an(5, when subjected to exces¬
sive stimulation, deprive the tissue of its ability to resist the
diverse destructive influences always acting inside and out¬
side the organism.
On the basis of this assumption the observed shock phe¬
nomena were interpreted as being an acute, rapidly devel¬
oping effect of an extremely strong reflex stimulation of the
trophic inhibitory nerves, while the chronic pathological
changes taking place in the tissues were seen as another
effect of the same reflex stimulation, but weaker and more
protracted.
In 1920 O. S. 'Rosenthal and myself deliberately operated
on animals in a somewhat different way. Straining the
nerves by means of displacing and fixing different parts of
the alimentary canal, however, without any previous derange¬
ment of its integrity, we again observed many of the early
symptoms, such as trophic diseases of the skin and of the
mucous membrane of the oral cavity, paiesis, and a consi
erable lowering of body temperature.

75
i
 In this wiay we obtained additional proof for our con¬
tention that the phenomena observed by us are not condi¬
tioned by direct disturbance of the digestive process, as
was the case in earlier experiments, when the animal was
deprived of a more or less considerable quantity of diges¬
tive juices.
But, unfortunately, the pathological phenomena even now
remained impermanent and fluctuating, and for this reason
we were unable to go ahead with a strict and thorough
analysis of their nervous mechanism. But these latest exper¬
iments strengthened oUr supposition, and at present we
are trying out other methods in the hope of imparting great¬
er stability to the phenomena which are of interest to us,
especially since a thorough consideration of the subject
brings together very many facts, both from the field of
physiology and medicine, which lend weight to- our suppo¬
sition.
It may be that the trophic nerves, which to us are still
hypothetical, have already been discovered by physiologists,
and in the chief organ of the animal at that. Forty years
ago physiology established the existence, along with the
earlier known pair of rhythmic cardiac nerves—the retard¬
ing and accelerating nerves—another pair of cardiac
nerves which might be described as influencing—also in an
antagonistic way—the vitality of the cardiac muscle, i.e.,
raising it and lowering it. One of these nerves intensifies
the heart-beat, conditions a more rapidly proceeding sys¬
tole, increases the excitability of the muscle, eliminates the
dissociation of the heart’s sections and, generally speaking,
heart troubles of all kinds whenever they emerge under
unfavourable conditions. The influence exerted on the heart
by the other nerve is the very opposite. What then, are
these nerves? Perhaps they are the vascular nerves of the
coronary system? But there are weighty experimental facts
to disprove this: the action of these nerves is manifested
on an excised, bloodless heart. And so one has to admit
that they are trophic nerves.

76
 Here is another case from the field of physiology. Long
ago the late Heidenhain established two kinds of nerves
for the salivary glands: one stimulating secretory activity
of the glands in general, and the other accumulating in
secretion their special organic substances. The first of
these he named the secretory, the other the trophic nerve—
with the reservation that the latter adjective was used con¬
ditionally, not in the generally accepted sense. Heidenhain’s
experiments, which later on were disputed in certain re¬
spects by some physiologists, have been definitely con¬
firmed by the recent experiments of Professor B. P. Babkin.
But is Heidenhain correct in regarding the term “trophic”
conditional in his particular case? Indeed, no matter how
liquid the saliva may be, it always contains all its compo¬
nents under stimulation of the secretory fibres. Consequent¬
ly, the action of the trophic fibres must, undoubtedly, be
interpreted las intensification of the constant vital dhemism
of the saliva, but then this relates to the function of the troph¬
ic nerves in the ordinary sense of this word. Just as the
salivary glands have but one nerve, stimulating their func¬
tion and having no antagonist, the trophic nerve, too, is a
single nerve and acts positively.
Now for the medical aspect. I shall not dwell on special
cases—these are well known to physicians and they are
usually regarded as manifestations of neurotrophic disor¬
ders. I shall deal with the aetiology and therapy of some
pathological cases, the mechanisms of which have not yet
been disclosed by modern physiology.
Why do abnormalities in the digestive canal, especially
of children, lead to various skin diseases? And on the con¬
trary, why do certain influences on the skin cause diseases
of the internal organs—of the pleura, lungs, kidneys, etc.?
In the laboratory I observed in our dogs many cases of os¬
teomalacia which often assumed a general and very acute
character. Observation land even experimentation led me to
conclude that this is caused by the chronic application of

77
 damp cold to the skin, i.e., when subjected to cold the
skin is continuously moistened.
Let us turn now to certain therapeutic methods. Why and
how do compresses, mustard plasters, cupping glasses, etc.,
bring relief to the patient? Does physiology provide la satis¬
factory answer to this question? Obviously, there is a tre¬
mendous gap in modern physiology in this respect. Eut all
the labove-mentioned aetiologicah moments and therapeutic
agents would become clear as to the mechanism of their
action if we assumed the existence of an antagonistic pair
of trophic nerves, now increasing the vitality of the tissue,
now lowering it. They would then be cases of reflex stimula¬
tion of these nerves, at times causing illness due to a lower¬
ing of the tissue’s vitality under strong, excessive stimula¬
tion of the retarding trophic nerves, and at others helping
the tissue to overcome the morbific agents by increasing its
vitality through stimulation of the positive trophic nerves.
Of course, this piair of nerves must constantly function
also during normal working of the animal organism, but
so far we, naturally, do not know when and how they are
normally stimulated, the more so since we are not sure
whether they exist or not. However, hypothetically we can
visualize certain extreme cases of their physiological work
under extraordinary conditions. Let us take for example the
old and regular medical fact—a badly furred tongue due to
indigestion. What does it mean and what mechanism is
responsible for it? Indeed, we cannot always assume a con¬
tinuous pathological process spreading from the stomach to
the oral cavity. It may be assumed that the derangement of
the stomach, and of the digestive canal in general, stimulates
a reflex on the inhibitory trophic nerves of the mucous mem¬
brane of the mouth, and mostly of the tongue; this condi¬
tions a certain abnormal state leading to distortion and
even loss of taste, since the receiving apparatus of the gus¬
tatory stimuli are located in the mucous membrane. But loss
of taste causes abstention from food, and this gives the
digestive canal a rest, which is a highly important thera-

78
peutic remedy lagiainst the pathological process. Thus, this
would be a self-healing reflex on the part of the organism.
Let us take another instance. In cases of starvation the
heart and brain, being the most important parts of the or¬
ganism, preserve their normal weight longer than the other
organs. It oan be assumed that only in these organs is the
normal energy of the vital chemical process maintained by
corresponding reflexes on their positive trophic nerves, while
in all other organs it is restricted and reduced, resulting
in particularly napid atrophy.
From a consistent point of view, the pair of trophic nerves
must be the last, most direct distributor of the alimen¬
tary resources of the organism among its parts.
Thus, as we see it, each organ should be under ternary
nervous control—the functional nerves initiating or inhib¬
iting its functional activity (muscular contraction, glandu¬
lar secretion, etc.); the vascular nerves regulating the bulk
supply of chemical substances (as well as elimination of
waste) by increasing or diminishing the supply of blood
to the organ; and, finally, the trophic nerves which deter¬
mine in the interests of the organism as la whole the exact
quantity of material to be used ultimately by each organ.
We have demonstrated this ternary control in the case of
the heart.
Confining myself now to this insignificant factual report
land continuing with the help of several colleagues labora¬
tory investigation of our complex and difficult subject in
different directions, I have taken the liberty of drawing your
attention to this, mostly raw, working material of our
laboratory research for a special reason. From the physio¬
logical aspect I wanted to spread among physicians the
idea of trophic nerves, by introducing the concept of an an¬
tagonistic pair of these nerves and by stressing their prob¬
able universal and constant role in the organism. This, per¬
haps, will contribute to a more appropriate and, consequent¬
ly, more fruitful analysis of the available clinical material.

79
WORKS ON DIGESTION
 :*‘r

.'

*. •■; •• '"V.-

.1

■'i ! '■JvJ'Ki' /X}

•\ k
>'i'i
, /,

• 'f.

i
 LECTURES ON THE WORK
OF THE PRINCIPAL DIGESTIVE GLANDS

LECTURE ONE

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SUBJECT. METHODS

Gentlemen,
The physiology of the digestive glands has engaged the
attention of my laboriatory, i.e., of myself and my co-work¬
ers, for many years, and we have obtained certain results
which, it seems to me, are both of theoretical and practical
importance. The secretory activity of the digestive canal, of
its chief organs the gastric glands and the pancreas—
proved to be quite different from that usually described in
text-books and, consequently, as pictured by the physician.
We, therefore, considered it necessary to help in every way
in establishing a revised and fuller teaching to replace the
antiquated doctrines of the text-books. With this object I
delivered a speech* at la meeting of the Society of Russian
Physicians in St. Petersburg, dedicated to the memory of
S. P. Botkin, outstanding Russian clinician. However, in the
space of an hour I could only outline in general terms the
results of years of work. It was impossible, in view of the
shortness of time, to corroborate my words with documen¬
tary references, to convince my hearers by facts, by actual
experiments. The lectures which I now submit to your es-

* Proceedings of the Society of Russian Physicians in St Peters¬

burg, 1894-95. {Note By I. P. Pavlov.)

6* 83
 teemed attention are designed to make good these deficien¬
cies. The facts referred to in these lectures are taken from
works which, for the most part, have already been pub¬
lished, but some unpublished facts obtained by our labora¬
tory will also be adduced.
The digestive canal, in respect to its chief function in the
organism, recalls a chemical factory where the raw mate¬
rial—food—undergoes a predominantly chemical treatment;
this makes possible its absorption by the juices of the or¬
ganism and its utilization by the organism for the mainte¬
nance of the vital process. This factory, then, consists of a
series of departments in which the food, according to its
properties, is more or less graded and then it is either re¬
tained for a time or immediately transmitted to the next de¬
partment. The factory and each of its departments are sup¬
plied by special reagents produced, so to speak, in a primi¬
tive manner by the neighbouring small workshops situated
in the walls of the factory itself, or by more distant and sep¬
arate organs which may be compared with large chemical
mills and which are connected with the factory by a system
of tubes transmitting the reagents. These are the so-called
glands with their ducts. Each factory delivers a special
fluid, a particular reagent, possessing definite chemical
properties; due to this, the reagent acts only on certain
components of the food, usually a complex mixture of different
substances. These properties of the reagents are chiefly de¬
termined by the presence of special substances in them, the
so-called ferments. Definite reagents or digestive juices,
as they are called, either act only on a single ingredient of
the food, or on several, thus combining the inherent proper¬
ties of many individual reagents, although each produces
its own particular effect. But even a simple reagent,
having only one ferment, represents a complex solution’
since, in addition to the ferment, it may contain alkalies!
acids, protein, etc.
All this has been studied by physiology through obtaining
the above-mentioned reagents or pure ferments from the or-

84
ganism and investigating in test tubes their effects on the
components of the food, as well las their interrelation. It is
chiefly on this knowledge that the scientific theory of the
processing of food in the organism, or as we say, of diges¬
tion, is based.
However, this theory of the digestive process, which is
largely of a deductive character, obviously suffers from
many serious defects. Without doubt there is still a consid¬
erable gap between the knowledge acquired, on the one hand,
and the physiological reality, as well as the empirical rules
of dietetics, on the other. Many problems still remain un¬
solved, or have not even been raised. Why are the reagents
poured out on the raw material in one definite way and not
in another? Why are the properties of separate reagents re¬
peated and combined in other reagents? Are all the rea¬
gents always poured out into the digestive canal on any
kind of food? Is each individual reagent subject to varia¬
tion, and if so, when, how and why does it occur? Does the
composition of all the reagents change simultaneously, or
do individual reagents alter in different cases differently,
depending on the kind of the raw material? What happens
to the reagents when the activity of the entire factory in¬
creases or diminishes? Is there not something in the nature of
a contest between definite components of the food, i.e., does
it not happen that some of them require a special reagent
which may interfere with the successful action of other rea¬
gents on the remaining components?, and so on, and so
forth. No one, of course, can doubt that these questions are
relevant to the case. The mechanism of the digestive proc¬
ess cannot be presented in the abstract manner typical of
present-day physiology. The individual properties and the
diversity of the reagents clearly indicate that the work of the
digestive canal is highly complex, delicate and strictly
adapted to the given digestive function. Upon reflection, we
must admit a priori that for any food, i.e., for any combi¬
nation of substances which are to be processed, there is a
definite combination of reagents with their special proper-

85
 ties. No wonder that dietetics is, if not in its general em¬
pirical principles, then in its explanations and particular¬
ities, one of the most intricate branches of therapy. The
physiologist must have knowledg'e not only of the elements
of digestion—of the effects of individual reagents; in order
fully to master the subject he must also include in the
sphere of his observation the entire actual process of diges¬
tion. This, of course, was realized by many investigators
who attempted to accomplish it, and they would have suc¬
ceeded had the knowledge been more easily attainable.
Full knowledge of the digestive process can he acquired
in one of two ways on the one hand, by investigating
the state of elaboration of the raw material in each part
of the digestive canal (the method of Briicke, Ludwig’s'^
school, etc.) and on the other hand, by strictly ascertain¬
ing when and what quantity of the reagent is poured out
into the digestive canal on each kind of food, as well as
on the entire meal, and what its properties are (this way
was taken by numerous researchers who investigated the
secretory activity of the digestive glands).
Our investigations belong to the second category. The
earli^er investigations were hindered by the inadequate
methods employed. It is often said, and not without reason,
that science advances in leaps, depending on the develop¬
ment of experimental methods. With every advance in
method we rise,-so to speak, a step higher, and a wider hori¬
zon with hitherto imperceptible objects unfolds before us.
Our first aim, therefore, was to develop a method. We had
to observe how the reagents were poured out on the food
coming into the digestive factory. Ideal accomplishment of
this task required the fulfilment of many and difficult con¬
ditions. It was necessary to have the reagents at band at
any /ime otherwise important things might escape us; the
reagents had to be obtained in an absolutely pure condi¬
tion, otherwise we would not have been abfe to establish
the variations taking place in their composition; we bad
to ascertain their quantities accurately, and, finally, it was

86
 necessary that the digestive canal should function nor¬
mally, and that the animal should be in good health.
It is understandable that physiology approached the so¬
lution of this problem gradually, much effort having been
spent in vain, and a number of attempts having been un^
successful, although many outstanding scientists devoted
attention to this problem.
We shall begin our consideration with the pancreas—
a fairly simple matter. It might seem that here our task
is quite easy. We need only find the duct through which
the gland secretion is transmitted to the digestive-canal,
and then, by attaching a cannula to it, let the fluid flow
to the outside, into a graduated vessel. This, actually, is
not such a difficult matter, but, unfortunately, it does not
solve the problem. Although the digestive process in the
animal under experiment is in full swing, after this opera¬
tion, in most oases, there is no flow of pancreatic juice at
all, or if there is any its quantity is abnormally small. In
this case observations on the process of secretion, as well
as on alterations in the composition of the juice caused
by different kinds of food, are out of the question. Further
investigation showed that the pancreas is a very delicate
organ, and as a result of the conditions inevitably accom¬
panying the operation (narcotization, dissection of the ab¬
dominal cavity, etc.) its state of disturbance is such that
in most cases no traces of normal activity remain. This
method is known in science as the temporary pancreatic
fistula. Its failure, naturally, resulted in attempts being
made to find new methods.
A possible way out was to obtain the juice from the duct
not during the operation period but after it, when the in¬
hibitory influence of the operation had fully vanished. For
this it was necessary to let the juice escape from tl],e duct
for a considerable length of time. It was believed that this
could be done either by attaching a glass tube to the ani¬
mal’s duct and bringing it out to the exterior through the
abdominal wall (Claude Bernard),2® or by placing in the

87
 duct a T-shiaped piece of twisted lead wire (Ludwig’s
school). These methods were called permanent pancreatic
fistula. They proved effective, but only for a short time,
usually for three to five days land in exceptional cases up
to nine days. After this the glass tube usually fell out
and the fistula closed up; the lead wire, too, failed to pre¬
vent this. And so these methods too had to be regarded las
bearing a temporary character. But this was not their only
defect. In two or three days when the inhibitory influence
of the operation had passed away, there wias manifested
in many cases another abnormal state—a continuous ex¬
citation of the gland irrespective of the fact v^hether the
dog was fed or not. This prompted the question, which
of the two was better—the temporary or the permanent
fistula? But it was obvious that both were defective. Where¬
as with a temporary fistula the normal conditions were
almost invariably distorted due to the inhibitory influence
of the operation, with the so-called permanent fistula there
was often observed an inflammatory process in the pan¬
creas which manifested itself a few days after the opera¬
tion (especially in those performed in the old laboratories)
and which also distorted the normal activity of the gland.
It only remained to find a means of access to the gland
lumen which would keep the duct open for any length of
time, until the above-mentioned unfavourable conditions had
disappeared completely. Such a means was first suggested
by me in 1879 and a year later, in 1880, by Heidenhain
independently.^!*
.My method was this (I shall describe the method of my
operation which differs slightly from that of Heidenhain);
from the wall of the duodenum a diamond-shaped piece,
containing the natural opening of the pancreatic duct, is
cut out; the intestine, the lumen of which is not appreciably
narrowed, is stitched up, and the separated piece of intes¬
tine is sewn (with the mucous membrane outwards) into

* Hermann’s Handbuch der Physiologie, Bd. V.

S8
the opening in the abdominal wall. The wounds heal quickly,
and the entire operation requires no special skill; it does
not Last long (about half an hour) and is easily endured
by the animal. After two weeks the animal is absolutely
ready for observation. In the place of the healed-up ab¬
dominal wound there appears a roundish elevation of the
mucous membrane, 7 to 10 mm. in diameter, with a cleft¬
like orifice which in the more successful oases is located
exactly in the centre of the elevation. If the animal is now
fastened in the stand, the juice can be collected either di¬
rectly, as it drops from the mucous papilla, or if it flows
along the abdominal wall, by properly fixing a funnel, with
the wide end upward, to the abdomen. The two obstacles,
which hindered the work of the investigators when the tem¬
porary and so-called permanent fistulae were employed,
have been removed. The gland, undoubtedly, is now in a
normal condition; however, the trials of the experimenter
are by no means over.
In a short time the abdominal wall, owing to the action
of the escaping juice, becomes greatly eroded and large
areas of it even begin to bleed. This irritates the animal
and interferes with the collection of pure juice by means of
the funnel. What is to be done? Many things may help-
frequent washing of the affected skin with water and ap¬
plication of emollient ointments; even better results can be
obtained if the animal is kept fastened in the stand for a
number of hours every day, with the funnel attached to its
abdomen. But best of all is to let the animal, when free
from experimental work, to lie on a bed of porous material,
such as sawdust, sand, or old mortar. Many animals find
the most suitable position in which to lie, namely, on the
abdomen, so that the escaping juice is immediately ab¬
sorbed by the porous material and the overflow of juice
and skin abrasion is fully and readily avoided. It is worth
mentioning that this method was adopted as a result
of a hint given by one of the dogs subjected to the opera¬
tion.

89
 I shall take the liberty of telling you about this interest¬
ing ciase in detail. In one tof the dogs operated according
to our method the eroding action of the juice began to man¬
ifest itself ten to fifteen days after the operation. The dog
was tied in the laboratory. One morning, much to our an¬
noyance, a heap of plaster torn from the wall was found
beside the animal which was generally known for its quiet
behaviour. The dog was then Chained in another part of
the room. Next morning we observed the same thing—
another part of the wall had been damaged. At the same
time it was noticed that the dog’s abdomen was dry and
that the cutaneous irritation considerably diminished.
Only then did we realize what had caused the dog’s strange
behaviour. When we prepared a bed of sand for the dog
the wall was no longer damaged and the flow of juice ceased
to trouble the animal. We (Dr. Kuvshinsky and I) grate¬
fully acknowledged that by its manifestation of common
sense the dog had helped us as well as itself. It would be
a pity if this fact were lost for the psychology of the lani-
mal world. And so another obstacle had been overcome
but the final goal had still to be reached.
. Three or four weeks after the operation, the animals,
which previously seemed in a normal state, suddenly be¬
came ill; they began to reject the food and showed signs
of rapidly developing weakness, which in most cases was
accompanied by convulsive symptoms and sometimes even
by violent convulsions, followed, after two or three days
by heath,^ Obviously,^ this was a peculiar form of disease,
lo think m terms of inanition was out of the question, since
animals often die with their weight almost at the normal
level; the supposition of some form of post-operative dis-
ease such as chronic peritonitis, was also excluded, since
neither the state of the animals before death nor the find-
mgs of the autopsy justified this. Finally, we had to give
up the idea of the possibility of any self-intoxication caused
by food insufficiently or incorrectly digested as a conse¬
quence of the digestive canal losing a considerable quan¬

go
tity of pancreatic juice—lan idea suggested by Dr. Agri-
koliansky* in his dissertation. In the first place, no symp¬
toms of digestive disorder were observed in miany animals
before death—neither vomiting, nor diarrhoea, nor consti¬
pation. In the second place, our experiments, in which the
pancreatic duct was specially ligatured and sectioned, had
demonstrated the absolute harmlessness of this operation.
There remained but one assumption, namely, that together
with the escaping pancreatic juice the animal had lost some¬
thing that was essential to the proper course of the vital
processes. Proceeding from this idea we applied two means
of protecting our animals against possible complications.
Aware of the powerful influence exerted by different kinds
of food on the composition and quantity of the secreted pan¬
creatic juice, we (Dr. Vasiliev) excluded meat from the diet
of the dogs, feeding them solely on bread and milk. On
the other hand, taking into account that with the escaping
pancreatic juice the organism loses a large quantity of
alkali, we regularly added a certain quantity of sodium
bicarbonate to the food (Dr. Yablonsky).
With the help of these two measures it is quite easy to
obtain an animal provided with a permanent pancreatic
fistula and at the same time fit for experimentation for a
period of months and even years, without additional pre¬
cautionary measures. Of course, the difficulties encoun¬
tered in handling different animals greatly vary. As a rule
one of every four or five dogs endures the operation with¬
out any special subsequent care. The way in which the
sodium bicarbonate helps is not yet clear. It is possible
that the sodium really compensates for the injurious defi¬
ciency of alkali in the blood; however, it is likewise pos¬
sible that its action consists, as shown by Dr. Becker, in
reducing the secretion of the juice. In the latter case the
nature of the substance the loss of which proves so inju-

* “The Influence of Strychnine Nitrate on the Secretion of Pan¬

creatic Juice in the Dog.’’ Dissertation, St. Petersburg, 1893.

9J
 rioiis to the organism, would remain obscure. Quite clear¬
ly this question is of great importance, since here we have
a new, experimentally induced, pathological state of the
organism. In our laboratory, investigation of this problem
has been undertaken by Dr. Yiablonsky.
The collection of^ the juice is performed by means of a
glass, or, better still, of a metallic funnel, with its wide
end upwiards and pressed to the spot containing the open¬
ing of the pancreatic duct with the help of elastic bands or
simply rubber tubes tied round the body. On the funnel
there are hooks to which small graduated cylinders are at¬
tached; the animal is placed in the experimental stand.
While these arrangements are very convenient for the ob¬
server, the animal is not at all comfortable, especially when
the experiment Ipts a long time; it becomes tired and rest¬
less. However, it- gradually learns to sleep soundly even
in these conditions, especially when its position in the stand
is eased, for example, by supporting its head. In cases
when dogs are^ first used for laboratory work it is better
to collect the juice in a lying posture, placing a vessel
under the opening of the duct and slightly pressing it to
the body.
I have deliberately described the series of misfortunes
experienced by us in connection with the formation of a
permanent pancreatic fistula; I wanted to show how diffi-
cult it is to solve apparently easy problems when dealing
with material such as ours.
There is no doubt that our solution of the problem is also
far from being ideal._ What is badly needed is a method
that would allow the juice to flow outside during the exper¬
iment and into the intestine during the intervals. In addition
to saving much juice for the organism, this method would
of particular .importance because it would preclude the
possibility of any considerable changes in the work of the
digestive glands in general. There are certain grounds for
assurnmg that the steady flow from the digestive canal of
such important a reagent as the pancreatic juice is com-

92
 pensated for, to a degree, on the one hand, by a height¬
ened or otherwise changed activity of the remaining diges¬
tive glands, land, on the other hand, by the expedient de¬
preciation of the juice which is uselessly and continuously
poured out on the floor. But the signiflcance of these some¬
what far-fetched hypotheses must not be overrated. Later
we shall see how clear, unquestionable and instructive are
the results of the investigations carried out with the help
of this method. The method recently published by the Ital¬
ian scientist Fodera* approximates, in a way, to the per¬
fect, irreproachable method. He succeeded in placing in the
duct a T-shaped metallic cannula which,- apparently,
makes it possible to collect the juice on the outside, or to
direct it to the intestine by closing the outer end of the
cannula. This method, however, suffers from one essential
defect; there is no guarantee that simultafieously with the
flow of juice to the outside a certain quantity of it may not
enter the intestine.
No less difficult and protracted was the evolution of
methods for obtaining the gastric juice and for observing its
secretion. Leaving aside the older land obviously inade¬
quate methods, we shall dwell in detail on the formiation
of a gastric fistula, as the starting-point for the method em¬
ployed at present. In 1842, our countryman. Professor Ba¬
sov** and in 1843, the French physician Blondlot*** inde¬
pendently, suggested the idea of artificially reproducing in
animals the condition observed by an American physician
in one of his patients; the latter had a permanent unheal-
able opening in the abdominal wall leading to the stomach
—it had been caused by a bullet wound.22 Both Basov and
Blondlot, using dogs, made an opening through the abdom¬
inal wall into the stomach and fastened into it a metallic
tube corked from the outside. The tube heals into the
* Moleschotts Uniersuchung zur Naturlehre des Menschen und der
Tiere, Bd. XVI, 1896.
*♦ Bulletin de la Soc. des natur. de Moscou, t. XVI.
*** Traite analytique de la digestion, 1843.

93
 wound and can remain in this position for years without
causing even the slightest harm to the animal.
_ This method raised great hopes at the time, since it pro¬
vided easy and free access to the inside of the stomach at
any moment. But as time went on these hopes gave way to
an ever-increasing disappointment. For the purpose of in¬
vestigating the properties of the ferment of the gastric
juice almost all researchers had to use extracts prepared
from the mucous membrane of the stomach, since only very
little and highly impure juice could be obtained through
the fistula. It was also very difficult to observe the course
of gastric secretion during digestion and to obtain an idea
of the properties of the gastric juice in different conditions,
since the juice wias mixed up with the mass of food. The
result was that voices began to be raised saying that the
gastric fistula had justified none of the hopes, that it was
hardly of any use at all. However, this was an exaggera¬
tion due, apparently, to the disappointment at the slow
progress in elaborating the theory of the secretory activity
of the digestive canal, and of the gastric glands in partic¬
ular. Indeed, many important observations had been made
earlier with the help of the gastric fistula. Now it was only
necessary to introduce a slight modification in it in order,
with its help, to make possible the final solution of a num¬
ber of fundamental problems.
In 1889, we (Mrs. Shumova-Simanovskaya and I) per¬
formed the oesophagotomy operation on a dog with an
ordinary gastric fistula; we severed the oesophagus at the
dog’s neck and sutured both its ends separately to the
edges of the skin wound. We accomplished thereby the com¬
plete anatomical separation of the mouth and stomach cav¬
ities. Animals subjected to this operation fully recover if
well cared for, and live for many years in perfect health.
In feeding, the food, naturally, is introduced direct into the
stomach. The following interesting experiment can be per¬
formed with such animals. The dog is given meat, which,
of course, falls out through the upper opening of the

94
oesophagus. However, in the perfectly empty stomiach, pre¬
liminarily washed out with water, there begins a profuse
secretion of absolutely pure gastric juice, which continues
all the time the lanimal is eating, and even for some time
longer. Hundreds of cubic centimetres of gastric juice can
foe easily obtained in this way. I shall discuss in future
lectures the causes responsible for the secretion of gastric
juice under such conditions, as well las the significance of
this phenomenon for the entire process of digestion. Now
I shall merely remark that the problem of obtaining pure
gastric juice ibas been definitely solved by means of this
method; at present it is possible to collect from an animal
thus operated upon a few hundred cubic centimetres of gas¬
tric juice every two days or even every day, without caus¬
ing any apparent harm to its health, i.e., to obtain gastric
juice from a dog almost as regularly as one obtains milk
from a cow.
For our ferment experiments we no longer need to pre¬
pare an infusion of the mucous membrane; we now obtain
from the living animal enormous quantities of the purest
ferment with much greater ease and in less time. The ani¬
mal subjected to the operation becomes an inexhaustible
source of the most refined product. It seems to me that the
pharmaceutist, too, should devote attention to this fact,
since the physician has always regarded pepsin and hy¬
drochloric acid as being beneficial and, in many cases, es¬
sential. Comparative experiments carried out in detail by
Dr. Konovalov with solutions of commercial pepsin and
natural gastric juice obtained from dogs as described
above, showed that the former could by no means compete
with the latter. The possible objection that the gastric juice
is obtained from dogs can hardly be regarded as a serious
obstacle to its widespread use as a pharmaceutical prepa¬
ration. In the laboratory we tried it out on ourselves, and
the tests revealed beneficial rather than injurious effects.
The taste is by no means unpleasiant and it contains noth¬
ing extra compared with a corresponding solution of hy-

95
drochloric acid. In view of the prejudice, it is quite possible
to obtain gastric juice in a similar way from other animals
whose flesh is consumed by man. I cannot but express re¬
gret that this method which, in any case, desefves a serious
trial, is not promoted in 'Russia, although I have frequently
called the attention of my medical colleagues to it. The de¬
sire to try my luck once more has made me dwell on this
collateral subject when describing our methods. Since last
year pure gastric juice, obtained by Dr. Fremont from the
isolated stomach of the dog by the method of Thiry’s well-
known intestinal fistula, has been recommended abroad as
a therapeutic remedy for various affections of the digestive
canal. Perhaps this product, actually long known to us,
would have more success in our country if it appeared un¬
der a foreign flag!
But to return to the subject of our methods. As already
mentioned, the problem of obtaining pure gastric juice has
been solved, but as yet no progress has been made in pro¬
viding the means which would make it possible to observe
the secretion of the juice and to study its properties dur¬
ing digestion.
Obviously this requires adherence to an absolutely ex¬
ceptional condition—normal gastric digestion together
with strict collection of perfectly pure juice. That which is
quite simple in the case of the anatomical relations of the
pancreas (where the cavity containing the food is fully sep¬
arated from the cavity containing the juice), becomes a
matter of the greatest difficulty in the case of the stomach,
for its glands are microscopic and are situated in the walls
of the cavity containing the food. A truly fortunate idea
for overcoming these difficulties was suggested by Thiry.
In order to procure pure intestinal juice, which is also pro¬
duced by microscopic glands situated in the intestinal wall,
and to be able to study the course of its secretion, Thiry
cut out a cylindrical piece of intestine, shaped it into a cul-
de-sac and sewed it into the opening of the abdominal

96
wound. This idea was used by Klemensiewicz* in 1875 for
obtaining pure juice from the pyloric end of the stomach,
but his dog died three days after the operation. Heiden-
hain,** however, succeeded in nursing such a dog and keep¬
ing it alive. Shortly afterwards Heidenhain*** isolated a
piece of the stomach fundus and gave it the shape of a cul-
de-sac, which secreted its juice externally.
Thus the above-mentioned requirement wias met. When,
in the normal way food reached the large stomiach, which
remained in its usual position, the isolated pouch began
to secrete perfectly pure juice, the quantity of which could
be accurately measured at any interval of time. However,
in order to arrive lat well-founded conclusions concerning
the normal work of the stomiach during normal digestion,
judging by the activity of the isolated pouch, it was neces¬
sary to ensure its absolute nervous inviolability. Evidently
in Heidenhain’s operation this was not the case, since in
making the transverse incisions by which the piece of stom¬
ach was cut out, the branches of the vagus extending
lengthwise along the wiall of the stomach were severed.
Consequently, before the method could be improved this
defect had to be eliminated.
In order to do this, we (Dr. Khizhin and I) modified Hei
denhain’s operation in the following way. The first incision,
which begins on the side of the fundus two centimetres from
the pars pyloris, is carried in a longitudinal direction for
10 or 12 centimetres through the posterior and anterior walls.
In this way a triangular flap is formed. A second incision is
made precisely at the base of this flap, but only through the
mucous membrane, the muscular and serous coats being left
intact. The edges of the incised mucous membrane are separat¬
ed for one to one and a half centimetres from the subjacent
tissue on the side of the stomiach, and on the side of the
flap for two to two and a half centimetres. The edge be-

* Sitzungsbericht der Wiener Akademie, 1875.

** Pfluger’s Archiv f. d. ges. Physiologie, Bd. XVIII. 1878.
Ibid., Bd. XIX, 1879.

7—773 97
longing to the large stomach is folded and stitched togeth¬
er. The edge of the flap is shaped into a cupola. The stitch¬
ing along the edges of the first incision both in the stom¬
ach and the flap forms a septum between their respective
cavities consisting of two layers of mucous membrane; one
of these layers is intact, the other being sutured along the
middle. Only thanks to the above-mentioned cupola it is
possible to obtain an experimental animal with a perma¬
nent fistula; if both layers of the mucous membrane were
sewn along the middle, then after a shorter or longer period
of time a communication would be formed between the stom¬
ach and the cul-de-sac, and this would make the animal
unfit for our purpose. Better still would be to form cupolas
out of the mucous membrane on both'sides of the stomach.
To make a long story short, we cut out an elongated piece
from the stomach, shape it into a cylinder, suturing its free
end into the opening of the abdominal wound and allowing
the other end to remain connected with the other part of
the stomach; the stomach becomes separated from the cul-
de-sac by a septum of the mucous membrane. For the
sake of illustration 1 give here schemes of the opera¬
tion, taken from the work by Dr. Khizhin (Fig. 1).
Naturally our addition to Heidenhain’s operation makes
it much more complicated, but, as we shall see later from
experiments, this difficulty is compensated for by the ab¬
solutely intact condition of the nervous relations of our ar¬
tificial stomach; this is clear from the fact that the fibres
of the n. viagi pass between the serous and muscular layers
of the bridge into the isolated pouch. This operation does
not cause any serious discomfort to the animal and does
not endanger its life.
It would be appropriate now to answer the question
whether the activity of our miniature stomach provides a
true reproduction of the secretory work of the large stom¬
ach, since in the latter the food comes into contact with
the walls during the normal process of digestion, while
the former remains empty. However, I shall answer this

98
question fully in a later lecture, when we have in our pos¬
session more facts for the solution of the problem. Now I
shall merely state that, in addition to strict conclusions
drawn from a series of unquestionable facts, we carried out
numerous experiments in which the miniature and largo,
stomachs were directly compared ,as to the conditions of

Fig. 1. I: a—Pylorus; 6—Plexus gastricus anterior vagi; c—Oeso¬

phagus; d—Plexus gastricus posterior vagi; Line of
incision; C—Flap for forming stomach pouch; II; a—Serosa;
fc_Muscularis; c—Mucosa; /4—Anterior abdominal wall; S—Cav¬
ity of stomach pouch; V—Cavity of stomach.

work and properties of secretions; as a result no room was

left for doubt that the miniature stomach, on which we base
our study of normal gastric activity, is fully valid for our in¬
vestigations. In my next lecture the miniature stomach will
appear as an instructive object worthy of close attention.
As mentioned previously. Dr. Fremont succeeded recent¬
ly (after publication of our method) in isolating the whole
stomach of a dog in accordance with Thiry’s principle; he
connected the lower end of the oesophagus with the duo¬
denum, and fixed an ordinary fistular cannula in the

7* 99
stomach closed at both ends. This method, however, can only
serve for certain special experiments on giastric secretion,
as I shall show later on. As a general method it suffers from
two essential defects. First, in ordinary digestion in such
dogs it is impossible to reckon on absolutely normal con¬
ditions of gastric secretion, since the mucous membrane of
the stomach is not in the slightest degree reflexly excited by
contact with food; secondly, when food is introduced direct¬
ly into the stomach it mixes with the gastric juice. As to
obtaining juice for practical purposes from such a stomach,
it seems to us that our method of combining an ordinary
gastric fistula with oesophagotomy possesses greater ad¬
vantages compared with Dr. Fremont’s method. Our method
is incomparably simpler from the surgical point of view,
and, given proper conditions for the operation, does not
result in useless sacrifice of animal; the animals subjected
to the operation live for years, enjoying perfect health. Can
this be said of Dr. Fremont’s dogs?
The usual method of collecting juice from our miniature
stomach is as follows: a glass, or better still, a rubber tube
is introduced with its perforated end into the cul-de-sac.
This tube either remains there of itself, or it is secured
by means of an elastic band round the animal’s body.
The juice is collected either in the lying or standing
posture.
It seems to me now that the method of forming an iso¬
lated miniature stomach must be regarded as the only pos¬
sible one and fully correct in principle. There still remain
some minor defects, such as the erosion of the edges of
the wound and the loss of a certain quantity of gastric
juice, but they can be easily eliminated or regarded as be¬
ing of little importance; in time they may be* altogether
avoided.
In the interests of a better study of the entire secretory
activity of the digestive canal simplification of the techni¬
cal side of the described methods is to be desired; it is
necessary to remove the minor defects so that it may be

100
possible to make several fistulae on one and the same ani¬
mal without causing any danger to its life or health.
It is clear from the foregoing general survey of the diges¬
tive process that the study of the concordant work of the
separate glands is of great importance; but it can be car¬
ried out with absolute exactitude as regards time, inten¬
sity, etc., only when the activity of all or many glands is
simultaneously observed on one and the same animal.
In concluding this description of methods I consider it
essential to dwell for a moment on the importance of sur¬
gical technique in physiology. It seems to me that in mod¬
ern physiology a firmer stand is to be taken by the sur¬
gical method (I counterpoise it to the purely vivisectional
method), which implies performing (skilfully and crea¬
tively) more or less complex operations with the aim of
either extirpating certain organs, or of ensuring access to
physiological phenomena taking place in the depths of the
body; of disrupting one or another connection linking the
organs, or, on the contrary, establishing a new connection,
and so on; it also implies ability subsequently to heal the
animal and restore its state, in the measure that the nature
of the operation allows, to normalcy.
I regard the promotion of such surgical technique to be
a matter of the greatest importance, because the usual
method of simply vivisecting the animal in an acute experi¬
ment is, as is now becoming clearer day by day, a major
source of errors, since the act of. crude violation of the or¬
ganism is accompanied by a mass of inhibitory influences
on the functions of the different organs. The organism as
a whole, the realization of the most delicate and most ex¬
pedient linking oT an enormous number of separate parts,
cannot, in the nature of things, remain passive to destruc¬
tive agents; it must, in its own interests, strengthen one
part and weaken another, i.e., temporarily leaving aside,
so to speak, all other aims, and concentrating on saving
whatever can be saved. While this circumstance has been
and still is a big obstacle in the way of analytical physiol-

W1
ogy, it appears to be an insurmountable obstacle to the
development of synthetic physiology where it is necessary
to determine exactly the true course of one or another phys¬
iological phenomenon in an intact and normal organism.
At the same time discovery in the sphere of performing
operations, as a means of physiological research, has in
no way disappeared; on the contrary, as life shows, it is
just coming into its own. Recall, for example, the extirpa¬
tion of the pancreas performed by Minkovsky;23 the trans¬
ference of the portal blood into the vena cava by Dr. Eck;^^
and, finally, the remarkable operations of Goltz in which he
extirpated different parts of the central nervous system.
Have not many physiological problems been solved in this
way, and do they not give rise to numerous new problems?
It may be argued that such operations have been per¬
formed already. Yes, but, in the first place, they are very rare
and performed only by the few. If, for instance, the num¬
ber of bbysical instruments devised annually and intro¬
duced for the investigation of physiological phenomena, as
well as the number of physiologico-chemical methods and
their variations, be compared with the number of new phys¬
iological operations after which the animal must survive,
the meagreness of the latter stands out in marked contrast
to the richness of the former. In the second place, it is
noteworthy that many of these operations were performed
first by surgeons and not by physiologists; the latter, so
to speak, do not regard these problems as being essential
for their work, or do not possess the means necessary for
their solution. Finally, the fact that surgical methods have
not yet taken their proper place in physiology is demonstrat¬
ed in the most striking fashion by the absence in modern
physiological laboratories of properly equipped surgical de¬
partments, whereas provision is made for chemical, phys¬
ical, microscopic and vivisectional departments.
The ordinary laboratory rooms cannot be used for frequent
and complicated operations ensuring the survival of the ani¬
mals, without the sacrifice of much time and labour; such

m
operations require lall the methods and conditions provided
by present-day surgery. There is no doubt that certain oper¬
ations, even performed with the aid of antiseptic and
aseptic precautions, would not be successful in lan ordinary
laboratory, since, when dealing with animals, it is almost
impossible to maintain absolute cleanliness during and im¬
mediately after the operation in the absence of la large sur¬
gical department specially equipped for this purpose. I
shall refer by way of example to the well-known history of
Eck’s fistula which connects the vena cava inferior and the
portal vein. In the conditions that prevailed in the old lab¬
oratories the inventor of this operation, despite his ener¬
gy and resourcefulness, could not keep the animals alive
for any considerable period after the operation. Similar fail¬
ure overtook Prof. Stolnikov, who repeated the operation
with the assistance of Dr. lEck sparing neither dogs nor
effort. It was only in the surgical department of the phys¬
iological laboratory of the Institute of Experimental
Medicine, which had just been opened (1891), and conse¬
quently, in a building which, in the surgical sense, was
perfectly clean, that the first major success was registered.
However, this happy period of successful operations lasted
for only one year. The physiological laboratory in the In¬
stitute was a small place at that time, and therefore, de¬
spite precautionary measures, it quickly became so impure
that the Eck operation, though performed by the same, now
even more skilful hands, proved fruitless and a waste of
time. This situation lasted for about a year, notwithstand¬
ing all the efforts made by the experimenters, until a new
physiological laboratory was built in the Institute where
considerable space was allotted to the surgical department.
I take the liberty of calling your attention to this, be¬
cause, as far as I know, it is the first instance of a special
surgical department in a physiological laboratory. Perhaps
this example will give my physiological colleagues some
useful hints for designing new institutes. The surgical de¬
partment occupies half the upper floor which comprises a

103
quarter of the entire laboratory. It consists of a set of oper¬
ating rooms located along one side; in the first room the
animal is washed in la bath and dried on special stands,
in the next (the preparation-room) the animal is narcot¬
ized, and the site of the operation shaved and cleansed with
antiseptic solutions; the third room is used for sterilizing
the instruments and cloths, for washing hands and don¬
ning overalls; the fourth is a well-lighted operating room.
The narcotized and prepared animal is carried, without
any table, into this room by those who take part in the
operation. As a rule the lattendiants are not allowed to go
beyond the second room of the operating sectioii. This set
of rooms is separated by a solid wall from a series of spe¬
cial cabins where the dogs are kept for the first ten days
after the operation. Each of these cabins bias a large win¬
dow with a small hinged pane for ventilation; its floor
space is about one square sazhen,* and it is more than five
arshins** high. Each cabin is heated with hot air and pro¬
vided with electric light. There is a passage running along
the cabins, each being shut off from it by a massive, tightly-
fitting door. The entire department has cement floors with
gutters in each room. In the cabins a lead pipe with small
apertures in it runs along the walls near the floor, and by
means of this pipe the floors can be watered from the cor¬
ridor lat any time without entering. The whole department
is painted a white oil colour. The long series of operating
rooms is la reliable protection against penetration of dirt
into the last and main operating room. Although physiolo¬
gy owes much to the intelligence of the dog in general, it
would be in vain to rely on the assistance of this clever
animial in carrying out certain surgical tasks. Only by ar¬
ranging this long series of barriers lagainst penetration of
dirt, was it possible, in the ordinary and surgical sense of
the word, to-maintain the surgical department in the prop¬
er condition for a considerable length of time. Two years

• An old Russian measure of about seven English feet.—Tr.

♦* An old Russian measure of about twelve English feet.—Tr.

104
of work in this department have not made it impure, which
is proved by our criterion for surgical cleanliness—the suc¬
cessful performance of the Eck operation. When I reoall
the results of operations carried out in the course of the
last twenty years in different buildings, and always upon
equally healthy material, with a frequent repetition of the
siame operation, I am amazed, perhaps even to a greater
degree than the surgeon, at this triumph of cleanliness
which saved the lives of numerous animals and spared both
the time and labour of the experimenters.
I hope you will forgive me for this long digression on
the significance of surgical methods in physiology. I am
sure that only the development of inventiveness and skill
in performing operations on the digestive canal will dis¬
close the magnificence of the chemical activity of this or¬
gan, some features. of which can already be traceo with
the help of modern methods. I would ask you to remember
these words at the end of my lectures, and I am convinced
you will admit their truth.

LECTURE EIGHT

PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTS, HUMAN INSTINCT

AND MEDICAL EMPIRICISM

Gentlemen,
The object of our discourse today is to consider the pre¬
viously communicated results of our laboratory research
from the point of view of the regulations relating to
the partaking of food and of the therapeutic measures
prescribed by. the physician in disorders of the digestive
appal atus. In the latter case, in order to perfect our knowl¬
edge and to secure its most useful practical application, the
pathology and therapy of the digestive canal should, of
course, be subjected to experimental investigation by the
same methods and from the same point of view. Such inves-

105
tigation would now present no great difficulty; thanks to the
progress of bacteriology many pathological processes can
easily be produced in the laboratory, especially since in this
case we are dealing, as it were, with external diseases: the
methods used nowadays give access to any part of the sur¬
face of the digestive canal. On such pathological animals
it would be possible precisely and thoroughly to study the
functional disturbances of our apparatus, i.e., the changes
which take place in the secretory activity—-in the properties
of the fluids and the conditions under which they are
secreted. Therapeutic methods, too, could be experimentally
tested on such animals by observing the entire course of
healing and its final effect," i.e., by investigating the con¬
ditions of secretion during all phases of the healing process.
It can hardly be doubted that only the development of
experimental therapy, together with experimental physiol¬
ogy and pathology, can ensure for scientific, i.e., ideal,
medicine its rightful position. Incontestable proof of this
is provided by bacteriology, which has recently come into
being and developed.
I have already described pathological therapeutic experi¬
ments with dogs whose vagi nerves were severed at the
neck. I recall some other cases of a similar nature. At
times our dog with the two stomachs suffered from a slight
and usually transient gastric catarrh. It was very interest¬
ing to observe that the pathological disturbance caused by
us in the large stomach made itself felt in the small one;
the latter showed an almost continuous slimy secretion of
very low acidity, but of strong digestive power. At the
beginning of the illness or before it manifested itself, the
psychic stimulation was strikingly effective—it furnished
juice in normal quantity, while the local stimuli were almost
completely ineffective. In this case one can assume that the
deeper layers of the mucous membrane with th6 gastric
glands still remained healthy, being easily excited to .activ¬
ity from the centres, while the surface of the mucous mem-

106
brane with the peripheral apparatus of the reflex nerves was
already considerably injured. I mention these, one might
say, impressions rather than precise facts, for the purpose
of showing the fruitful field awaiting any investigator who
undertakes to study, with the help of modern methods and
practice, the pathological states of our digestive organs
and their treatment. Such a study is all the more desirable
since clinical investigation of this same subject, despite big
efforts in recent years, meets, of course, with serious dif¬
ficulties. It should be borne in mind that the stomach-probe,
the chief clinical instrument, is less convenient than the
gastric fistula practised on animals; and yet we know that
the physiology of the stomach, even after years of applica¬
tion of the latter method, has not made any serious advance.
This is understandable. We had before us a mixture of sub¬
stances comprehension of which was difficult and at times
even impossible.
And so a strictly scientific solution of therapeutic prob¬
lems is still a matter for future research. But this in no
way excludes the possibility of fruitful influence being
exerted by the latest physiological achievements on the
work of the physician. Physiology, of course, cannot lay
claim to authoritative guidance in the fipld of medicine;
because of the incompleteness of its knowledge it is always
more restricted than clinical reality. But physiological
knowledge often elucidates the mechanism responsible for
one or other illness and the intrinsic significance of appro¬
priate empirical methods of treatment. To apply a remedy
without knowing how it will act is one thing and to know
what you do is another, ensuring immeasurably greater
advantages. In the latter case the influence on the affected
organ will, of course, be more effective and more adapted
to the given conditions. Besides, medicine, being constantly
enriched with new physiological facts, will, sooner or later,
become what in the ideal sense it should be, namely, the art
of repairing the damaged mechanism of the human body

107
on the basis of exact knowledge; in other words, it will
become applied physiology.
Let us return now to our basic subject. While it is gen¬
erally recognized that human instinct is the result of every¬
day experience, which has turned into an unconscious striv¬
ing for the best possible conditions of existence, in the
physiology of digestion especially the phrase has become
current that physiology merely confirms the rules of instinct.
It appears to us that the foregoing physiological facts also
furnish numerous instances of the triumph of instinct before
the tribunal of physiology. Particularly impressive are the
reasons underlying the dally empirical demand that food be
enjoyed and eaten with relish. Everywhere the act of eating
is connected with certain customs designed, as it were, to
distract from the routine of daily life: a special time of the
day is chosen; a group of relatives, acquaintances, or com¬
panions assemble; certain preparations are made (change
of garments, as, for example, in Britain, grace is said by the
oldest member of the family, etc.). In well-to-do houses
there are special rooms for meals; musicians and others are
invited to entertain the diners—in short, everything is done
to distract the company from the cares and worries of ,daily
life and to concentrate on the food. From this point of view
it is also obvious why serious conversation, as well as
serious reading, are considered inappropriate at meals.
This, perhaps, partly explains also the use of alcoholic
beverages at meals, since alcohol already in the early
phases of its action has a mild narcotic effect which con¬
tributes to distraction from the burden of everyday cares.
It goes without saying that this highly developed hygiene
of eating is met with predominantly in the intelligent and
well-to-do -classes, first, because here mental activity is
more strenuous and the varied questions of life are more
disturbing; and secondly, because food is usually served
here in quantities in excess of the requirements of the
organism. In the lower classes', where mental activity is of
a more elementary nature, highly strained muscular activity

108
and chronic insufficiency of nourishment normally evoke a
strong and lively desire for food, without special measures
for stimulating it. These conditions explain why the choice
of food is so dainty in the case of the upper classes and
can be so simple and at the same time harmless in that
of the lower classes. All the condiments and all the appetiz¬
ers used before a substantial repast are obviously designed
to provoke curiosity, interest and a greater desire for food.
It is a well-known fact that a person who at first displays
indifference to his customary meal, afterwards begins to
eat with gusto if his taste has been stimulated by something
piquant. Thus, it is only necessary to give an impulse to
the taste organs, to set them into action, in order that their
further activity can be maintained by less powerful stimu¬
lants. Naturally, a person who is hungry does not need
these extraordinary stimulating measures, since satisfying
hunger is. in itself a matter of pleasure. It is often said and
not without reason that “hunger is the best sauce.” How¬
ever, here, too, it is a matter of degree, since every normal
individual, even every animal, must feel a certain appetiz¬
ing taste. For example, a dog that has gone without food
for many hours eats not all the things that dogs usually
eat, but chooses the food it likes best. Hence, the presence
of certain flavouring substances in the food is a general
requirement, although naturally individual tastes greatly
differ. On the other hand, an extravagant indulgence of the
appetite for food, like any other over-indulgence, is easily
understood (for example, Petr Petrovich Petukh in Gogol’s
Dead Souls, and other gluttons).
This passing description of the attitude towards the act
of eating testifies that people always take care to maintain
attention to and interest in food, to ensure that meals are
enjoyed; in other words, they take care of what is gener¬
ally called appetite. Everybody knows that food eaten
with appetite and pleasure is normal and useful food;
food eaten to order, or for the sake of convenience, becomes
to a greater or lesser degree, harmful, and the instinct of

109
human health acts against it. Hence, one of the most fre¬
quent requests addressed to the physician is to restore the
lost appetite. In compliance with this, medical men at all
times and in all countries until recently considered it impor¬
tant, in addition to combating fundamental disease, to
take special measures for restoring appetite. It can be
assumed that in this they were guided not only by the
desire to free their patients from an unpleasant symptom,
but also by the conviction that restoration of appetite fa¬
cilitates the re-establishment of normal digestion. One can
say that in the same measure as the patient wanted his
appetite back the physician did all in his power to satisfy
him. Hence the abundance of so-called remedies for restor¬
ing appetite. Unfortunately, modern medical science has
considerably deviated from this correct and practical
approach to appetite. It is astonishing how little attention
modern text-books on digestive disorders devote to appetite
as a symptom, and to its special therapy; only in some of
them is the significance of appetite as a factor of the diges¬
tive activity mentioned in passing—in one or two paren¬
thetical phrases. At the same time one comes across books
in which the physician is practically advised not to treat
bad appetite on the alleged grounds that it is an unimpor¬
tant subjective symptom. From what I have said and
demonstrated in previous lectures this attitude of modern
medicine towards appetite cannot but be regarded as a
serious misconception, since it is precisely here that symp¬
tomatic treatment is to a considerable degree concurrent
with fundamental treatment. When in most cases of diges¬
tive disorders the physician finds it useful to stimulate
secretory activity in every possible way, this aim can be
achieved in the surest and most complete way by restoring
the appetite. We have seen already that no other stimulant
of gastric secretion can, in the matter of quantity and qual¬
ity, compare with the craving for food. To a degree we can
understand—and this helps to elucidate the matter—why
modern medical science is so indifferent to loss of appetite

no
as an object of treatment. Nowadays, with the experimental
method penetrating deeper and deeper into medical’science,
many factors of complicated pathological states and ther¬
apeutic agents are appraised, so to speak, according to the
attestation of the laboratory, i.e., in so far as they can be
verified in laboratory conditions. Of course, the highly
progressive significance of this trend is beyond doubt; but
here, as in any other human undertaking, error and exag¬
geration are inevitable. It should be borne in mind that if
one or other phenomenon cannot be reproduced in laboratory
conditions, this is no reason for discarding it as fantastic;
we do not know as yet all the actual conditions for the
development of certain phenomena, nor are we able to
grasp the complex connection between separate vital func¬
tions. Seeking support in the laboratory, but unable to find
there anything bearing on appetite, the clinic and the
pathology of digestion, naturally, lost interest in this factor
and disregarded it in medical practice. As already stated,
until recently the psychic secretion of gastric juice was
mentioned in physiology only in passing, and even then
not by all authors, and rather as some kind of curiosity.
On the other hand, great importance was attached to
mechanical stimulation, the effect of which, now that our
knowledge is more complete, has proved illusory. This error
committed by physiology has been experimentally disclosed
and explained; each of the contending agents ,has been
assigned its proper place, and if clinical medicine follows
its rightful desire to investigate its problems experimentally,
it is obliged in practice to accord to appetite its right to
consideration and treatment.
Despite the above-mentioned indifference displayed by
physicians to appetite, so to speak, per se, many medical
methods even now are, in essence, based on stimulation of
appetite. Such is the truth of empiricism! When the patient
is directed to eat sparingly and to avoid over-eating, when
he is advised to abstain from eating pending the special
permission of the physician, when he is removed from his

111
usual surroundings (according to Mitchell’s method) or
sent to a watering place, where life is riveted on the observ¬
ance of certain physiological functions, and especially
eating—in all these cases the physician is actually endeav¬
ouring to stimulate the patient’s appetite and use it for
curative purposes. In the first case, when the patient is
counselled to eat sparingly, besides preventing a weak stom¬
ach from being overloaded, there undoubtedly takes place
a recurrent secretion of appetite juice which is particularly
profuse and strong in digestive power. I ask you to recall
the previously described experiment in which the food
given to a dog in small oortions led to the secretion of a
much stronger juice than a large portion eaten at once. This
was an exact experimental reproduction of the clinical
treatment of a weak stomach. This kind of diet regulation
is all the more expedient since, in most frequent disorders
of the stomach, only the surface layer of its membrane is
affected. Thus the sensory surface of the stomach receiving
the effect of the chemical stimulant, may not be able, so to
speak, to cope with its duty, and the period of chemical
stimulation of the gastric juice, which, with an abundant
intake of food lasts for a long time, is for the most part
deranged or even completely absent. Meanwhile a strong
psychic excitation, a keen feeling of appetite, may be freely
transmitted from the central nervous system to the gastric
glands located in the deeper, -yet unaffected layers of the
mucous membrane. Ah example of this, taken from our
laboratory pathological material, was mentioned by me at
.the beginning of the lecture. It is obvious that in these
cases the surest way is to promote digestion only by excit¬
ing a secretion of appetite juice, and not juice excited by
chemical stimulants. From this point of view the impor¬
tance of removing a patient, suffering from chronic weak¬
ness of the stomach, from his customary • surroundings,
becomes quite clear. Let us take, for example, a mentally
overstrained person during office hours. How often does
it happen that he is unable to divert his thoughts from his

112
work for a single moment. He eats, as it were, without
noticing it, without interrupting his work. This is quite
common with people in cities where life is extremely strenu¬
ous. Naturally this systematic inattention to the act of eat¬
ing leads, sooner or later, to digestive disorders, with all
their consequences. There is no appetite juice, no igniting
juice, or at least very little. The secretory activity develops
very slowly. The food remains in the digestive canal for
a much longer time than it is normally required; due to the
insufficiency of digestive juices it is subject to fermentation
and, in this state, greatly irritates the mucous membrane
of the digestive canal. Thus the latter is brought naturally
and gradually to a state of disorder. No prescriptions on
the part of the physician can help the patient so long as he
remains in his old surroundings, since the fundamental
cause of his complaint has not been eliminated. There is
only one solution—remove the patient from his everyday
surroundings, free him from his usual work, interrupt the
train of persistent thought and for a time concentrate his
attention exclusively on the care of his health, on eating.
This is done by sending the patient on a tour, to a watering
place, etc. The duty of the physician is not simply regulat¬
ing the behaviour of individual patients in this respect, but
taking care that a proper attitude towards the process of
eating be widely established. This is the duty especially
of Russian physicians, because among the so-called intel¬
ligent classes in Russia with their highly confused concep¬
tions of life, generally speaking, there is often an absolutely
unphysiological, and sometimes even scornful indifference
towards eating. More methodical nations, like the English,
have made the act of eating something of a cult. If gluttony
is looked upon as a manifestation of bestiality, a scornful
indifference towards eating is, on the contrary, a manifesta¬
tion of imprudence. As is always the case, the best course
lies between the two extremes—one must not over-indulge
in eating, but at the same time proper attention should be

8—773 113
 devoted it. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
and unto God the things that are God’s.
With the firmly established fact that mental influence is
exerted on gastric secretion, the question of flavouring sub¬
stances enters on a new phase. Now we know why
the empirical conclusion was drawn that food must be tasty
as well as nutritious. And therefore the physician, who
prescribes diets for individuals, or even for groups of peo¬
ple, must constantly bear in mind the phenomenon of
psychic secretion, i.e., he is obliged to inquire and know
how the given food has been eaten—whether with or with¬
out relish. In reality, however, those responsible for diets
often focus their attention exclusively on the nutritive value
of the food or are guided solely by their own taste. It is
impossible, in the interests of public health, not to call
attention also to the feeding of children. If taste determines
the individual’s attitude towards food—and this evokes the
initial activity of the digestive glands—then it would be
irrational from the point of view of vitality to accustom
children solely to delicate and uniform gustatory sensa¬
tions; this would but reduce their further adaptability to
the conditions of life.
The question of the therapeutic importance of bitters
seems to me to be very closely connected with appetite.
After enjoying a very long period of high repute these sub¬
stances have been all but excluded from the list of pharma¬
ceutical remedies. Laboratory tests showed that they were
unable to live up to their old reputations; when introduced
directly into the stomach or into the blood, many of them
failed to produce the secretion of digestive juices; they
thereby became greatly discredited in the eyes of clinicians,
so much so that some of them were quite ready to abandon
them altogether. Obviously, their fate was determined by
the simple conclusion that a weakened digestion could be
aided only by a remedy that would excite secretory activity
under given conditions. It was, however, overlooked that
the experimentally tested conditions could not cover all the

114
possible conditions of the process under investigation. The
whole question of the therapeutic importance of bitters
acquires quite a different aspect when linked with another
question, namely, what is the effect of bitters on the appe¬
tite? The unanimous verdict of both the earlier and later
physicians is that bitters definitely stimulate appetite; and
that says everything. It follows then that bitters really
stimulaU secretion, since appetite, as has been frequently
pointed out in these lectures, is the strongest stimulus to
the digestive glands. There is nothing surprising in the
fact that this was not observed in previous laboratory experi¬
ments. Bitters were injected directly into the stomach, and
even into the blood of absolutely normal dogs. But their
action is mainly bound up with the influence they exert
on the gustatory nerves; and it is not accidental that this
wide variety of remedies, covering substances of most
diverse chemical composition, is grouped together chiefly
because of a common bitter taste. The taste of a person suf¬
fering from digestive disorders is a blunted taste and dis¬
plays a certain gustatory indifference. Ordinary food, agree¬
able to other people, and to himself when in health, is now
tasteless; it not only does not excite appetite, but, on the
contrary, rather evokes a feeling of distaste. In such
patients the gustatory sensations, as it were, completely
vanish or become distorted. Consequently, a powerful
impulse should be given to the gustatory apparatus in order
to restore strong and normal sensations. Experience has
shown that this can be most quickly achieved by the
application of sharp, unpleasant stimulants, which, by con¬
trast, awaken the idea of pleasant gustatory sensations. In
any case the indifference disappears and this makes it pos¬
sible to excite appetite for one or another kind of food. This
phenomenon reproduces a general physiological fact: light
appears brighter after darkness, sound louder after silence,
the joy of health more intense after illness, etc. This expla¬
nation of the stimulating action of bitters on the appetite
proceeding from the mouth cavity does not exclude similar

8* 115
 action from the stomach cavity. As pointed out in the fifth
lecture, there are grounds for assuming that certain stimuli
coming from the stomach also excite appetite. It is possible
that bitters, besides acting on the gustatory nerves in the
cavity of the mouth, produce a peculiar effect on the mucous
membrane of the stomach. This engenders certain sensa¬
tions—separate elements of the craving for food. The fact
that these special sensations arise in the stomach after the
administration of bitters has been confirmed by some clini¬
cians. Consequently, this must be a matter not merely of a
simple physiological reflex, but of a certain psychic effect
which causes the physiological secretory activity. The same,
.apparently, holds good for other substances, such as spices,
vodka, etc. In any case, irrespective of whether this explana¬
tion conforms to reality or not, the question of the ther¬
apeutic importance of bitters, I repeat, has been decided
positively, since their obvious effect on appetite is generally
acknowledged. And so experimental investigation of bit¬
ters has the job of establishing their influence on appetite,
which is a difficult matter not yet attempted in the labo¬
ratory.
It is not sufficient, therefore, to verify the clinical obser¬
vations in the laboratory on animals; one must have, in
addition, the assurance that this verification is correctly
carried out, i.e., that the investigation concerns the partic¬
ular point of the process under clinical consideration. It is
interesting to observe that the connection between appetite
and gastric secretion is pictured in exactly the reverse way
by many physicians and in many medical text-books; thus it
is assumed that a certain therapeutic agent causes the secre¬
tion of gastric juice and that the presence of the latter in
the stomach evokes appetite. Here we have, apparently, a
wrong interpretation of a true fact, since what is overlooked
is that a psychic effect could also be a strong excitant of
the secretory nerves.
After one or other hors d’oeuvre or some vodka (especial¬
ly customary in Russia) designed to excite the appetite, the

116
main meal in most cases begins with something hot, with
meat broth (bouillon, different soups, etc.). This is followed
by the really nutritious food—meat of different kinds served
in different ways, or in the case of poorer people, porridges
rich in starch and protein. This sequence of foods is quite
natural from the point of view of the physiological facts men¬
tioned in these lectures. As we have seen already, meat broth
is an essential chemical stimulant of gastric secretion. Conse¬
quently, practical experience secures two ways of exciting
a profuse flow of gastric juice on the fundamental food: first
by stimulating the secretion of appetite juice with the help
of the hors d’oeuvres, and secondly by promoting the gastric
secretion with the help of meat broth. Human instinct has
thus developed a preliminary procedure for the digestion of
the main food. However, only well-to-do people can afford
a good meat broth; poorer people use for the excitation of
early gastric secretion cheaper and less effective chemical
stimulants. Russians, for instance, use kvass;* in Germany,
where meat is quite expensive, strictly speaking, a slightly
flavoured and warmed up water is used (Mehlsuppe, Sem-
melsLippe, etc.). Probably not without significance is the
fact that the quantity of digestive juice is, generally speak¬
ing, closely connected with the water content in the organ¬
ism. If this sequence of food ‘holds good for healthy people,
then it is all the more obligatory in pathological cases. A
person suffering from loss of appetite, or with a bad appe¬
tite, has no psychic secretion of gastric juice at all, or if
he has, it is very feeble. Consequently, his meal must inevi¬
tably begin with a strong chemical stimulant, i.e., with a
solution of stimulative meat extracts. Otherwise solid food,
especially non-meat foods, would remain undigested for a
long time. Hence, it is quite expedient to prescribe meat
juice, strong bouillon or a solution of the Liebig extract for
patients suffering froni loss of appetite. The same applies

* A Russian beverage made of malt, water and different varieties

of bread.—Tr.

117
 lo forcible feeding, for example, of mental patients. In the
latter case, the very method of introducing the food ensures
the supply of a chemical stimulant, since the food can be
introduced only in liquid form; in any case the addition of
the Liebig extract to liquid food substances would be very
useful. According to the strength of the chemical excitation,
the liquid substances may be arranged in the following
order; first, the substances just mentioned (meat juice,
etc.), secondly—milk, and thirdly, water.
The usual termination of a dinner can also be easily
understood from the present physiological standpoint. A
dinner usually ends with the sweet course, and everybody
knows from experience that sweets give certain pleasure.
The meaning of this is quite plain. A repast which begins
with satisfaction evoked by the desire for food, must end
with the same sensation, despite the fact that the hungry
feeling has been satisfied, moreover, the object of this satis¬
faction is a substance that calls for practically no diges¬
tion but agreeably excites the gustatory organs, namely,
sugar.
Having considered the general arrangement of eating
from the point of view of physiological facts, we shall now
turn to some special points.
First of all, I shall touch on the acid reaction of the food.
It is obvious that of all tastes acid occupies a very special
place. A number of acid substances are in use—one of the
commonest being vinegar, which is used in the preparation
of numerous sauces and dressings. Many wines are also
acid in taste. In Russia, kvass, especially acid kvass, is
widely consumed. Then, large quantities of acid fruits and
vegetables are consumed, some of them acid in themselves
and some being made acid in the course of preparation.
Medicine, too, makes use of this instinct, and solutions of
acids, mostly hydrochloric and phosphoric, are often pre¬
scribed in disorders of digestion. Finally, nature herself
constantly takes care to produce in the stomach, during
normal digestion, along with hydrochloric acid, also lactic

118
acid, which is formed from ingested food and, consequently,
is always present. These facts have become physiologically
comprehensible, because we know that an acid reaction in
the digestive canal is not only required for the effective
action of the chief gastric ferment, but is also a very strong
stimulant of the pancreatic gland. It can even be assumed
that in certain cases the entire digestion depends solely on
the acid reaction (as a digestive stimulant), since the pan¬
creatic juice has a fermentive action on all the components
of the food. Thus, the above-mentioned acids now assist
digestion, now serve as a remedy, and substitute the gastric
juice when it is fully absent or relatively ihsufficient. From
this point of view it is not difficult to understand why a
close combination of kvass and bread is widely used by
Russian peasants: the enormous quantity of starch con¬
sumed by them in the form of bread or porridge necessitates
strong e.xcitation of the pancreatic gland, and this is oppor¬
tunely effected by the acid. In isolated stomach complaints,
accompanied by loss of appetite, both instinct and medicine
have recourse to acids, since, as we now know, they excite
intensified activity of the pancreatic gland and thereby sup¬
plement the insufficient work of the gastric glands. In my
view this knowledge of the special relation of acids to the pan¬
creatic gland may be of great use to practical medicine, and
may place the pancreatic gland, this powerful and important
organ of digestion hidden so deep in the organism, under the
strict control of the physician. It is possible, for instance, to
exclude the stomach deliberately from the digestive process
and transfer digestion direct to the bowel by prescribing
acids that do not stimulate the gastric glands. It is pos¬
sible, likewise, to restrict the activity of the pancreatic
gland by reducing the acidity of the gastric contents. This
may be necessary in treating various digestive disturbances,
as well as certain general complaints.
No less instructive is a comparison of our experiments
on fats with the demands of instinct and the counsel of
dietetics and therapy. It is generally recognized that fatty

119
 food is heavy, i.e., difficult to digest; in cases of weak
stomachs it is, therefore, usually avoided. Now we are
able to explain this physiologically. The fat, when present
in large quantities in the chyme, retards, in its own inter¬
est, the secretion of gastric juice and thus impedes the
digestion of protein substances. This explains why a com¬
bination of fat and protein foods is particularly heavy, and
only strong stomachs and persons with keen appetites can
cope with them. A combination of bread and butter proves
less difficult of digestion as can be judged from its wide¬
spread use. Bread, as we have already seen, requires little
gastric juice and little acid, especially when calculated
per unit of time; but the fat which excites the pancreatic
gland ensures a simultaneous production of ferment for
itself and for the starch and protein. Fat alone is by no
means a heavy food, as is proved by the fact that large
quantities of Ukrainian bacon can be consumed with
impunity. This is understandable, because in this case the
inhibitory action of the fat on the secretion of gastric juice
is harmless; it contributes merely to assimilation of the fat
itself. There is no conflict between the food components and
consequently no one of them suffers. Fully in accordance
with practical experience, the physician completely excludes
fatty foods from the diets of patients in cases of weakness
of the stomach and recommends red meat only, for example,
game. But in those pathological cases where there is exces¬
sive activity of the gastric glands, fatty food or fat in the
form of an emulsion, is prescribed by the physician. In this
case, obviously, medicine has empirically learned to make
use of the inhibitory action of fat on the gastric secretion,
so strikingly manifested in the foregoing experiments
on dogs.
Milk has an exceptional place in human food, and this
is recognized both in everyday experience and in medical
practice. It has always been regarded as the lightest food
and is given in cases of weak and diseased stomachs, as
well as in numerous other severe illnesses, such as heart

120
and kidney affections. The extreme importance of milk as a
food prepared by nature herself has now been elucidated to
a considerable degree. We can indicate three essential prop¬
erties of milk which characterize it as an exceptional food.
As we already know, in comparison with the nitrogenous
equivalents of other foods, the weakest gastric juice and the
smallest quantity of pancreatic juice are poured out on
milk. Thus, the secretory activity required for the assimila¬
tion of milk is considerably weaker compared with any
other food. At the same time milk has another important
property. When introduced directly into the stomach with¬
out the animal noticing it, the milk always causes a cer¬
tain degree of secretory activity of the stomach and the
pancreas, i.e., it acts as an independent chemical stimulant
of the digestive canal; and it is really a mysterious phenom¬
enon that no essential difference is observed between the
secretory activity caused in the digestive canal when the
milk is introduced unnoticed into the stomach and that
which arises when the milk is ingested by the animal. In
the case of meat, as we already know, the mode of intro¬
duction into the stomach is of extreme importance, even
though meat is a better chemical stimulant. Consequently,
it must be assumed that milk itself causes not only an ab¬
solutely adequate, but also a highly economical secretion,
and not even appetite can make this secretion more abun¬
dant, so to speak, more luxuriant. Unfortunately, the secret
of this specific relation of milk to the secretory activity of the
digestive canal cannot yet be analysed and explained. It
may be supposed that on the one hand, a certain role is
played here by the fat which inhibits the activity of the
gastric glands, and, on the other hand, by the alkaline reac¬
tion of the milk which inhibits the activity of the pancreatic
gland. Thus, both the gastric glands and the pancreas,^ de¬
spite the presence of stimulants in the milk, are maintained
at a certain, not too high, level of activity, and this in its
turn appears expedient in view of the easy digestibility of
all the components of milk. Finally, the third characteristic

121
 property observed in milk, and which in all probability is
only another expression of the first, is seen in the follow¬
ing. If we feed the animal with equal quantities of nitrogen,
in one case in the form of milk, in the other in the form of
bread, and then observe the hourly excretion of nitrogen in
the urine, we find that the increase during the first seven to
ten hours after the administration of milk (compared with
the rate of excretion beforehand) comprises only from 12
to 15 per cent of the nitrogen taken in with the milk,
whereas in the case of bread it rises to 50 per cent. Taking
into consideration the course and rate of assimilation of
rnilk and bread, one must admit that the increase in urinary
nitrogen, which takes place immediately after eating, ex¬
presses the functional intensity of the working metamor¬
phosis of the alimentary canal required for digestion, and
that in the case of bread this intensity is three or four times
greater than in the case of milk (Prof. Ryazantsev’s ex¬
periments). Hence, in the case of milk a considerably larger
portion of nitrogen is, so to speak, placed at the disposal
of the organism than in that of any other kind of food. In
other v/ords, the price paid by the organism for the nitrogen
(m the form of the work of the digestive canal) is much
lower than that for nitrogen in other food substances. How
wonderfully does the food prepared by nature distinguish
itself compared with the other foods! These facts, obviously,
pose the question of a new approach towards the compara¬
tive nutritive value of the different foods. The old criteria
must give way to new, or, to be more precise, admit the lat¬
ter to their midst. Experiments on the assimilation of foods,
with the aim of ascertaining what remains undigested and
what enters the organism’s juices, in themselves cannot
solve the question in a satisfactory way. Suppose that we
set the alimentary canal a certain task connected with the
digestion of a given food. If it is sound, this task will be
accomplished in the best possible way, i.e., with complete
extraction of all the nutriment. In this way we would learn
how much nutritive material is contained in the given kind

122
of food in general, but the question of the digestibility of
the food would still be obscure. The experiment does not
disclose the magnitude of the effort of the digestive canal
in extracting all the nutritives from the given food. Nor can
experiments on artificial digestion fully solve the question
of digestibility, since experiments with food normally in¬
gested are quite different from those in the test tube, where
we deal only with one juice, in the absence o'f any inter¬
action with other juices and food components. That an
essential distinction really exists here is clearly proved by
the investigations made in our laboratory by Dr. Walther.
Fibrin, which is generally considered the most digestible
protein, when compared with milk of the same nitrogenous
equivalent, proved to be a much stronger stimulant of the
pancreatic gland, while apart from nitrogenous substances
milk contains a good deal of non-nitrogenous nutritive ma¬
terial. It is obvious, therefore, that the question of digesti¬
bility and nutritive value of foods must be solved mainly
by means of estimating the real energy used in the process
of their digestion, i.e., the quantity and quality of the juices
poured out on the given amount of nutritive material. The
energy of the glandular metamorphosis must be deducted
from that of the entire intake of food, the remainder will
indicate the extent to which the food is utilized by the or¬
ganism, i.e., the amount available for use by all the organs,
with the exception of the digestive apparatus. From this
point of view those food substances, the bulk of which is
used to compensate for the expenditure by the alimentary
canal on their digestion, must be regarded as not very nu¬
tritious and as indigestible, in other words, as foods whose
nutritive value covers only the cost of their own digestion.
It is, therefore, of great practical importance that one
and the same kind of food but differently served should be
compared from this aspect, for example, boiled and roast
meat, hard- and soft-boiled eggs, boiled and unboiled
milk, etc.

123
 It remains for me now to touch on some purely medical
questions. The first concerns the therapeutic administration
of neutral and alkaline salts of sodium. Clinical, pharma¬
cological and physiological text-books have always ad¬
vanced as a well-grounded doctrine the thesis that these
salts evoke a secretion of juice. However, we would search
in vain for any serious experimental backing for this doc¬
trine. The experimental facts adduced cannot be considered
satisfactory. The experiments carried out by Blondlot who
sprinkled sodium bicarbonate on meat, as well as the ex¬
periments of Braun and Griitzner who injected solutions
of sodium chloride direct into the blood, either suffered from
methodological defects or were far removed from normal
relations. We can hazard the guess that in this case the
experimental insufficiency was benevolently made good by
the clinic, since the experiment seemed to confirm the clin¬
ical observations. There is no doubt, of course, that salts
of sodium (the chloride and bicarbonate) are useful in di¬
gestive disorders. But how do they act? It appears to me
that here, as in some other similar cases, medical thought
has fallen into error, since the effect of the action is one
thing, and its mechanism—altogether different. Although
medicine is broad and comprehensive in its empiricism, it
often manifests narrow reasoning when it comes to inter¬
preting the facts; it often gives a simplified explanation of
the highly complex mechanism of healing processes merely
on the basis of modern physiological data. It seems to me
that this is also true in the given case. The following reason¬
ing is current in medicine: “alkalies act favourably in dis¬
turbances of the digestive canal; consequently they provoke
a flow of digestive juices.” Of course, upon recovery the stom¬
ach begins to secrete the normal, i.e., in some cases a
larger, quantity of gastric juice. But this must be the result
of recovery from a disordered state and not of the direct
physiological effect of the alkalies. The latter, however,
should be thoroughly, that is, specially proved. The help
given to the organism by the alkalies might be explained

124
 in another way, altogether different from the ordinary. In
this case I venture to express the idea of the therapeutic
effect of sodium chloride and of alkaline sodium salts,
which is the exact opposite of the generally accepted idea.
Both on the stomach and the pancreas we failed to con¬
vince ourselves of any juice-exciting influence of these salts;
on the contrary, in our hands they exerted an inhibitory
influence on secretion. In addition to the previously de¬
scribed experiments concerning the action of alkalies on the
stomach and pancreas, I should like to mention the follow¬
ing observation. A dog which had been subjected to com¬
plex operations—a gastric fistula, a pancreatic fistula and
an oesophagotomy—was given daily, for a period of weeks,
an addition of soda to its food. The animal had a perfect ap¬
petite and was in good health. When we performed the first
experiment with sham feeding, we were struck by the rela¬
tively weak effect of this generally powerful juice-exciting
procedure. At the same tinie we observed that the pieces
of meat which fell out of the upper end of the oesophagus
contrary to the usual rule, had hardly been touched by the
saliva. Consequently, this dog exhibited reduced activity
of many digestive glands simultaneously, namely, of the
gastric, pancreatic and salivary glands. The work of the
salivary glands, of course, deserves closer investigation. I
believe that the experimentally proved inhibitory action of
alkalies on the digestive glands gives grounds for advanc¬
ing the following concept of thq mechanism of their healing
effect in certain digestive disorders. Catarrhal complaints
of the stomach are characterized by a constant or greatly
protracted secretion of slimy gastric juice of extremely
low acidity. Moreover, in certain cases the affection begins
with hypersecretion, with abnormal excitability of the secre¬
tory apparatus manifested in an excessive and causeless
flow of gastric juice. The same thing can be assumed in
the case of disorders affecting the pancreatic gland, judg¬
ing by its state after operations performed on it for physio¬
logical purposes. It can be supposed that when for some

125
reason or other the above-mentioned affections arise, they
afterwards, so to speak, maintain themselves independent¬
ly, since continuous activity is obviously injurious to the
glands. The nourishment and restoration of the glandular
organs proceeds best during rest; such is the normal course
—after a period of external work there comes a break, fol¬
lowed by a period of internal work. Consequently, the elim¬
ination of the pathological state and the return to normal
can be attained by means of a remedy which forcibly in¬
terrupts the external work of the affected glandular organ.
Such, in my opinion, is the healing importance of the alka¬
lies. One might draw a certain parallel between the effect
of the alkalies in a pathological state of the digestive canal
and that of digitalis in compensatory disturbances of the
heart. A heart so affected usually beats rapidly, thereby
aggravating its condition, shortening the period of its rest,
i.e., of its recovery. A circulus viciosus sets in; the weak
work of the heart reduces the blood pressure; in view of the
constant physiological connection this leads to a quicken¬
ing of the heart-beat, which, in its turn, causes a further
weakening of the heart. Undoubtedly the favourable action
of digitalis begins to manifest itself in the fact that it breaks
through this vicious circle, slows the pulse and in this way
gives new strength to the heart. Our explanation of the ac¬
tion of the alkalies accords with the usual practice of pre¬
scribing a strict diet simultaneously with their use, which
ensures a certain rest for the digestive glands. It is in¬
teresting to note that clinical investigations with the help
of the stomach tube, after a period when the alkalies were
regarded as having a juice-exciting effect, recently entered
into a new phase and that more and more is heard of the
inhibitory effect of the alkalies.
The second point that we should consider is the follow¬
ing. The main difficulty encountered by the physician in
determining the diet of patients suffering from digestive dis¬
orders is that a very important role is played here by idio-

126
syncrasy. In cases of one and the same illness different
patients react to the same kinds of food in an absolutel>
different manner. That which is agreeable to one patient,
and which is easily borne by him and eases his condition,
is almost poison for another patient. In one of the clinical
manuals it is stated that while some patients easily bear
milk and will not have fatty goose flesh, others have a
reverse reaction to the same food. Hence the first and fore¬
most rule in dietetics is to give no instructions with regard
to diet until the taste and habits of the patient have been
ascertained. What does this signify? Until recently physiol¬
ogy had no experimental answer to this question. But our
facts, it seems to me, to a certain degree clarify the mat¬
ter. Each kind of food leads to certain digestive activity, and
a continuous diet sets up definite and fixed types of glands
which cannot be quickly and easily altered. This explains
why digestive disorders often arise when there is a sudden
change from one diet to another, especially from a frugal to
a richer diet, as is the case, for example, after the long
Russian fasts; these disorders are manifestations of the tem¬
porary inability of the glands to adapt themselves to the
new digestive task.
Finally, it may be useful to mention the following. There
are cases of very acute and, as it were, absolutely unjusti¬
fied disturbances of the digestive canal. From the point of
view of modern physiology these cases might be explained
by interference of the secreto-inhibitory nervous system
arising from excessive and abnormal excitation due to
one or another cause. In any case this system now repre¬
sents a factor which must be duly considered by the
physician.
At this point, gentlemen, I conclude my lectures. I hope
that the physiological facts communicated here, may help
the physician to understand certain things in his sphere of
activity, and that they will contribute to the elaboration of
more correct and effective methods of treatment. The physi¬
cian will derive more benefit by bringing to the attention

127
of the physiologist in what way, in his opinion, the expla¬
nations given here need correction, and also by pointing out
those new aspects of the digestive process which have been
disclosed by him in the broad world of clinical observation
but which have not yet come within the field of vision of
the physiologist. It is my profound belief that the aims of
physiology as a branch of knowledge and of medicine as
an' applied science can be attained solely by means of
active exchange of experience between physiologist and
physician.
 NOBEL SPEECH DELIVERED IN STOCKHOLM
ON DECEMBER 12, 190425

It is not accidental that all the phenomena of human life

are dominated by the matter of daily bread—the oldest link
connecting all living things, man included, with the sur¬
rounding nature. The food which finds its way into the or¬
ganism where it undergoes certain changes—dissociates,
enters into new combinations and again dissociates—em¬
bodies the vital process, in all its fulness, from such ele¬
mentary physical properties of the organism, as the law of
gravitation, inertia, etc., all the way to the highest mani¬
festations of human nature. Precise knowledge of what hap¬
pens to the food entering the organism must be the subject
of ideal physiology, the physiology of the future. Present-
day physiology can but engage in the continuous accumu¬
lation of material for the achievement of this remote aim.
The first stage through which the food substances intro¬
duced from without must pass, is the digestive canal; the
first vital action on these substances, or to be more exact
and objective, their first participation in life, in the vital
process, is effected by what we know as digestion.
The digestive canal is a kind of tube passing through
the entire organism and communicating with the external
world, i.e., also on external surface of the body, but turned
inwards and thus hidden in the organism.
The physiologist who succeeds in penetrating deeper and
deeper into the digestive canal becomes convinced that it
consists of a number of chemical laboratories equipped with
various mechanical devices.

9—773 129

I
 These mechanical devices are formed by the muscular
tissue which is a constituent part of the wall of the diges¬
tive canal. They either facilitate the passage of the com¬
ponents of food from one laboratory to another, or detain
them for a certain time in a given laboratory or, finally,
expel them when they prove harmful to the organism; more¬
over, they participate in the mechanical processing of the
food, accelerating the chemical action on it by compact mix¬
ing, etc.
A special so-called glandular tissue which is either also
a constituent part of the wall of the digestive canal, or lies
beyond it in the shape of separate masses and communi¬
cates with it by means of branch tubes, produces chemical
reagents, the so-called digestive juices which stream into
separate segments of the digestive tube. The reagents, on
the one hand, are aqueous solutions of such well-known
chemical substances as hydrochloric acid, soda, etc., and,
on the other hand, substances which are found only in a
living organism and which break up the main components
of food (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) much more
easily, i.e., more rapidly and at a much lower tempera¬
ture and in smaller quantities than any other chemically
well-studied substances. These substances which act in vitro^®
just as well as in the digestive canal, and which, there¬
fore, are a natural object for chemical investigation, have
so far been difficult to analyse. As is known, they are called
ferments.
From this general description of the digestive process I
shall turn to facts relating to this process established by
me and by the laboratory of which I am in charge. In doing
so I deem it my duty to recall with profound gratitude my
numerous laboratory co-workers.
It is perfectly clear that successful study of the digestive
process, as of any other function of the organism, depends
to a considerable degree on whether we succeed in finding
the nearest and most convenient starting-point in relation
to the process under observation and on whether all col-

130
lateral processes between the phenomena under observation
and the observer are removed.
For the purpose of investigating the development of se¬
cretion in the big digestive glands, which communicate with
the digestive canal only by means of branch tubes, we cut
from the wall of the digestive canal small pieces, in the cen¬
tre of which were the normal openings of the secretory
ducts; we then stitched the opening in the wall of the canal,
and the excised pieces with the openings of the secretory
ducts were sutured to a corresponding place on the surface
of the skin, from the outside. Thanks to this procedure the
juice was diverted from the digestive canal and collected
in special vessels. For the purpose of collecting the juice
produced by the microscopic glands located directly in the
wall of the digestive canal, already long ago large pieces
were cut out from the wall of the digestive canal and arti¬
ficial pouches with openings to the outside were made; the
defect in the digestive canal, naturally, was closed by stitch¬
ing. In the case of the stomach the preparation of the ar¬
tificially isolated pouch was always connected with section¬
ing the nerves of the glandular cells, and this, naturally,
deranged the normal work of the stomach.
Taking into account more delicate anatomical relations,
we modified the operation in a way that left the normal
nervous paths fully intact when making an isolated pouch
from parts of the stomach wall.
Finally, since the digestive canal is a complex system,
a number of separate chemical laboratories, I used to cut
the communication between them in order to investigate the
course of phenomena in each particular laboratory; thus I
divided the digestive canal into several separate parts. This^
of course, necessitated laying short and convenient passage¬
ways from the outside into each separate laboratory. For
this purpose metal tubes have long been in use; they are.
inserted into the artificial openings, and during the inter¬
vals between the experiments they can be sealed.
In this way we often performed very thorough opera-

9* 13J
tions and sometimes even several operations on one and
the same animal. It goes without saying that the desire to
accomplish the task with more confidence, to avoid wasting
time and labour, and to spare our experimental animals as
much as possible, made us strictly observe all the precau¬
tions taken by surgeons in respect to their patients. Here,
too, we had to apply proper anaesthesia, observe irreproach¬
able cleanliness during the operation, provide clean rooms
after the operation, and take thorough care of the wounds.
But these measures did not suffice. After remaking the ani¬
mal’s organism in accordance with our design, which
naturally caused more or less damage to the experimental
animal, we had to find a modus vivendi that would ensure
an absolutely normal, and long life for it. Only by observ¬
ing this condition would the results of our work be re¬
garded as fully conclusive and as having elucidated the
normal development of the phenomena. We succeeded thanks
to our correct appraisal of the changes evoked in the or¬
ganism, and thanks to the expedient measures taken by us;
our healthy and happy animals did their laboratory work
with real gusto; they always rushed from their cages to the
laboratory and readily jumped on to the tables where our
experiments and observations were conducted. Believe me
I am not exaggerating one iota. Thanks to our surgical
methods in physiology we can demonstrate at any time
phenomena of digestion without the loss of even a single
drop of blood, without a single scream from the animal
undergoing the experiment. At the same time this is an
extremely important practical application of the power
of human knowledge, which may also be of immediate
use to man, who, due to the implacable fortuities of life,
is often mutilated in similar, though more diversified
ways.
In our observations on dogs, we soon noticed the fol¬
lowing fundamental fact; the kind of substances getting
into the digestive canal from the external world, i.e.,
whether edible or inedible, dry or liquid, as well as the

132
different food substances, determined the onset of the work
of the digestive glands, the peculiarities of their functioning
in each case, the amount of reagents produced by them, and
their composition. This can be proved by a number of facts.
Take, for instance, the formation of saliva by the mucous
salivary glands. With each meal, when edible substances
find their way into the oral cavity, thick and viscous saliva
containing much mucus flows out of these glands. With the
introduction into the animal’s mouth of substances that it
finds offensive, such as salt, acid, mustard, etc., the saliva
may flow in the same quantity as in the first case, but its
quality is quite different—it is fluid and watery. If the dog
is given now meat, now ordinary bread, then, other con¬
ditions being equal, the secretion of saliva in the second
case will be more abundant than in the first. Similarly, some
of the substances which are rejected by the animal, for ex¬
ample, such irritants as acid, alkali and others, evoke a
more profuse secretion of saliva than other, chemically in¬
different substances, like bitters; consequently here, too,
different activity of the salivary glands is observed. The
gastric glands react in the same way; they secrete their
juice now in larger, now in smaller quantities, now of a
higher and now of a lower acidity; its content of pepsin—
a ferment dissolving protein—is sometimes greater, some¬
times smaller. Bread evokes the secretion of gastric juice
with the highest ferment content, but with a very low acid
content; milk evokes the minimum ferment content, while
meat evokes the maximum acid content. Under the action
of certain quantities of protein introduced in the form of
bread, the glands produce from two to four times as much
protein ferment as in the case of meat or milk.
However, the diversity of the work of the gastric glands
is not confined to the above-mentioned phenomena; it is
manifested also in peculiar fluctuations in the quantity and
quality of the reagents during the period of the functioning
of the glands after the introduction of one or another food
substance.

133
 But that will suffice. I should only abuse your attention
by giving an exposition of all the facts collected by us in
this field. I shall merely remark that similar correlations
were observed by us in the activity of all the other glands
of the digestive canal.
Now it may be asked: what does this changeability in the
work of the glands signify? In reply we shall revert to the
phenomenon of salivary secretion. Edible substances evoke
the secretion of thicker and more concentrated saliva. Why?
The answer, obviously, is that this enables the mass of
food to pass smoothly through the tube leading from the
mouth into the stomach. Under the action of certain sub¬
stances disagreeable to the dog the same glands secrete
fluid saliva. What purpose does the saliva serve in such
cases? Obviously, either to dilute these substances and
thereby weaken their chemically irritating action, or, as we
know from our own experience, to cleanse the mouth from
such substances. In this case water, not mucus, is required,
and the water is actually secreted.
As we have seen, bread, and especially dry bread, evokes
secretion of considerably larger quantities of saliva than
meat. This, too, is perfectly understandable: the eating of
dry bread requires saliva, firstly, to dissolve the compo¬
nents of the bread and so make it possible to taste it (since
something utterly inedible may get into the mouth!), and
secondly, to soften the hard and dry bread, otherwise it
would go down with difficulty and could even cause in¬
jury to the walls of the oesophagus while moving from the
mouth to the stomach.
The relations inside the stomach are exactly the same.
The bread protein induces secretion of more protein ferment
than the protein of milk or meat, and a corresponding phe¬
nomenon is observed in the test tube: the protein of meat
and milk is broken up by the protein ferment more easily
than the vegetable protein.
Here again I could cite numerous additional examples
of such expedient links between the work of the digestive

134
glands and the properties of the substances entering the di¬
gestive canal (but this I shall do later, if and when oppor¬
tunity offers). There is nothing surprising in this phenom¬
enon; and no other relations could be expected. It is deaf
to all that the animal organism is a highly complex sys¬
tem consisting of an almost infinite quantity of parts con¬
nected both with one another and, as a single complex, with
the surrounding world, with which it is in a state of equilib¬
rium. The equilibrium of this system, as of any other sys¬
tem, is an indispensable condition for its existence. And if
in certain cases we are unable to disclose the expedient
connections in this system, the reason is that we lack
knowledge: it does not mean that these connections are ab¬
sent in a system that has the quality of permanence.
Now we shall pass to another question which arises from
what has been said above: how is this equilibrium effected?
Why is it that the glands produce and secrete in the canal
the reagents needed for the successful treatment of the re¬
spective object? Clearly, it should be admitted that in some
way the definite properties of the object act on the gland,
evoke in it a specific reaction and cause its specific activity.
Analysis of this influence on the gland is an extremely in¬
tricate matter and one that requires much time. The main
thing is to reveal in the object those properties which, in
this particular case, act as stimuli on the glands in ques¬
tion. An investigation of this kind is not so easy as it looks
at first sight. Here are some facts to prove this. By means
of the previously mentioned metal tube, we introduce meat
into the empty and inactive stomach of the dog, without the
animal noticing it. In a few minutes the gastric reagent,
a solution of the gastric protein ferment, begins to exude
from the walls of the stomach. But which property of the
mass of meat has acted as the stimulus on the gastric
glands? The simplest way would be to assume that this ac¬
tion has been caused by its mechanical properties—pres¬
sure, or friction against the walls of the stomach. But such
an assumption would be absolutely wrong. Mechanical in-

135
fluences are completely ineffective with regard to the gastric
glands. We can mechanically influence the wall of the sto¬
mach in any way—strongly or feebly, continuously or with
interruptions, on limited areas or in a diffused way bu
without obtaining a single drop of gastric juice. Actually it
is the components of meat dissolved in water that are the
stimulating substances. However, as yet we lack sufficient
knowledge of these substances since the extractive^ sub¬
stances of meat form a vast group that still awaits inves¬
tigation in full measure.
Here is one more example. A few minutes after the chyme
finds its way into the nearest section of the digestive
canal—into the duodenum—one of the glands of this sec¬
tion comes into action; this is the pancreas—a large organ
located at the side of the digestive canal and connected with
it by an excretory duct. But which of the properties of the
chyme advancing in the bowels act as a stimulating agent
on the gland? Contrary to our expectations, it turned out
that this action was exerted not by the properties of the
consumed food, but by the properties of the juice which
joined it in the stomach, namely, by its acid content. If we
pour into the stomach or directly into the intestine pure
gastric juice, or simply the acid which it contains, and even
some other acid, our gland will begin to function just as
vigorously, or even more vigorously, than in the case of
the normal chyme passing from the stomach into the bowels.
The profound significance of this unexpected fact is quite
clear.
The gastric laboratory uses its protein ferment under an
acid reaction. Different intestinal ferments, and, among
them, naturally, pancreatic ferments, cannot develop their
activity in an acid medium. Hence, it is clear that the first
task of the laboratory is to provide the neutral or alkaline
reaction necessary for its fruitful activity. These relations
are effected by the above-mentioned interconnections, since
the acid content of the stomach, as already stated, induces
secretion of alkaline pancreatic juice (and the higher the

m
acid content, the greater the secretion). Thus, the pancreatic
juice acts first of all as a solution of soda.
One more example. It has been known for a long time
that the pancreatic juice contains all the three ferments
which act on the major food substances—the protein fer¬
ment, which is different from the gastric, the starchy fer¬
ment and the fatty ferment. As proved by our experiments,
the protein ferment in the pancreatic juice is, constantly
or at times, wholly or partly (this is still a matter of argu¬
ment), in an inert, latent form. This can be explained by
the fact that an active protein ferment might endanger the
other two pancreatic ferments and destroy them. Simul¬
taneously we established that the walls of the upper sec¬
tion of the bowels send into its lumen a special fermenta¬
tive substance the purpose of which is to transform the inert
pancreatic protein ferment into an active one. The active
ferment, upon coming into contact with the protein sub¬
stances of the food in the bowels, loses its noxious action
with regard to other ferments. The above-mentioned special
intestinal ferment is secreted by the wall of the intestine
due solely to the stimulating action of the pancreatic pro¬
tein ferment.
Thus, the expedient connection of phenomena is based
on the specific properties of the stimuli and on the similarly
specific reactions corresponding to them. But this by no
means exhausts the subject. Now the following question
should be put: how does the given property of the object,
the given stimulant, reach the glandular tissue itself, its
cellular elements? The system of the organism, of its count¬
less parts, is united into a single entity in two ways; by
means of the specific tissue which exists solely for the pur¬
pose of maintaining mutual relations, that is, the nervous
tissue, and by means of tissue fluids which wash all the
tissue elements. It is these very intermediaries that trans¬
mit our stimuli to the glandular tissue. We have thoroughly
investigated the first of these interrelations.

137
 Long before us it was established that the work of the
salivary glands is regulated by a complex nervous appa¬
ratus. The endings of the centripetal sensory nerves are
irritated in the oral cavity by different stimuli; the irritation
is transmitted via these nerves to the central nervous sys¬
tem and thence, with the help of special centrifugal, se¬
cretory nerve fibres directly connected with the glandular
cells, it reaches the secretory elements and induces them to
certain activity. As is known, this process, as a whole, is
designated as a reflex or as a reflex stimulation.
We have asserted, and we have proved experimentally,
that normally this reflex is always of a specific nature, that
is, that the endings of the centripetal nerves receiving the
stimulation are different, each sending out a reflex only
when there are definite external stimuli. Accordingly, the
stimulus reaching the glandular cell must also be of a
specific, peculiar character. This is a very profound mechan¬
ism securing the expedient dependence of the work of the
organs on the external influences, and the connection which
is effected with the help of the nervous system.
As was to be expected, the discovery of the nervous appa¬
ratus of the salivary glands immediately impelled physiolo¬
gists to seek a similar apparatus in other glands lying deeper
in the digestive canal. And despite the big expenditure of
effort, positive results in this respect baffled researchers for
a long time. Obviously the new objects of investigation
had important properties which prevented the researchers,
using the old methods, from disclosing anything.
Having taken into account these specific relations, we
were able, fortunately, to achieve what for a long time had
been regarded as a pium desiderium.^^ Physiology has, at last,
gained control over the nerves which stimulate the gastric
glands and the pancreas. Our success was mainly due to
the fact that we stimulated the nerves of animals that freely
stood on their feet and were not subjected to morbid irrita¬
tion either during stimulation of their nerves or immedi¬
ately before it.

m
 Our experiments proved the existence not only of a ner¬
vous apparatus in the above-mentioned glands, but also
disclosed facts clearly showing the participation of these
nerves in normal activity. Here is a striking example.
We performed two simple operations very easily endured
by dogs, and after which, if taken good care of, they live
for years absolutely healthy and normal. The operations
were as follows: 1) The oesophagus was severed at the
neck and both ends separately sutured to the skin of the
neck in a way that prevented food passing from the mouth
into the stomach of the animal—it fell through the upper
opening of the digestive canal; 2) a metal tube was intro¬
duced into the stomach through the abdominal wall—an
operation mentioned earlier and already practised long ago.
It will be understood that the animals were fed in a way
that allowed the food to enter direct into the stomach
through the metal tube. When, after a fast of several hours
and after the empty stomach of the dog had been thoroughly
washed, the animal was fed in the normal way (the food,
as already mentioned, falling out of the oesophagus without
reaching the stomach), in a few minutes the empty stomach
began to secrete pure gastric juice. The secretion lasted as
long as the animal was given food, sometimes even persist¬
ing long after the discontinuance of the so-called sham feed¬
ing. In these conditions the secretion of juice is very abun¬
dant, and it is possible to obtain in this way hundreds of
cubic centimetres of gastric juice. In our laboratory we per¬
form this operation on many dogs and the gastric juice
thus obtained not only serves the purposes of research, but
is also a good remedy for patients suffering from insuf¬
ficient activity of the gastric glands. Thus a part of the
vital supplies of our animals, which live for years (more
than seven or eight years) without revealing even the
slightest deviation from normal health, proves beneficial
to man.
From the above-mentioned experiment it is clear that the
mere process of eating, even when the food does not reach

139
the stomach, stimulates the gastric glands. If tve sever at
the neck of this dog the so-called vagus nerves, the sham
feeding will not cause any secretion of gastric juice, no
matter how long the dog lives and how well it feels. Thus,
the stimulation produced by the process of eating reaches
the gastric glands via the nervous fibres contained in the
vagus nerves.
Now I shall take the liberty of deviating briefly from the
main topic of my lecture. The severing of nn. vagorum is
an operation that has been performed on animals for a long
time and has always proved fatal. In the course of the 19th
century physiologists studied the numerous influences
exerted by the vagus nerves on the different organs, and
their respective investigations revealed at least four disturb¬
ances which take place in the organism after the section¬
ing of these nerves, each of which is by itself of a lethal
character. Appropriate measures were taken by us to pre¬
vent these disturbances in our dogs; one of these measures
related to the digestive system; thanks to this the animals
whose vagus nerves were severed enjoyed a healthy and
happy life. Thus, four simultaneously acting lethal factors,
were deliberately eliminated. Here we have striking proof
of the power of science, which regards the organism as a
machine!
Some ten years ago the great man to whom science owes
its annual gatherings in Stockholm honoured me and my
late friend. Prof. Nentsky,^^ with a letter enclosing a con¬
siderable gratuity for the best laboratory in our charge; in
that tetter Alfred Nobel displayed his keen interest in
physiological experiments and suggested some of his own
highly edifying schemes for experiments touching on the
supreme tasks of physiology, the problems of the ageing
and dying away of organisms. Indeed, physiology can justly
anticipate big victories in this field; the power of physiology
is by no means confined to what has already been
achieved. This may be accomplished in the future only if
our knowledge of the organism, which is an extremely com-

140
plex mechanism, is deepened and extended. An example in
support of this has been just cited by me.
I shall now revert to the subject of my lecture. Among
the stimuli of the digestive glands there is one category—
it has not yet been mentioned—which, quite unexpectedly,
came right into the foreground during our investigations.
True, it has long been known that the sight of tasty food
makes the mouth of a hungry man water; absence of appe¬
tite, too, has always been regarded as undesirable, from
which it can be deduced that appetite is closely linked with
the process of digestion. In physiology mention was made
also of the psychical stimulation of both the salivary and
gastric glands. It should be pointed out, however, that
psychical stimulation of the gastric glands has not been
universally recognized, and generally speaking, the out¬
standing role of psychical stimulation in the processing of
food in the digestive canal has not met with proper ac¬
knowledgement. Our investigations forced us to bring these
influences to the fore. Appetite, the craving for food, is a
constant and powerful stimulus to the gastric glands. There
is not a dog in which skilful teasing with food does not
evoke a more or less considerable secretion of juice in the
empty and hitherto inactive stomach. At the mere sight of
food nervous and excitable animals secrete several hundred
cubic centimetres of gastric juice, while the sedate and
quiet animal secretes only a few cubic centimetres. By
changing the experiment in a definite way, an extremely
profuse secretion of juice is observed in all animals with¬
out exception; I have in mind the previously mentioned
experiment with sham feeding, when the food cannot get
from the mouth into the stomach. A very thorough and fre¬
quently repeated analysis of this experiment convinced us
that in this case the secretion of juice cannot be regarded
as being the result of a simple, reflex stimulation of the
mouth and throat by the ingested food. Any chemical irri¬
tant can be introduced into the mouth of a dog operated
upon in this way, and still the stimulation will not induce

14!
the secretion of even a single drop of gastric juice. From
this one might conclude that the oral cavity is stimulated
not by every chemical substance but only by specific sub¬
stances contained in the ingested food. However, continued
observations did not confirm this supposition. The action of
one and the same food, as a gland stimulus, differs, depend¬
ing on whether the food was eaten by the animal with
avidity or unwillingly, in response to command. Generally,
the following invariable phenomenon is observed: each kind
of food ingested by the dog during the experiment acts as
a strong stimulus only when it suits the dog’s taste. We
must assume that in the act of eating the craving for food,
that is, appetite—and therefore a psychical phenomenon—
serves as a powerful and constant stimulus. The physiolog¬
ical significance of this juice, which we termed appetite
juice, proved exceptionally great. If we introduce bread into
the dog’s stomach via a metal tube so as to prevent the
dog from noticing it, i.e., without stimulating its appetite,
the bread may remain in the stomach unchanged for a
whole hour, without evoking even the slightest secretion of
juice, since it lacks the substances that would stimulate
the gastric glands. But when the same bread is swallowed
by the animal, the gastric juice secreted in this case, that
is, the appetite juice, exerts a chemical influence on the
protein substances of the bread, or, in everyday terminology,
digests it. Some of the substances obtained from protein
subjected to this change act in turn on the gastric glands
as independent stimuli; they thereby carry on the work
begun by the first stimulus, the appetite, which is now, in
the normal course of things,.receding.
In the course of our study of the gastric glands we
became convinced that appetite acts not only as a general
stimulus to the glands, but that it also stimulates them in
varying degree, depending on the object on which it is
directed. For the salivary glands the rule obtains that all
the variations of their activity observed in physiological
experiments are exactly duplicated in the experiments with

142
psychical stimulation, i.e., in those experiments in which the
given object is not brought into direct contact with the mucous
membrane of the mouth, but attracts the animal’s attention
from a distance. For example, the sight of dry bread evokes a
stronger secretion of saliva than the sight of meat, although
the meat, judging by the animal’s movements, may excite
a much livelier interest. On teasing the dog with meat or
any other edible substance a highly concentrated saliva
flows from the submaxillary glands; on the contrary, the
sight of disagreeable substances produces the secretion of
a very fluid saliva from the same glands. In a word, the
experiments with psychical stimulation prove to be exact,
but miniature, models of the experiments with physiological
stimulations by the same substances. Thus, with regard to
the work of the salivary glands, psychology occupies a place
close to that of physiology. More than that! At first sight
the psychical aspect of this activity of the salivary glands
appears even more incontrovertible than the physiological.
When any object that attracts the attention of the dog from
a distance produces salivary secretion, one has all the
grounds for assuming that this is a psychical and not a
physiological phenomenon. When, however, the dog has
eaten something or substances have been forcibly intro¬
duced into its mouth, saliva begins to flow, it is still neces¬
sary to prove the presence in this phenomenon of a certain
physiological cause, to demonstrate that it is not of a purely
psychical character, but is reinforced because of the special
conditions accompanying it. These concepts correspond all
the more to reality, since, after the severance of all the sen¬
sory nerves of the tongue, most substances entering the
mouth in the process of eating or forceful feeding, evoke,
strange as it may seem, the identical pre-operative action
of the salivary glands. It is necessary to go further and
resort to more radical measures such as poisoning the
animal or destroying the higher parts of the central nerv¬
ous system, in order to become convinced that between
substances stimulating the oral cavity and the salivary

t43
glands there is not only a psychical but also a physiolog¬
ical connection. Thus we have two series of obviously dif¬
ferent phenomena. But how is the physiologist to regard the
psychical phenomena? It is impossible to disregard them
because they are closely bound up with the purely physio¬
logical phenomena in the work of the digestive glands with
which we are preoccupied. And if the physiologist intends
to pursue his study of them he finds himself faced with the
question: How?
Since we based ourselves on the experience acquired by
us in the lowest organized representatives of the animal
kingdom, and, naturally, desired to remain physiologists
instead of becoming psychologists, we preferred to main¬
tain a purely objective attitude also in regard to the psychi¬
cal phenomena in our experiments with animals. Above all,
we tried to discipline our thought and our speech in order
completely to ignore the mental state of the animal; we
limited our work to thorough observation and exact de¬
scription of the influence exerted by distant objects on the
secretion of the salivary glands. The results corresponded
to our expectations—the relations between the external
phenomena and the variations in the work of the glands
could now be systematized; they proved to be of a regular
character since they could be reproduced at will. To our
great joy, we saw for ourselves that we had taken the right
path in our observations, leading us to success. I shall cite
some examples illustrating the results achieved by us with
the help of these new methods.
If the dog is repeatedly teased with the sight of objects
inducing a salivary secretion from a distance, the reaction
of the salivary glands becomes weaker and weaker and fi¬
nally drops to zero. The shorter the intervals between sepa¬
rate stimulations, the quicker the reaction reaches zero, and
vice versa. These rules are fully manifested only when the
conditions of the experiments remain unchanged. Identity
of the conditions, however, may be only of a relative char¬
acter; it may be confined only to those phenomena of the

144
external world that were previously associated with the
act of eating or with the forceful introduction of correspond¬
ing substances into the animal’s mouth; the change of other
phenomena is of no significance. This identity is easily
attained by the experimenter so that an experiment in which
a stimulus repeatedly applied from a distance gradually
loses its effect, can be readily demonstrated even in the
course of one lecture. If in a repeated stimulation from a
distance a certain substance becomes ineffective, this does
not mean that the influence of other substances is thereby
eliminated. For example, when milk ceases to stimulate the
salivary glands, the action of bread remains strongly effec¬
tive, and when the bread loses its effect owing to repeti¬
tion of the experimental stimulation, acid or other sub¬
stances still produce their full action on the glands. These
relations also explain the real meaning of the above-men¬
tioned identity of experimental conditions; every detail of
the surrounding objects appears as a new stimulus. If a
certain stimulus has lost its influence, it can be restored
only after a rest of several hours duration. However, the
lost action can be restored without fail at any time by
special means.
If bread repeatedly shown to the dog no longer stimu¬
lates its salivary glands, it is only necessary to let the
animal eat it and the effect of the bread placed at a distance
is fully restored. The same result is obtained when the dog
is given some other food. More than that, if a substance
producing a salivary secretion, for instance, acid, is intro¬
duced into the dog’s mouth, even then the original distant
effect of bread is restored. Generally speaking, everything
that stimulates the salivary glands restores the lost reac¬
tion; the greater their activity, the more fully it is restored.
However, the reaction can be inhibited with the same
regularity by certain artificial means, if, for example, some
extraordinary stimuli act on the eye or ear of the dog,
evoking in the latter a strong motor reaction, say, a tremor
of the whole body.

10—773 145
 Since time is short I shall limit myself to what I have
said and pass to a theoretical consideration of these experi¬
ments. Our facts fit in readily with physiological thought.
The stimuli which act from a distance may be rightly termed
and regarded as reflexes. Careful observation shows that
the activity of the salivary glands is always excited by cer¬
tain external phenomena, that like the usual physiological
salivary reflex, it is caused by external stimuli. But while
the latter emanates from the oral cavity, the former comes
from the eye, nose, etc. The difference between the two
reflexes is that our old physiological reflex is constant and
unconditioned, whereas the new reflex is permanently sub¬
ject to fluctuation, and is, therefore, conditioned. Examining
the phenomena more closely we can see the following essen¬
tial distinction between the two reflexes: in the uncondi¬
tioned reflex the properties of the substance act as a stim¬
ulus with which the saliva has to deal physiologically, for
example, the hardness, dryness, definite chemical proper¬
ties, etc.; in the conditioned reflex, on the contrary, the
properties of the substance which bear no direct relation
to the physiological role of the saliva act as stimuli, for
example, colour, etc. These last properties appear here as
signals for the first ones. We cannot but notice in their
stimulating action a wider and more delicate adaptation of
the salivary glands to the phenomena of the external world.
Here is an example. We are getting ready to introduce
acid into the dog’s mouth; in the interest of the integrity
of the buccal mucous membrane it is obviously very desir¬
able that before the acid enters the mouth, there should be
more saliva; on the one hand the saliva hinders direct
contact of the acid with the mucous membrane and, on the
other hand, it immediately dilutes the acid, thus weaken¬
ing its injurious chemical effect. However, in essence the
signals have only a conditional significance: on the one
hand, they are readily subject to change, and on the other,
the signallizing object cannot come into contact with the
mucous membrane of the mouth. Consequently, the finer

146
adaptation must consist in the fact that the properties of
the signalling objects now stimulate the salivary glands,
and at other times do not. And that is what really happens.
Any phenomenon of the external world can be made a tem¬
porary signal of the object which stimulates the salivary
glands, provided the stimulation of the mucous membrane
of the mouth by the object has been associated once or
more times with the action of the given external phenom¬
enon on other receptor areas of the surface of the body. In
our laboratory we are trying out many such highly paradox¬
ical combinations; and the experiment is proving success¬
ful. On the other hand, rapidly acting signals can lose their
stimulating effect if repeated over a long period without
bringing the corresponding object into contact with the
mucous membrane of the mouth. If ordinary food is shown
to a dog for days and weeks, without giving it to him to
eat, then the sight of the food will, finally, cease to produce
a salivary secretion. The mechanism of stimulation of the
salivary glands through the signalling properties of the
objects, i.e., the mechanism of “conditioned stimulation,”
can be easily conceived from the physiological point of
view as a function of the nervous system. As we have just
seen, at the basis of each conditioned reflex, i.e., of stimula¬
tion through the signalling properties of an object, there
is an unconditioned reflex, that is, a stimulation through
the essential attributes of the object. Thus, it must be
assumed that the point of the central nervous system which
is strongly stimulated during the unconditioned reflex,
attracts to itself weaker stimuli proceeding from the external
world to other points of the central nervous system, i.e.,
thanks to the unconditioned reflex there is opened for all
other external stimuli a temporary, casual path leading ^o
the central point of this reflex. The conditions influencing
the opening and closing of the path, its practicability and
desolation, constitute the internal mechanism of the effec¬
tiveness or ineffectiveness of the signalling properties of the
external objects; they are the physiological basis of the

10* 147
most delicate reactivity of the living substance, of the most
delicate adaptation of the animal organism.
It is my firm conviction that physiological research will
be successfully and greatly advanced along the lines which
I have sketched here.
In point of fact only one thing in life is of actual interest
for us—our psychical experience. But its mechanism has
been and still remains wrapped in mystery. All human
resources—art, religion, literature, philosophy and histor¬
ical science—have combined to throw light on this dark¬
ness. Man has at his disposal yet another powerful
resource—natural science with its strictly objective meth¬
ods. This science, as we all know, is making big head¬
way every day. The facts and considerations which I have
placed before you are one of the numerous attempts to
employ—in studying the mechanism of the highest vital
manifestations in the dog, the representative of the animal
kingdom which is man’s best friend—a consistent, purely
scientific method of thinking.
 PROBLEM OF THE STUDY
OF HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY
AND THE WAYS OF ITS EXPERIMENTAL
SOLUTION
 • .'t

't 4^

! - n. 1?^
 EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN ANIMALS29

Regarding the language of facts as most eloquent, I shall

take the liberty of proceeding directly to the experimental
material, which gives me the right to speak on the subject
of my present communication.
To begin with, this is the history of the transition of the
physiologist from research into purely physiological
problems to the sphere of phenomena usually called
psychical. Although this transition took place sud¬
denly, it occurred in a perfectly natural way, and what
seems to me most important in this respect, without chang¬
ing the, so to speak, methodological front.
In studying over a period of years the normal working
of the digestive glands, and analysing the constant condi¬
tions of this work, I came upon conditions of a psychical
character, which, incidentally, had been observed by others
before me. There were no grounds for neglecting these con¬
ditions, since they participated constantly and prominently
in the normal physiological process. I was obliged to inves¬
tigate them if I wanted to make a really thorough study of
my subject. But how? All that follows in my exposition
supplies the answer to this question.
From all our material I shall select only the experiments
with the salivary glands—organs which apparently play a
very insignificant physiological role; however, I am con¬
vinced that they will become classical objects for the new
type of research about which I shall have the honour of

15!
telling you today; part of this research has already been
carried out and part is in the planning stage.
In observing the normal working of the salivary glands
one cannot but be amazed by the high degree of theii
adaptability.
Give the animal dry, hard food substances and there
will be an abundant salivary secretion—give it liquid food
and the secretion will be much smaller.
It is obvious that for the chemical testing of the food,
for mixing it and converting it into a lump to be swallowed,
water is required—and the salivary glands supply it. From
the mucous salivary glands there flows for every kind of
food, saliva rich in mucin—a lubricating saliva, which facil¬
itates the smooth passage of the food into the stomach. All
highly irritant substances, such as acids, salts, etc., also
produce a salivary secretion which varies in accordance
with the strength of their stimulating action; clearly, as
we know from everyday experience, the purpose of this
secretion is to neutralize or dilute the substances and to
cleanse the mouth. In this case the mucous glands secrete
fluid saliva containing little mucin. For what would be the
purpose of the mucin here? If pure insoluble quartz pebbles
are placed in the mouth of a dog it will move them around,
try to chew them, and finally, it will drop them. There is
either no secretion of saliva at all, or at most two or three
drops flow out. Again, what purpose would the saliva serve
here? The pebbles are easily ejected by the animal and
nothing remains in the mouth. But if sand is placed in the
dog’s mouth, i.e., the same pebbles but in pulverized form,
there will be an abundant flow of saliva. It is clear that
without saliva, without fluid in the oral cavity, the sand
could neither be ejected, nor forwarded to the stomach.
Here we have exact and constant facts—facts which seem
to imply intelligence. But the entire mechanism of this in¬
telligence is absolutely plain. On the one hand, physiology
has long known about the centrifugal nerves of the salivary
glands, which now chiefly cause water to enter into the sa-

m
liva, and now accumulate in the saliva special organic sub¬
stances. On the other hand, the internal lining of the oral
cavity consists of separate areas which act as receptors of
different special stimuli—mechanical, chemical, thermal.
Moreover, these stimuli may be further subdivided, the chem¬
ical, for example, into salts, acids, etc. There are grounds
for assuming that the same thing is true of the mechan¬
ical stimuli. It is in the areas acting as receptors of special
stimuli that the specific centripetal nerves have their origin.
Thus, the reactions of adaptation are based on a simple
reflex originated by definite external conditions acting only
on certain kinds of centripetal nerve endings; from here the
excitation passes along a definite nervous path to the centre,
and thence, also along a definite path, to the salivary
gland, evoking its specific function.
In other words, this is a specific external agent evoking
a specific reaction in living matter. At the same time we have
here a typical example of what we call adaptation or fitness.
Let us dwell for a moment on these facts and terms, since
they play, obviously, an important role in modern physiolo¬
gical thought. What, exactly, is the fact of adaptation? It is,
as we have just seen, simply the exact co-ordination of the
elements making up a complex system and of the entire
complex with the surrounding world.
But the same thing can be observed in any inanimate ob¬
ject. Take, for example, a complex chemical object. This ob¬
ject exists thanks to equilibration between its separate
atoms and groups, between the object as a whole and the
surroundings.
In exactly the same way the immense complexity of the
higher and lower organisms exists as a whole so long as all
its constituents are delicately and strictly co-ordinated and
equilibrated both with one another and with the external
conditions.
The analysis of the equilibration of this system is the
prime task and aim of physiological investigation as purely
objective investigation. There can hardly be two opinions

15S
on this point. Unfortunately, so far we have no purely scien¬
tific term to denote this fundamental property of the organ¬
ism, its external and internal equilibrium. Many people hold
that the terms now in use—fitness and adaptation (despite
their natural-scientific, Darwinist analysis)—bear the stamp
of subjectivism, which leads to misunderstanding in two op¬
posite directions. The rigid adherents of the physico-mecha-
nical theory of life see in these words an anti-scientific ten¬
dency—a retreat from pure objectivism to speculation and
teleology.*" On the other hand, philosophically inclined bio¬
logists see in every fact relating to adaptation and fitness
proof of the existence of a special vital force, or, as it is now
more and more often called, spiritual force (vitalism, ap¬
parently, gives way to animism*^), which defines its own
goal, chooses its means, adapts itself, etc.
And so, in the afore-mentioned physiological experiments
with the salivary glands we, in our investigation, remain
strictly within the bounds of natural science. We shall now
pass to another sphere of phenomena which, it would seem,
belong to quite a different category.
Ail the foregoing objects, which, after being placed in the
mouth, influenced the salivary glands in different and at the
same time definite ways, exert on these glands exactly the
same action, at least qualitatively, when placed at a certain
distance from the dog. Dry food produces much saliva—
moist food only a little. A thick, lubricating saliva flows
from the mucous glands to the food substances. Various
inedible irritants also produce secretion from all the glands,
including the mucous glands. But it is fluid and contains
but a small amount of mucin. Pebbles, when shown to the
animal, have no effect on the glands, while sand evokes pro¬
fuse salivation. These facts were partly obtained and partly
systematized in my laboratory by Dr. S. G. Wolfson. The
dog sees, hears, and smells all these substances, pays atten¬
tion to them, rushes to them if edible or agreeable, but turns
away from them and resists their introduction into the
mouth when disagreeable. Everybody would say that this is

154
a psychical reaction, psychical stimulation of the animal’s
salivary glands.
How should the physiologist regard these facts? How can
he establish them? How to analyse them? What are they com¬
pared with physiological facts? What are their common fea¬
tures and in what way are they distinguished from one
another?
Must we, for the purpose of getting to know the new phe¬
nomena, penetrate into the inner state of the animal,
visualize its feelings and desires in our own way?
It seems to me that for the naturalist there is only one
answer to the last question—an emphatic “No.” Where is
there even the slightest indisputable criterion that our con¬
jectures are correct, that we can, for the sake of a better
understanding of the matter, compare the inner state of
even such a highly developed animal as the dog with our
own? Further: is not the eternal sorrow of life the fact that
in most cases human beings do not understand each other
and cannot enter into the inner state of the other? And then,
where is the knowledge, where is the power of knowledge
that might enable us correctly to comprehend the state of
another human being? At first, in our psychical experiments
with the salivary glands (for the time being we shall use
the term “psychical”), we conscientiously endeavoured, to
explain our results by imagining the subjective state of the
animal. But nothing came of this except sterile controversy
and individual views that could not be reconciled. And so we
could do nothing but conduct the research on a purely ob¬
jective basis; our first and especially important task was
completely to abandon the very natural tendency to trans¬
fer our own subjective state to the mechanism of the reac¬
tion of the animal undergoing the experiment and to concen¬
trate instead on studying the correlation between the ex¬
ternal phenomena and the reaction of the organism, i.e., the
activity of the salivary glands. Reality had to decide whether
elaboration of the new phenomena was possible in that di¬
rection. I make bold to say that the following account will

155
convince you, as I am convinced, that a boundless field of
fruitful research opens before us in the given case; it is
another and immense part of the physiology of the nervous
system, a system which mainly establishes the correlation
not between the separate parts of the organism, our main
subject so far, but between the organism and the surround¬
ings. Unfortunately, to date the influence of the surrounding
world on the nervous system has been studied mainly in
relation to subjective reactions—the content of the modern
physiology of the sense organs.
In our psychical experiments we have before us definite
external objects, exciting the animal and evoking in it a def¬
inite reaction, in the given case—secretion of the salivary
glands. As has been said, the effect of these objects is sub¬
stantially the same as in the physiological experiments,
when they come into contact with the oral cavity. Conse¬
quently, we have before us simply further adaptation—the
object acts on the salivary glands the moment it is being
brought close to the mouth.
What are the specific features of these new phenomena
compared with the physiological ones? Above all, the differ¬
ence seems to be that in the physiological form of the exper¬
iment the substance comes into direct contact with the or¬
ganism, while in the psychical form it acts from a distance.
But this circumstance in itself, if we reflect on it, does not,
obviously, signify any essential difference between these, in
a way specific, experiments, and the purely physiological
ones. The point is that in these cases the substances act on
other special receiving surfaces of the body—nose, eye, ear
—through the medium in which both the organism and the
stimulating substances exist (air, ether). How many simple
physiological reflexes are transmitted by the nose, eye and
ear, that is, originate at a distance! Hence, the essential dif¬
ference between the new phenomena and the purely physio¬
logical does not lie here.
It lies much deeper, and should be sought, in my view, in
a comparison of the following facts. In the physiological

156
case the activity of the salivary glands is connected with
the properties of the substance on which the effect of the sa¬
liva is directed. The saliva moistens dry substances and any
ingested material; it neutralizes the chemical effect of the sub¬
stances. These properties constitute the special stimuli of
the specific mouth surface. Consequently, in the physiologi¬
cal experiments the animal is stimulated by the essential, un¬
conditioned properties of the object in relation to the physio¬
logical role of the saliva.
In the psychical experiments the animal is excited by the
properties of the external object, which are unessential for
the activity of the salivary glands, or even entirely acciden¬
tal. The visual, acoustic and even purely olfactory properties
of our objects, when they are present in other objects, do
not of themselves exert any influence on the salivary glands
which, in their turn, so to speak, have no business relations
with these properties. In the psychical experiments the sal¬
ivary glands are stimulated not only by the properties of
the objects unessential for the work of the glands, but ab¬
solutely by all the conditions surrounding these objects, or
with which they are connected one way or another—for ex¬
ample, the dish in which they are contained, the article on
which they are placed, the room, the people who usually
bring the objects, even the noises produced by these peo¬
ple, though the latter may not be seen at the given moment
—their voices, even the sound of their steps. Thus, in psy¬
chical experiments, the connection of the objects acting as
stimuli on the salivary glands becomes more and more dis¬
tant and delicate. Here, undoubtedly, we have a phenom¬
enon of further adaptation. We can admit in this case that
such a distant and delicate connection as that between the
step of the person who usually feeds the animal and the
working of the salivary glands has no specific physiological
significance other than its delicacy. But we need only recall
those animals whose saliva contains protective poison, to
appreciate the great vital significance of this timely provi-

157
sion of a protective means against an approaching enemy.
The significance of the distant signs of objects producing
a motor reaction in the organism, is, of course, easily rec¬
ognized. By means of distant and even accidental charac¬
teristics of objects the animal seeks its food, evades ene¬
mies, etc.
If that is so, then the following questions are of decisive
significance for our subject: can this seemingly chaos of re¬
lations be included in a definite scheme? Is it possible to
make the phenomena constant, to disclose the laws govern¬
ing their development and their mechanism? It seems to me
that the examples which I shall now present entitle me to
give an emphatically positive answer to these questions,
to find at the basis of all psychical experiments the one and
same special reflex as the chief and most general mechan¬
ism. True, in its physiological form, our experiment, ex¬
cluding, of course, all extraordinary conditions, always
yields one and the same result; it is the unconditioned reflex.
But the main feature of the psychical experiment is its im¬
permanence, its obvious capriciousness. However, the re¬
sults of a psychical experiment undoubtedly recur too,
otherwise we would not speak of them at all. Consequently,
the point is in the greater number of factors which influence
the results of a psychical experiment compared with a phys¬
iological one. This, then, is a conditioned reflex. Here are
facts which show that our psychical material may also be
included in a definite scheme and that it is subject to cer¬
tain laws. These facts were obtained in my laboratory by
Dr. I. F. Tolochinov.
It is not difficult to recognize during the first psychical
experiments the chief conditions guaranteeing their success,
i.e., their constancy. If an animal is stimulated (i.e., its sal¬
ivary glands) by food placed at a distance, the result of the
experiment depends solely on whether the animal has been
prepared for it by a certain period of fasting. An animal ex¬
periencing keen hunger yields positive results; on the con¬
trary, the most voracious and least fastidious animal, if. it

158
has just had a good meal, fails to respond to food placed at
a distance. Thinking in terms of physiology we can say that
we have here a different degree of excitability of the sali¬
vary centre—greatly increased in the first case, and greatly
decreased in the second. We may rightly assume that just as
the carbonic acid contained in the blood determines the
energy of the respiratory centre, so the different composi¬
tion of the blood in a hungry animal and in one that is sated
determines the above-mentioned fluctuations in the excita¬
bility and reactivity of the salivary centres. From the sub¬
jective point of view this could be designated as attention.
When the stomach is empty, the sight of food easily causes
the mouth to water; in sated animals the same reaction i.s
either very weak or entirely lacking.
Let us proceed. If the animal is shown food or certain dis¬
agreeable substances, and if this is repeated several times,
then with each repetition' the experiment will produce a
weaker result, and in the end there will be no reaction what¬
ever. There is, however, a sure method of restoring the reac¬
tion; it can be achieved by giving the dog food or by intro¬
ducing into its mouth substances which ceased to act as
stimuli. This, of course, produces the usual strong reflex,
and the object begins to apt from a distance again. For the
subsequent result it is immaterial whether food is placed in
the mouth or any disagreeable substance. For example, if
meat powder no longer stimulates the animal from a dis¬
tance, its effect can be restored either by letting it eat the
powder or by introducing into the mouth an undesired sub¬
stance, e.g., acid. We can say that thanks to the direct
reflex the excitability of the salivary centre has been height¬
ened, and the weak stimulus—the object at a distance—has
become sufficiently strong. Do we not experience the same
thing ourselves when appetite comes with eating, or when,
after unpleasant, powerful excitation, we begin to have the
appetite that we previously lacked?
Here is a number of other facts of a constant character.
The object placed at a distance stimulates the salivary

159
glands not only by the entire complex of its properties, but
also by its individual properties. If a hand smelling of meat
or meat powder, is brought into proximity with the dog, it
often proves sufficient to induce a salivary reaction. Simi¬
larly the sight of food placed at a distance, and consequently
the mere optical effect of the object, may also stimulate the
activity of the salivary glands. But the combined, simul¬
taneous action of all these properties of the object always
produces a better and greater effect, i.e., the action of the
sum of the stimuli is more powerful than each individual
stimulus.
The object acts on the salivary glands from a distance
not only by means of its inherent properties but also by
means of incidental qualities deliberately imparted to it. If
we colour the acid black, then even water to which the same
colour is added will influence the salivary glands from a
distance. However, all incidental qualities deliberately im¬
parted to the distant object begin to act as stimuli of the
salivary glands only when the object with its newly ac¬
quired properties is brought into contact with the oral cavity
at least once. Black-coloured water began to stimulate the
salivary glands from a cfistance only after preliminary in¬
troduction of black-coloured acid into the dog’s mouth. The
stimuli of the olfactory nerves belong to the same group of
conditioned properties. The experiments carried out in our
laboratory by Dr. A. T. Snarsky showed that simple physio¬
logical reflexes from the nasal cavity acting on the salivary
glands are conducted only through the sensory nerves lying
along the trigeminal nerve. Ammonia, mustard oil, etc., al¬
ways produce an invariable effect even in a curarized ani¬
mal. However, if the trigeminal nerves are severed, this ac¬
tion fails. Odours lacking a local stimulating effect have no
influence on the salivary glands. If, for example, oil of anise
is placed for the first time before a normal dog with con¬
stant salivary fistulae there will be no secretion of saliva.
But if simultaneously with the odour the oil of anise (which
produces a strong local irritation) is brought into contact

160
with the dog’s oral cavity, saliva secretion will be induced
afterwards by the odour alone.
If food is combined with a disagreeable substance or with
a certain property of the disagreeable substance, for exam¬
ple, if you show the dog meat moistened with acid, then,
despite the fact that the dog reaches for the meat, a saliva
secretion comes from the parotid gland (for meat alone there
is no secretion from this gland), i.e., a reaction to the dis¬
agreeable substance. Moreover, if owing to repetition the ac¬
tion of the disagreeable substance placed at a distance be¬
comes insignificant, then upon combining it with food which
attracts the animal, the reaction always becomes inten¬
sified.
As mentioned above, dry food causes abundant saliva
secretion, while moist food, on the contrary, produces either
a weak flow of saliva or none at all. If one acts on a dog
from a distance by showing it two extremes, for instance,
dry bread and moist meat, the result will depend on the ob¬
ject which stimulates the dog more strongly, and this can
be judged by its motor reaction. If, as usually happens, the
dog is stimulated more strongly by the meat, then the only
reaction will be the one peculiar to meat, i.e., there will be
no saliva secretion. Thus, the bread, although it is before
the dog’s eyes, remains ineffective. It is possible to im¬
part the smell of sausage or meat to dry bread so that the
bread alone acts on the dog’s eye, with the sausage or meat
only leaving a smell, and yet the only reaction will be that
induced by the sausage or meat.
The action of objects from a distance can be inhibited in
other ways. If in the presence of a greedy, excitable dog we
feed another dog, for example with dry bread, then the sali¬
vary glands, which previously evinced a most vivid reaction
to the sight of bread, become inactive.
When the dog is placed on the stand for the first time, the
sight of dry bread, which produced a very strong action
on the salivary glands when the dog was on the floor, now
has not even the slightest influence.

11—773 161
 I have placed before you a number of easily and exactly
recurring facts. It will be obvious that many striking in¬
stances of animal training belong to the same category as
some of our facts. It follows, therefore, that they have long
since testified to the strictly law-governed nature of certain
psychical manifestations in animals. It is to be regretted
that they have been left so long without science giving them
the attention they merit.
So far in my exposition I have not mentioned any phe¬
nomenon corresponding to what in the subjective world we
call desires. Actually we have not encountered such phenom¬
ena. On the contrary, the following fundamental fact con¬
stantly recurred before our eyes; the sight of dry bread, to
which the dog hardly turned its head, produced an abundant
secretion of saliva, whereas meat, to which the dog rushed
with avidity, breaking from the stand and gnashing its
teeth, failed to exert any influence on the salivary glands
when placed at a distance. Thus, what in the subjective
world we designate a desire, was expressed in our experi¬
ments only by the animal’s motor reaction, but did not man¬
ifest any positive action on the salivary glands. Hence, the
phrase that ardent desire stimulates the salivary or gastric
glands in no way corresponds to reality. This sin of confus¬
ing what are obviously different things can be imputed also
to me in my earlier articles. In our experiments we must, there¬
fore, clearly distinguish between the secretory and the motor
reactions of the organism; and in respect to the glands, if
we compare our results with the phenomena of the subjec¬
tive world, we must regard not the desire of the dog. but
its attention, as the chief condition for the success of the
experiments. The salivary reaction of the animal might be
regarded in the subjective world as a substratum of elemen¬
tary, pure notion, thought.
The above-mentioned facts, on the one hand, provide cer¬
tain, and in my view, important conclusions about the pro¬
cesses taking place in the central nervous system; on the
other hand, they make possible further successful analysis.

162
Let us consider from the standpoint of physiology some of
our facts, and first of all our fundamental fact. When a given
object—a certain food or chemical irritant—is brought into
contact with the special surface of the oral cavity and stim¬
ulates it by means of those of its properties on which the
activity of the salivary glands is specially directed, then the
other properties of the object that have nothing to do with
the working of the salivary glands or even with the entire
environment of the object, but simultaneously stimulating
other sensory surfaces of the body, become connected, ap¬
parently, with the same nervous centre of the salivary
glands to which the stimulation emanating from the essen¬
tial properties of the object is conducted through a fixed
centripetal path. It can be assumed in this case that the sali¬
vary centre acts in the central nervous system as a point
of attraction for stimuli coming from other sensory sur¬
faces. Thus, a certain path is opened from the other excited
areas of the body to the salivary centre. But this connection
of the centre with accidental points is very fragile and tends
to disappear of itself. Constant repetition of simultaneous
stimulation'by means of the essential and unessential prop¬
erties of the object is required to make this connection in¬
creasingly durable. In this way a temporary relation is es¬
tablished between the activity of a certain organ and the
external objects. The temporary relation and its law—to
become stronger as a result of repetition and to disappear
when not repeated—play a big role in the well-being and
integrity of the organism; by means of it the adaptabilitv of
the organism and the conformity of its activity to the sur¬
roundings become more perfect and delicate. The two parts
of this law are equally important: if the temporary relation
to the object is of great significance for the organism, then
the rupture of this relation is essential when it is no longer
justified by reality. Otherwise the relations of the animal,
instead of being delicate, would assume a chaotic character.
Let us turn to another point. From the standpoint of
physiology how do we regard the fact that the sight of meat

11* 163
destroys in the parotid gland the reaction to the sight of
bread, i.e., that the saliva earlier secreted at the sight of
bread ceases to flow when there is a simultaneous meat stim¬
ulation? One could assume that strong excitation in a def¬
inite motor centre corresponds to the strong motor reac¬
tion provided by the meat, as a consequence of which, ac¬
cording to the above-mentioned law, the stimulation is di¬
verted from other parts of the central nervous system and in
particular from the salivary centres, i.e., their excitability is
diminished. This interpretation is supported by another ex¬
periment in which the secretion of saliva at the sight of
bread is inhibited by the sight of another dog. Here the mo¬
tor reaction to bread is really greatly intensified. Even more
convincing would be an experiment in which the dog would
prefer dry food to moist and display a stronger motor reac¬
tion to it. We should be quite right in our interpretation of
this experiment if in the dog in question the sight of dry
food did not evoke secretion of saliva, or if the secretion
should be much less than in usual dogs. It is a well-known
fact that a very strong desire often inhibits certain special
reflexes.
But among the above-mentioned facts there are some
which, from the physiological point of view, can be ex¬
plained only with great difficulty: for example, why does
a conditioned reflex, when repeated, invariably become in¬
effective? The natural explanation of fatigue is hardly ac¬
ceptable, since in this case we are dealing with a weak stim¬
ulus. Actually the repetition of a strong stimulus of an
unconditioned reflex does not bring on early fatigue. Prob¬
ably we have here altogether peculiar conditions for the
excitation which is conducted along accidental centripetal
paths.
From the above it is obvious that our new subject can
be investigated quite objectively and that, in essence, it is a
purely physiological subject. One can hardly doubt that
analysis of this group of stimuli, coming into the nervous
system from the external world will reveal to us laws of

164
nervous activity and disclose its mechanism from aspects
which so far have not been even touched upon by investiga’
tion of nervous phenomena in the organism, or have been
touched upon only in rough outline.
Despite the complexity of the new phenomena, this in¬
vestigation entails considerable advantages. In the present
study of the mechanism of the nervous system, first, the ex¬
periments are conducted on animals that have just been in¬
jured by operations, and, secondly, and this is the chief
thing, the nerve trunks of the animals are subjected to stim¬
ulation, i.e., the excitation extends simultaneously and in
a uniform manner over a mass of highly diverse nervous
fibres; such combinations, however, never occur in reality.
Naturally, we experience great difficulty in discovering the
laws of the normal activity of the nervous system, since we
bring it to a state of chaos by our artificial stimulation. But
in normal conditions, such as we maintained in our latest
experiments, the stimulation is effected in an isolated man¬
ner, the correlations of the intensity being regulated.
Generally speaking this applies to all psychical experi¬
ments, but in the case of our psychical phenomena, observed
in the activity of the salivary glands, there is another spe¬
cial advantage. For successful investigation of a subject,
complex by its very nature, it is important to simplify it in
some way or other. In the given case we have this simplifi¬
cation. The role of the salivary glands is so clear that their
relation to the external environment of the organism must
be equally clear and accessible to investigation and inter¬
pretation. However, it must not be imagined that the physio¬
logical role of the salivary glands is confined to the above-
mentioned functions. By no means. For example, saliva is
used by the animals for licking and healing wounds, a thing
that we constantly see. This is probably the reason why we
can obtain saliva by stimulating various sensory nerves.
And yet the complexity of the physiological relations of the
salivary glands is much less than that of the ske^e^a! mus¬
cles through which the organism is connected with the ex-

165
ternal world in an endless number of ways. At the same
time a simultaneous comparison of the secretory, especially
salivary, reaction with the motor reaction enables us, on the
one hand, to distinguish between the particular and the gen¬
eral, and on the other hand, to get rid of our stock of routine
anthropomorphic concepts and interpretations relating to
the motor reaction of the animals.
Having established the possibility of analysis and sys¬
tematization of our phenomena we come to the next stage
of our work—systematic division and derangement of the
central nervous system in order to see how the previously
established relations change. Thus, there will be an anatom¬
ical analysis of the mechanism of these relations. This
will be the future and, I feel sure, the already approaching
experimental psychopathology.
Here, too, the salivary glands as objects of investigation
are of-great value. The nervous system, which has a bearing
on movement, is so highly intricate and predominates to
such an extent in the brain that even the slightest damage
to it often causes undesirable and very complicated results.
The nervous system of the salivary glands, because of their
inconsiderable physiological significance, comprises, it may
be assumed, only a negligible portion of the brain substance,
and is, consequently, so thinly distributed in the brain that
its partial, isolated destruction does not bring about, even
remotely, the difficulties which in this respect exist in the
innervation motor apparatus. Of course, psychopathological
experiments had their beginning at a time when the physio¬
logists first removed these or other parts of the central
nervous system and investigated the animals that survived
these operations. In this respect the past twenty or thirty
years have supplied us with a number of fundamental facts.
We already know the drastic decline that takes place in the
adaptive capacity of animals as a result of complete or par¬
tial extirpation of their cerebral hemispheres. But the in¬
vestigation of this subject has not yet developed into a spe¬
cial branch, which could be studied without interruption and

!66
according to a definite plan. The reason for this, as I see
it, is that the investigators still lack the more or less con¬
siderable and detailed knowledge of the animal’s normal re¬
lations with the surrounding world that would enable them
to make an objective and exact comparison of the state of
the animal before and after the operation.
Objective investigation alone will gradually bring us to
the complete analysis of that infinite adaptability in all its
manifestations which constitutes life on earth. Are not the
movements of plants towards light and the seeking of truth
through mathematical analysis essentially phenomena of
one and the same order? Are .they not the last links of an
almost endless chain of adaptation taking place throughout
the living world?
We can analyse adaptation in its most elementary forms
on the basis of objective facts. Is there any reason for chang¬
ing this method in the study of adaptability in the higher
orders?
Work in this direction has been started at different levels
of life and has advanced without encountering obstacles.
The objective study of living matter, which begins with the
theory of tropisms of elementary living things, can and must
remain objective also when it reaches the highest manifesta¬
tions of the animal organism, the so-called psychical phe¬
nomena in the higher animals.
Guided by the similarity or identity of external manifesta¬
tions, science, sooner or later, will apply the objective facts
also to our subjective world and thereby shed a bright light
on our mysterious nature, elucidate the mechanism and the
vital significance of that which occupies the human mind
most—his consciousness and its torments. This explains
why in my exposition I have some words which sounded as
if they were contradictory. In the title of my paper and
throughout my exposition I have used the term “psychical,”
at the same time bringing forward only objective investiga¬
tion and leaving aside everything subjective. The vital phe¬
nomena that are termed psychical, despite the fact that they

167
 are objectively observed in animals, are only distinguished
from purely physiological phenomena by degree of com¬
plexity. It makes no difference whether they are teimed
psychical or complex-nervous as distinct from the simple
physiological, once it is realized and recognized that the
naturalist should approach them only objectively, leaving
aside the question of the essence of these phenomena.
Is it not clear that contemporary vitalism, that is, anim¬
ism, confuses the different points of view of the naturalist
and of the philosopher. The former always bases his gran¬
diose success on the study of objective facts and their com¬
parisons, disregarding on principle the question of the es¬
sence and final causes; the latter, personifying the highest
aspiration of man for synthesis—although up to now it has
been of a fantastic nature—and seeking to provide the an¬
swer to everything relating to the human being, must right
now create an entity from the objective and the subjective.
For the naturalist everything lies in the method, in the
chance of obtaining an unshakeable, lasting truth; and
solely from this point of view, which for him is obligatory,
the soul, as a naturalistic principle, is not only unnecessary
but even harmful to his work, in vain limiting his courage
and the depth of his analysis,
METHODS OF INVESTIGATION
AND FUNDAMENTAL LAWS
OF DEVELOPMENT
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 LECTURES ON THE WORK
OF THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES32

LECTURE ONE

The substantiation and the history of the fundamental methods

employed in the investigation of the activity of the cerebral
hemispheres. The concept of the reflex. The variety of reflexes.
Signalling activity as the most general physiological character¬
istic of the cerebral hemispheres.

Gentlemen,
One cannot but be struck by a comparison of the
following facts. First, the cerebral hemispheres, the high¬
er part of the central nervous system, is a rather impressive
organ. In structure it is exceedingly complex, comprising
millions and millions (in man—even billions) of cells, i.e.,
centres or foci of nervous activity. These cells vary in size,
shape and arrangement and are connected v/ith each other
by countless branches. Such structural complexity naturally
suggests a very high degree of functional complexity. Con¬
sequently, it would seem that a boundless field of investiga¬
tion is offered here for the physiologist. Secondly, take the
dog, man’s companion and friend since prehistoric times,
in its various roles as hunter, sentinel, etc. We know that
this complex behaviour of the dog, its higher nervous ac¬
tivity (since no one will dispute that this is higher nervous
activity), is chiefly associated with the cerebral hemispheres.
If we remove the cerebral hemispheres in the dog (Goltz and
others), it becomes incapable of performing not only the
roles mentioned above, but even of looking after itself. It

171
becomes profoundly disabled and will die unless well cared
for. This implies that both in respect of structure and func¬
tion, the cerebral hemispheres perform considerable phys¬
iological work.
Let us turn now to man. His entire higher nervous activ¬
ity is also dependent on the normal structure and function¬
ing of the cerebral hemispheres. The moment the complex
structure of his hemispheres is damaged or disturbed in one
way or another, he also becomes an invalid; he can no
longer freely associate with his fellows as an equal and
must be isolated.
In amazing contrast to this boundless activity of the cer¬
ebral hemispheres is the scant content of the present-day
physiology of these hemispheres. Up to 1870 there was no
physiology of the cerebral hemispheres at all; they seemed
inaccessible to the physiologist. It was in that year that
Fritsch and Hitzig first successfully applied the ordinary
physiological methods of stimulation and destruction to their
study. Stimulation of certain parts of the cerebral cortex
regularly evoked contractions in definite groups of the
skeletal muscles (the cortical motor region). Extirpation of
these parts led to certain disturbances in the normal ac¬
tivity of the corresponding groups of muscles.
Shortly afterwards H. Munk, Ferrier and others demon¬
strated that other regions of the cortex, seemingly not sus¬
ceptible to artificial stimulation, are also functionally dif¬
ferentiated. Removal of these parts leads to defects in the
activity of certain receptor organs—the eye, the ear and the
skin.®®
Many researchers have been thoroughly investigating
these phenomena. More precision and more details have
been obtained, especially as regards the motor region, and
this knowledge has even found practical application in
medicine; however, investigation as yet has not gone far
beyond the initial point. The essential fact is that the entire
higher and complex behaviour of the animal, which is de¬
pendent on the cerebral hemispheres, as shown by the pre-

172
viously mentioned experiment by Goltz with the extirpation
of the hemispheres in a dog, has hardly been touched upon
in these investigations and is not included even in the pro¬
gramme of current physiological research. What do the facts
relating to the cerebral hemispheres, which are now at the
disposal of the physiologist, explain with regard to the be¬
haviour of the higher animals? Is there a general scheme of
the higher nervous activity? What kind of general rules gov¬
ern this activity? The contemporary physiologist finds him¬
self truly empty-handed when he has to answer these lawful
questions. While the object of investigation is highly com¬
plex in relation to structure, and extremely rich in function,
research in this sphere remains, as it were, in a blind alley,
unable to open up before the physiologist the boundless
vistas which might have been expected.
Why is this so? The reason is clear: the work of the cere¬
bral hemispheres has never been regarded from the same
point of view as that of other organs of the body, or even
other parts of the central nervous system. It has been de¬
scribed as special psychical activity which we feel and ap¬
prehend in ourselves and which we suppose exists in ani¬
mals by analogy with human beings. Hence the highly pe¬
culiar and difficult position of the physiologist. On the one
hand, the study of the cerebral hemispheres, as of all other
parts of the organism, seems to come within the scope of
physiology, but on the other hand, it is an object of study
by a special branch of science—psychology. What, then,
should be the attitude of the physiologist? Should he first
acquire psychological methods and knowledge and only
then begin to study the activity of the cerebral hemispheres?
But there is a real complication here. It is quite natural that
physiology, in analysing living matter, should always base
itself on the more exact and advanced sciences—mechanics,
physics and chemistry. But here we are dealing with an al¬
together different matter, since in this particular case we
should have to rely on a science which has no claim to ex¬
actness as compared with physiology. Until recently discus-

173
Sion revolved even around the question whether psychology
should be considered a natural science or a science at all.
Without going deeply into this question, I should like to cite
some facts which, although crude and superficial, seem to
me very convincing. Even the psychologists themselves do
not regard their science as being exact. Not so long ago
James, an outstanding American psychologist,®^ called psy¬
chology not a science, but a “hope for science.” Another
striking illustration has been provided by Wundt,®® formerly
a physiologist, who became a celebrated psychologist and
philosopher and even the founder of the so-called experi¬
mental psychology. Prior to the war, in 1913, a discussion
took place in Germany as to the advisability of separating
the psychological branch of science from the philosophical
in the universities, i.e., of having two separate chairs in¬
stead of one. Wundt opposed separation, one of his argu¬
ments being the impossibility of establishing a common and
obligatory examination programme, in psychology, since
each professor had his own ideas of the essence of psy¬
chology. Is it not clear, then, that psychology has not yet
reached the stage of an exact science?
This being the case, there is no need for the physiologist
to have recourse to psychology. In view of the steadily de¬
veloping natural science it would be more logical to expect
that not psychology should render assistance to the physiol¬
ogy of the cerebral hemispheres, but, on the contrary, phys¬
iological investigation of the activity of this organ in ani¬
mals should lay the foundation for the exact scientific anal¬
ysis of the human subjective world. Consequently, phys¬
iology must follow its own path—the path blazed for it
long ago. Taking as his starting-point the assumption that
the functioning.of the animal’s organism, unlike that of the
human being, is similar to the work of a machine, Descar¬
tes®* three hundred years ago evolved the idea of the reflex
as the basic activity of the nervous system. Descartes re¬
garded every activity of the organism as a natural response
to certain external agents and believed that the connection

174
between the active organ and the given agent, that is, be¬
tween cause and effect, is achieved through a definite nerv¬
ous path. In this way the study of the activity of the ani¬
mal nervous system was placed on the firm basis of natural
science. In the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centu¬
ries the idea of the reflex had been extensively used by phys¬
iologists, but only in their work on the lower parts of the
central nervous system; gradually, however, they began to
study its higher parts, until finally, after Sherrington’s*’
classical works on spinal reflexes, Magnus,*® his successor,
established the reflex nature of all the basic locomotor ac¬
tivities of the organism. And so experiment fully justified the
idea of the reflex which, thereafter, was used in the study
of the central nervous system almost up to the cerebral
hemispheres. It is to be hoped that the more complex activi¬
ties of the organism, including the basic locomotor reflexes
—states so far referred to in psychology as anger, fear,
playfulness, etc.—will soon be related to the simple reflex
activity of the subcortical parts of the brain.
A bold attempt to apply the idea of the reflex to the cere¬
bral hemispheres not only of animals but also of man, was
made by I. M. Sechenov, the Russian physiologist, on the
basis of the contemporary physiology of the nervous system.
In a paper published in Russian in 1863 and entitled Reflexes
of the Brain Sechenov characterized the activity of the cere¬
bral hemispheres as reflex, i.e., determined activity. He re¬
garded thoughts as reflexes in which the effector end is in¬
hibited, and affects as exaggerated reflexes with a wide ir¬
radiation of excitation. A like attempt has been made in our
time by Ch. Richet who introduced the concept of the psy¬
chical reflex in which the reaction to a given stimulus is
determined by its union with the traces left in the cerebral
hemispheres by previous stimuli. Generally, the recent phys¬
iology of the higher nervous activity related to the cere¬
bral hemispheres tends to associate acting stimulations
with traces left by previous ones (associative memory—ac¬
cording to J. Loeb; training, education by experience—ac-

175
cording to other physiologists). But this was mere theoriz¬
ing. The time had come for a transition to the experimental
analysis of the subject, and from the objective external
aspect, as is the case with any other branch of natural sci¬
ence. This transition was determined by comparative phys-
iology^® which had just made its appearance as a result
of the influence of the theory of evolution. Now that it had
turned its attention to the entire animal kingdom, physiol¬
ogy, in dealing with its lower representatives, was forced,
of necessity, to abandon the anthropomorphic concept and
concentrate on the scientific elucidation of the relations be¬
tween the external agents influencing the animal and the
responsive external activity, the locomotor reaction of the
latter. This gave birth to J. Loeb’s doctrine of animal trop-
isms;'“’ to the suggestion by Beer, Bethe and Uexkull of an
objective terminology for designating the animal reactions;
and finally, to the investigation by zoologists of the behav¬
iour of the lower representatives of the animal world, by
means of purely objective methods, by comparing the effect
of external influences on the animal with its responsive ex¬
ternal activity—as for example in the classical work of
Jennings,^^ etc.
Influenced by this new tendency in biology and having
a practical cast of mind, American psychologists who also
became interested in comparative psychology displayed a
tendency to subject the external activity of animals to ex¬
perimental analysis under deliberately induced conditions.
Thorndike’s^^ Animal Intelligence (1898) must be regarded
as the starting-point for investigations of this kind. In these
investigations the animal was kept in a box and food placed
outside, within sight. The animal, naturally, tried to reach
the food, but to do so it had to open the door which in the
different experiments was fastened in a different way. Tables
and charts registered the speed and the manner in which
the animal solved this problem. The entire process was in¬
terpreted as the formation of an association, connection be¬
tween the visual and the tactile stimulation and the locomo-

176
tor activity. Afterwards by means of this method, and by
modifications of it, researchers studied numerous questions
relating to the associative ability of various animals. Al¬
most simultaneously with the above-mentioned work by
Thorndike, of which I was not then aware, I too had arrived
at the idea of the need for a similar attitude to the subject.
The following episode, which occurred in my laboratory,
gave birth to the idea.
While making a detailed investigation of the digestive
glands I had to busy myself also with the so-called psy¬
chical stimulation of the glands. When, together with one of
my collaborators, I attempted a deeper analysis of this fact,
at first in the generally accepted way, i.e., psychologically,
visualizing the probable thoughts and feelings of the ani¬
mal, I stumbled on a fact unusual in laboratory practice. I
found myself unable to agree with my colleague; each of “us
stuck to his point of view, and we were unable to convince
each other by certain experiments.^® This made me definitely
reject any further psychological discussion of the subject,
and I decided to investigate it in a purely objective way,
externally, i.e., strictly recording all stimuli reaching the
animal at the given moment and observing its correspond¬
ing responses either in the form of movements or in the
form of salivation (as occurred in this particular case).
This was the beginning of the investigations that I have
carried on now for the past twenty-five years with the par¬
ticipation of numerous colleagues who joined hand and
brain with me in this work and to whom I am deeply grate¬
ful. We have, of course, passed through different stages, and
the subject has been advanced only gradually. At first we
had but a few separate facts at our disposal, but today so
much material has been accumulated by us that we can make
an attempt to present it in a more or less systematized form.
I am now in a position to place before you a physiological
theory of the activity of the cerebral hemispheres which at
any rate conforms much more to the structural and func¬
tional complexity of this organ than the theory which until

12—773 177
now has been based on a few fragmentary, though very im¬
portant, facts of modern physiology.
Thus, research along these new lines of strictly objective
investigation of the higher nervous activity has been carried
out mainly in my laboratories (with the participation of a
hundred colleagues); work along the same lines has been
carried out also by American psychologists. As for other
physiological laboratories, so far only a few have begun,
starting somewhat later, to investigate this subject, but in
most cases their work is still in the initial stage. So far
there has been one essential point of difference in the re¬
search of the Americans and in ours. Since in the case of
the Americans the objective investigation is being con¬
ducted by psychologists, this means that, although psychol¬
ogists study the facts from the purely external' aspect,
nevertheless, in posing the problems, in analysing and for¬
mulating the results, they tend to think more in terms of
psychology. The result is that with the exception of the
group of “behaviourists”'*'' their work does not bear a purely
physiological character. Whereas, we, having started from
physiology, invariably and strictly adhere to the physio¬
logical point of view, and we are investigating and sys¬
tematizing the whole subject solely in a physiological
way.
1 shall now pass to an exposition of our material, but be¬
fore doing so I should like'to touch on the concept of the
reflex in general, on reflexes in physiology and the so-calied
instincts.
In the main we base ourselves on Descartes’ concept of
the reflex. Of course, this is a genuinely scientific concept,
since the phenomenon implied by it can be strictly deter¬
mined. It means that a certain agent of the external world,
or of the organism’s internal medium produces a certain
effect in one or other nervous receptor, which is transformed
into a nervous process, into nervous excitation. The excita¬
tion is transmitted along certain nerve fibres, as if along an
electric cable, to the central nervous system; thence, thanks

m
to the established nervous connections, it passes along other
nerve fibres to the working organ, where it in its turn is
transformed into a special activity of the cells of this organ.
Thus, the stimulating agent proves to be indispensably con¬
nected with the definite activity of the organism, as cause
and effect.
It is quite obvious that the entire activity of the organism
is governed by definite laws. If the animal were not (in the
biological sense) strictly adapted to the surrounding world,
it would, sooner or later, cease to exist. If instead of being at¬
tracted by food, the animal turned away from it, or instead of
avoiding fire threw itself into it, and so on, it would perish.
The animal must so react to the environment that all its
responsive activity ensures its existence. The same is true
if we think of life in terms of mechanics, physics and chem¬
istry. Every material system can exist as an entity only so
long as its internal forces of attraction, cohesion, etc., are
equilibrated with the external forces influencing it. This ap¬
plies in equal measure to such a simple object as a stone
qnd to the most complex chemical substance, and it also
holds good for the organism. As a definite material system
complete in itself, the organism can exist only so long as it
is in equilibrium with the environment; the moment this
equilibrium is seriously disturbed, the organism ceases to
exist as a particular system. Reflexes are the elements of
this constant adaptation or equilibration. Physiologists have
studied and are studying numerous reflexes, these indispen¬
sable, machine-like reactions of the organism, which at the
same time are inborn, i.e., determined by the peculiar or¬
ganization of the given nervous system. Reflexes, like the
belts of machines made by human hands, are of two kinds;
the positive and the negative inhibitory, in other words,
those which excite certain activities and those which inhibit
them. Although investigation of these reflexes by physiolog¬
ists has been under way for a long time, it is, of course,
a long way from being finished. More and more new reflexes
are being discovered; the properties of the receptor organs,

12* 179
in which the external and especially the internal stimuli
produce certain impulses, still remain in many cases un¬
explored. The paths along which nervous excitation is con¬
ducted within the central nervous system are often little
known or not known at all. The central mechanism of inhib¬
itory reflexes, excluding those which manifest themselves
along the inhibitory efferent nerves, is quite obscure; the
combination and interaction of the various reflexes have not
yet been sufficiently elucidated. Nevertheless, physiologists
are penetrating deeper and deeper into the mechanism of
this machine-like functioning of the organism, and have
every reason for believing that sooner or later they will elu¬
cidate it in full measure and exercise complete control
over it.
Akin to the usual reflexes that have long been the object
of physiological investigation in the laboratory and which
concern mainly the functions of separate organs, are other
inborn reactions; these reactions also take place in the nerv¬
ous system, and are governed by definite laws, i.e., they
are strictly determined by definite conditions. They are the
reactions of different animals in relation to the functioning
of the organism as a whole, manifested in the general be¬
haviour of the animals and designated by the special term
“instincts.” Since full agreement has not yet been attained
with regard to the essential similarity of these reactions to
reflexes, I shall dwell on this question somewhat longer.
Physiology owes to Herbert Spenser, the English philos¬
opher, the first suggestion that instinctive reactions are
reflexes too. Afterwards zoologists, physiologists and com¬
parative psychologists produced numerous facts in support
of this suggestion. I shall try to systematize the various
arguments to the effect that there is not a single essential
feature distinguishing reflexes from instincts. First of all
there are numerous, imperceptible stages of transition from
the usual reflexes to instincts. Take, for example, a newly
hatched chick; it reacts by pecking movements to any stim¬
ulus in the field of its vision, be it a tiny object or a stain

]80
on the surface on which it is walking. In what way does it
differ, say, from inclining the head and closing the lids
when something flashes near the eye? We should call the
latter a defensive reflex, and the first an alimentary instinct,
although in the case of the pecking, if it is caused by the
sight of a stain, nothing but inclining the head and a move¬
ment of the beak occurs.
Further, it has been noted that instincts are more com¬
plex than reflexes. But there are exceedingly complex
reflexes which no one designates as instincts. Take, for ex-,
ample, vomiting. This is a highly complex action and one
that involves extraordinary co-ordination of a large num¬
ber of muscles, both striated and smooth, usually employed
in other functions of the organism and spread over a large
area. It also involves the secretion of various glands which
normally participate in quite different activities of the or¬
ganism.
The fact that instincts involve a long chain of successive
actions, while reflexes are, so to speak, one-storeyed, has
also been regarded as a point of distinction between them.
By way of example let us take the building of a nest, or of
animal dwellings in general. Here, of course, we have a
long chain of actions: the animal must search for the
material, bring it to the site and put it together and secure
it. If we regard this as a reflex, we must assume that the
ending of one reflex excites a new one, or, in other words,
that these are chain-reflexes. But such chain activities are
by no means peculiar to instincts alone. We are familiar
with many reflexes which are also interlocked. Here is an
instance. When we stimulate an afferent nerve, for example,
the n. ischiadicus, there takes place a reflex rise of blood
pressure. This is the first reflex. The high pressure in the
left ventricle of the heart and in the first part of the aorta
acts as a stimulus to another reflex: it stimulates the end¬
ings of the n. depressoris cordis^® which evokes a depressor
reflex moderating the effect of the first reflex. Let us take
the chain-reflex recently established by Magnus. A cat, even

181
deprived of the cerebral hemispheres will in most cases fall
on its feet when thrown from a height. How does this
occur? The change in the spatial position of the otolithic
organ of the ear causes a certain reflex contraction of the
muscles in the neck, which restores the animal’s head to
a normal position in relation to the horizon. This is the
first reflex. The end of this reflex—the contraction of the
muscles in the neck and the righting of the head in gen¬
eral—stimulates a fresh reflex on certain muscles of the
trunk and limbs which come into action and, in the end,
restore the animal’s proper standing posture.
Yet another difference between reflexes and instincts has
been assumed, namely, that instincts often depend on the
internal state or condition of the organism. For instance,
a bird builds its nest only in the mating season. Or, to take
a simpler example, when the animal is sated, it is no long¬
er attracted by food and stops eating. The same applies
to the sexual instinct, which is connected with the age of
the organism, as well as with the state of the reproductive
glands. In general the hormones, products of the glands of
internal secretion, are of considerable importance in this
respect. But this, too, is not a peculiar property of the
instincts alone. The intensity of any reflex, as well as its
presence or absence, directly depends on the state of excita¬
bility of the reflex centres which in turn always depends on
the chemical and physical properties of the blood (auto¬
matic stimulation of the centres) and on the interaction of
different reflexes.
Finally, importance is sometimes attached to the fact
that reflexes are related to the activity of separate organs,
whereas instincts involve the activity of the organism as
a whole, i.e., actually the whole skeleto-muscular system.
However, we know from the works of Magnus and de
iKleyn that standing, walking, and bodily balance in general,
are reflexes.
Thus, reflexes and instincts alike are natural reactions of
the organism to certain stimulating agents, and conse-

182
 quently there is no need to designate them by different
terms. The term “reflex” is preferable, since a strictly
scientific sense has been imparted to it from the very
outset.
The aggregate of these reflexes constitutes the foundation
of the nervous activity both in men and animals. Conse¬
quently, thorough study of all these fundamental nervous
reactions of the organism is, of course, a matter of great
importance. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, this is a
long way from having been accomplished, especially in the
case of those reflexes which are called instincts. Our knowl¬
edge of these instincts is very limited and fragmentary.
We have but a rough classification of them—alimentary,
self-defensive, sexual, parental and social. But almost each
of these groups often includes numerous separate reflexes,
some of which have not been even identified by us, while
some are confused with others or, at least, they are not fully
appreciated by us as to their vital importance. To what
extent this subject remains unelucidated and how full it is
still of gaps can be demonstrated by this example from my
own experience.
Once, in the course of our experimental work which I
shall describe presently, we were puzzled by the peculiar
behaviour of our animal. This was a tractable dog with
which we were on very friendly terms. The dog was given
a rather easy assignment. It was placed in the stand and
had its movements restricted only by soft loops fastened
round its legs (to which at first it did not react at all).
Nothing else was done except to feed it repeatedly at inter¬
vals of several minutes. At first the dog was quiet and ate
willingly, but as time went on it became more and more
excited: it began to struggle against the surrounding
objects, tried to break loose, pawing at the floor, gnawing
the supports of the stand, etc. This ceaseless muscular exer¬
tion brought on dyspnoea and a continuous secretion of
saliva; this persisted for weeks, becoming worse and worse.

183
with the result that the dog was' no longer fit for our experi¬
mental work. This phenomenon puzzled us for a long time.
We advanced many hypotheses as to the possible reason
for this unusual behaviour, and although we had by then
acquired sufficient knowledge of the behaviour of dogs, our
efforts were in vain until it occurred to us that it might be
interpreted quite simply—as the manifestation of a freedom
reflex, and that the dog would not remain quiet so long as
its movements were constrained. We overcame this reflex
by means of another—a food reflex. We began to feed the
dog only in the stand. At first it ate sparingly and steadily
lost weight, but gradually it began to eat more—until it
consumed the whole of its daily ration. At the same time
it became quiet during the experiments; the freedom reflex
was thus inhibited. It is obvious that the freedom reflex is
one of the most important reflexes, or, to use a more gen¬
eral term, reactions of any living being. But this reflex is
seldom referred to, as if it were not finally recognized.
James does not enumerate it even among the special human
reflexes (instincts). Without a reflex protest against restric¬
tion of an animal’s movements any insignificant obstacle
in its way would interfere with the performance of certain
of its important functions. As we know, in some animals
the freedom reflex is so strong that when placed in captivity
they reject food, pine away and die.
Let us turn to another example. There is a reflex which
is still insufficiently appreciated and which can be termed
the investigatory reflex. I sometimes call it the “What-is-it?”
reflex. It also belongs to the fundamental reflexes and is
responsible for the fact that given the slightest change in
the surrounding world both man and animals immediately
orientate their respective receptor organs towards the agent
evoking the change. The biological significance of this
reflex is enormous. If the animal were not provided with
this reaction, its life, one may say, would always hang by
a thread. In man this reflex is highly developed, manifesting
itself in the form of an inquisitiveness which gives birth

184
to scientific thought, ensuring for us a most reliable and
unrestricted orientation in the surrounding world. Still less
elucidated and differentiated is the category of negative,
inhibitory reflexes (instincts) induced by any strong stim¬
uli, or even by weak but unusual stimuli. So-called animal
hypnotism belongs, of course, to this category.
Thus, the fundamental nervous reactions both of man and
animals are inborn in the form of reflexes. And I repeat
once more that it is highly important to have a complete
list of these reflexes and properly to classify them, since,
as we shall see later, all the remaining nervous activity of
the organism is based on these reflexes.
However, although the reflexes just described constitute
the fundamental condition for the safety of the organism in
the surrounding nature, they in themselves are not suf¬
ficient to ensure a lasting, stable and normal existence for
the organism. This is proved by the following experiment,
carried out on a dog in which the cerebral hemispheres
have been extirpated. Besides the internal reflexes, such a
dog retains the fundamental external reflexes. It is attracted
by food; it keeps away from destructive stimuli; it displays
the investigatory reflex pricking up its ears and lifting its
head to sound. It possesses the freedom reflex as well, and
strongly resists any attempt at capture. Nevertheless, it is
an invalid and would not survive without care. Evidently
something vital is missing in its nervous activity. But what?
It is impossible not to see that the number of stimulating
agents evoking reflex reactions in this dog has decreased
considerably, that the stimuli act at a very short distance
and are of a very elementary and very general character,
being undifferentiated. Hence, the equilibrium of this higher
organism with the environment in a wide sphere of its life
has also become very elementary, limited and obviously in¬
adequate.
Let us now revert to the simple example with which we
began our investigations. When food or some unpalatable
substance gets into the mouth of the animal, it evokes a

185
secretion of saliva which moistens, dissolves and chemi¬
cally alters the food, or in the case of disagreeable substances
removes them and cleanses the mouth. This reflex is caused
by the physical and chemical properties of the above-men¬
tioned substances when they come in contact with the
mucous membrane of the oral cavity. However, a similar
secretory reaction is produced by the same substances when
placed at a distance from the dog and act on it only by
appearance and smell. Moreover, even the sight of the ves¬
sel from which the dog is fed suffices to evoke salivation,
and what is more, this reaction can be produced by the sight
of the person who usually brings the food, even by the
sound of his footsteps in the next room. All these numerous,
distant, complex and delicately differentiated stimuli lose
their effect irretrievably when the dog is deprived of the
cerebral hemispheres; only the physical and chemical prop¬
erties of substances, when they come in contact with the
mucous membrane of the mouth, retain their effect. Mean¬
while, the processing significance of the lost stimuli is,
in normal conditions, very great. Dry food immediately
encounters plenty of the required liquid; unpalatable sub¬
stances, which often destroy the mucous membrane of the
mouth, are removed from it by a layer of saliva rapidly
diluted and so on. But their significance is still greater
when they bring into action the motor component
of the alimentary reflex, i.e., when the seeking of food is
effected.
Here is another important example of the defensive
reflex. The strong animals prey on those smaller and
weaker, and the latter must inevitably perish if they begin
to defend themselves only when the fangs and claws of the
enemy are already in their flesh. But the situation is quite
different when the defensive reaction arises at the sight
and sound of the approaching foe. The weak animal has a
chance of escaping by seeking cover or in flight.
What, then, would be our general summing up of this
difference in attitude of the normal and of the decorticated

186
animal to the external world? What is the general mechan¬
ism of this distinction and what is its basic principle?
It is not difficult to see that in normal conditions the reac¬
tions of the organism are evoked not only by those agents
of the external world that are essential for the organism,
i.e., the agents that bring direct benefit or harm to the
organism, but by other countless agents which are merely
signals of the first agents, as demonstrated above. It is
not the sight and sound of the strong animal which destroy
the smaller and weaker animal, but its fangs and its
claws. However, the signalling, or to use Sherrington’s
term, the distant stimuli, although comparatively limited in
number, play a part in the afore-mentioned reflexes. The
essential feature of the higher nervous activity, with which
we shall be concerned and which in the higher animal is
probably inherent in the cerebral hemispheres alone, is not
only the action of countless signalling stimuli, rather it is
the important fact that in certain conditions their physiol¬
ogical action changes.
In the above-mentioned salivary reaction now one par¬
ticular vessel acted as a signal, now another, now one man.
now another—strictly depending on the vessel that con¬
tained the food or the unpalatable substances before they
were introduced in the dog’s mouth, and which person
brought and gave them to the dog. This, clearly, makes the
machine-like activity of the organism still more precise and
perfect. The environment of the animal is so infinitely com¬
plex and is so continuously in a state of flux, that the
intricate and complete system of the organism has
the chance of becoming equilibrated with the environment
only if it is also in a corresponding state of constant
flux.
Hence, the fundamental and most general activity of the
cerebral hemispheres is signalling, the number of signals
being infinite and the signalization variable.

187
 LECTURE TWO

Technical methods used in objective study of the work of the

cerebral hemispheres. Signalling; as a reflex action. Uncondi¬
tioned and conditioned reflexes. Conditions for the development
of conditioned reflexes.

Gentlemen,
In the previous lecture I touched on the reasons
that impelled us to adopt a strictly objective method
of investigating the entire nervous activity in higher ani¬
mals, i.e., of studying it from the purely external factual
aspect; this is in keeping with the investigations in other
branches of natural science, and rules out fantastic specula¬
tion as to the probable subjective state of the animals by
analogy with ourselves. At the same time I stated that from
this point of view the entire nervous activity of the animal
appeared to us first of all as inborn reflexes, i.e., regular
connections between certain external agents acting on the
organism and its definite responsive functions. It has been
established that these agents are comparatively few in num¬
ber; they prove to be akin to each other, being of a general
nature. Of course, this, to a degree, ensures the existence of
the organism, but it is far from being sufficient (especially
in the more highly developed animals); therefore, if we
deprive an animal of a certain part of its nervous activity,
it will be fully disabled and, if left to itself, although retain¬
ing its inborn reflexes, doomed to death. Everyday life
demands more detailed and specialized correlations between
the animal and the surrounding world. And this further
correlation is established only with the help of the higher
part of the central nervous system—the cerebral hemi¬
spheres; to be more precise, a large number of natural stimuli
act as temporary and alternate signals for the relatively
small number of fundamental agents that determine the
inborn reflexes. Only in this way is a precise and delicate
equilibration of the organism with the environment
attained. I have designated this function of the cerebral
hemispheres signalling activity.

188
 Now I should like to touch on the technical side of the
methods used by us in our investigation. How shall we
study the signalling activity of the hemispheres—which
organ shall we select and what methods shall we use? It
is obvious that any reflex can be chosen for investigation
since signalling stimuli are connected with all the reflexes.
But, as already mentioned, the particular conditions of our
work made us concentrate on the study of two reflexes—the
alimentary reflex and the usual defensive reflex w, oh mani¬
fested itself when an unpalatable substance was u’itroduced
into the mouth of the dog used in our experiment. This was
a fortunate choice in many respects. Whereas a strong
defensive reflex, evoked, for example, by the application of
an electric current to the skin, greatly excites the animal
and makes it restless, and while the sexual reflex requires
special conditions (to say nothing of its protracted periodic
character and dependence on age), the alimentary reflex
and the mild defensive reflex to unpalatable substances
introduced into the mouth are normal and ordinary phe¬
nomena.
Here is another essential feature of our method of inves¬
tigation. The alimentary reflex, and the reaction to unpalat¬
able substances when they find their way into the animal’s
mouth, each consist of two components. On the one hand,
the animal takes the food, masticates it and swallows it, or,
in the case of unpalatable substance, ejects it from the
mouth. On the other hand, this muscular activity is joined
by a secretory one. Both the food and the unpalatable sub¬
stances evoke an immediate secretion of saliva, needed in
the first case for the physical and chemical processes of
digestion, and in the second case for cleansing the mouth.
In our experiments we used only the secretory component
of the reflexes, the’ motor reactions being taken into account
only in special circumstances. The secretory reflex proved
most suitable for our experiments, since it is possible to
take accurate measurements of the intensity of salivation,
either by counting the number of drops or by means of a

189
special graduated tube. It would be much more difficult to
obtain accurate measurements for the motor component of
the reflexes, which in this case is of a very complex and
diversified character. The most delicate instruments would
be required for this purpose, and even then they would
not give the precision in measuring the motor reaction that
is achieved in the case of the secretory component. Of cer¬
tain importance in the early phase of our work was the fact
that during observations on the secretion of saliva there
was a lesser tendency towards anthropomorphic interpreta¬
tions than was the case during observations of the motor
reactions.
All the dogs used in our experiments are preliminarily
subjected to a minor operation which consists in trans¬
planting the opening of the salivary duct to the external
surface of the skin. For this purpose we cut out a sm.all
piece of the mucous membrane surrounding the natural
opening of the salivary duct in the mouth, then we sep¬
arate the duct for a certain depth, bring out its end to the
external surface of the skin through a special incision in
the cheek and suture it to the edges of the incision. As a
result of this operation the saliva flows not into the mouth,
but outside, on to the cheek or under the chin. This greatly
facilitates observation of the work of the salivary glands.
It is only necessary to fix a small glass funnel with the
help of cement (we utilize Mendeleyev’s cement for the
purpose), and the work of the glands can be observed in
different ways and with remarkable exactness. Sometimes a
hemispherical bulb is hermetically adjusted by us over the
fistula; the bulb is provided with two projecting tubes, one
pointing up and the other down. The lower tube is used
for drawing off the saliva which accumulates after each
stimulation, while the upper tube is connected by air trans¬
mission with a horizontal glass tube filled with coloured
fluid. When the saliva flows into the hemispherical bulb it
displaces the coloured fluid which begins to move along
the graduated tube, and thus the amount of secretion is

190
accurately recorded. It is also easy to fix up an automatic
electric device accurately recording the number of drops
of exactly equal volume.
Now I shall turn to the general conditions of our experi¬
ments. Since our research deals with the activity of the
cerebral hemispheres, a highly complex signalling appar¬
atus of the finest sensitiveness, it is obvious that numerous
and diverse stimuli constantly act on the animal through
it. Each of these stimuli has a certain effect on the animal
and in the aggregate they collide and interact. Conse¬
quently, if we do not take precautions against these influ¬
ences, often of a chaotic character, we should not be able
properly to understand the phenomena under investigation,
everything being confused and entangled. It is, therefore,
important to simplify the conditions of the experiment. First
of all the animal is usually placed in a stand. At first the
experimenter alone was allowed to remain with the dog in
the research chamber. But this precaution proved insuf¬
ficient, since the experimenter himself is a source of numer¬
ous stimuli. His slightest movement, respiration, eye move¬
ments, etc., all act on the animal undergoing the experi¬
ment and interfere with the phenomena under investigation.
Therefore, we were compelled to station the experimenter
beyond the research chamber so as to exclude as much as
possible his influence on the animal. But even this precau¬
tion proved inadequate in the conditions of an ordinary
laboratory. Actually, the environment of the dog in an
ordinary laboratory is constantly changing: sounds pene¬
trate from the outside, footsteps, the noise of street traffic,
a chance conversation, vibration of the walls caused by a
passing van, shadows cast through the windows, and so
on—any of these extraneous casual stimuli falling on the
cerebral hemispheres must be reckoned with. For this reason
a special laboratory was built at the Institute of Experi¬
mental Medicine, the necessary funds being provided by
an enlightened Moscow businessman. The primary task
was to prevent as much as possible the access of extrane-

191
ous stimuli. For this purpose the laboratory was.surrounvied
with a deep trench, and other structural devices were used.
Inside, the rooms (four on each floor) were isolated by a
cross-shaped corridor; the top and ground floors, housing
the working rooms, were separated by an intermediate
floor. Finally, each research chamber was thoroughly parti¬
tioned by means of certain sound-proof materials into iwo
compartments—one for the animal and the other for the
experimenter. Pneumatic or electric transmission was used
for the purpose of stimulating the animal and recording its
reactions. Thus, the maximum simplification and stability
of the experimental conditions were ensured.
Lastly, one other point should be mentioned, which to a
considerable degree still remains a pium desiderium. Since
the entire complex of external influences on the animal is
subjected to investigation, it is understandable that this
complex must be fully under the control of the experi¬
menter. He must have at his disposal a large number of
instruments of various kinds in order to act on the animal
by different kinds of stimuli and to combine certain stimuli
so as to reproduce actual natural conditions. But we often
experienced and still experience a shortage not only of spe¬
cially perfected instruments but of modern instruments
used in research. The functioning of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres each time proves too delicate to be fully investigated
with the instruments at our disposal.
It may be that someone will say that the experimental
conditions just described by me are artificial. Our reply to
such an objection would be this. Firstly, in view of the
infinite variety of living relations it is hardly possible to
use something really unusual and absolutely new. Secondly,
in investigating phenomena of a chaotic and complex
nature, we must inevitably break them up and divide them
into groups. Has not the physiology of animals constantly
employed and is it not employing now the methods of
vivisection and even the method of isolated organs and
tissues? We subject our animal to a restricted number of

192
definite conditions, and thus make it possible to study their
influences independently of one another. You will see later
how the conditions of our experimentation and the varia¬
tions in the state of the animal furnished us with facts of
vital importance.
Such are our general principles and the technical side
of our methods.
Let us pass now to the subject of the signalling activity
of the cerebral hemispheres itself. Here are a few demon¬
strations:
Demonstraiion. The animal used in this experiment has
been operated upon as previously described. As you see,
so long as no special stimulating agent acts on the animal,
its salivary glands remain inactive and there is no secre¬
tion of saliva. Now we begin to act upon the dog’s ear by
beating a metronome. Salivary secretion begins in nine sec¬
onds, and in the course of forty-five seconds eleven drops
have been secreted. Thus, before your eyes a stimulus utterly
alien to food (the metronome) has evoked the activity of
the salivary gland, and this activity must be regarded as
a component of the alimentary reflex. You have also seen
the motor component of this reflex: the dog turned in the
direction from which the food is usually brought and
began to lick its lips.
It is this central phenomenon, originating in the cerebral
hemispheres, that will be the object of our further atten¬
tion. A decorticated dog would never have reacted by a
secretion of saliva to a stimulus of this kind. At the same
time it is quite obvious that this is a signalling activity: the
beats of the metronome are signals for food, since the animal
reacts to them in the same way as if it were food. A similar
effect is produced by the sight of real food.
Demonstration. Food is shown to the animal. As you
see, the secretion of saliva begins after five seconds, and in
fifteen seconds six drops of saliva have been collected. Here,
then, we have the same effect as observed under the action
of the metronome.

13—77.3 193
 This is also a case of signalling due to the activity of the
cerebral hemispheres; it has been acquired in the course
of the animal s individual existence and is by no means an
inborn reaction. This was revealed by the experiments con¬
ducted by I. S. Tsitovich in the laboratory of the late
Prof. V. I. Vartanov.^® Tsitovich took a number of pups
from their mother and for quite a while fed them exclusively
on milk. When they were a Jew months old, he performed
fistula operations on their salivary ducts and in this way
he was able to record the secretion of saliva. When the
pups were shown other food, namely, meat and bread, no
salivary secretion was observed. Consequently, the sight
of food does not, in itself, evoke a salivary reaction, and
does not represent an inborn agent of this reaction. Only
after the pups had had several meals of meat and bread did
the sight of these items produce a salivary secretion.
The following experiment will demonstrate a phenom¬
enon generally known qs a reflex.
Demonstration. We suddenly introduce food into the dog’s
mouth and the secretion of saliva begins after a second or
two. This is due to the action of the mechanical and chem¬
ical properties of the food on the mucous membrane of the
mouth, it is a reflex. This experiment explains why a decorti¬
cated dog^ may die of starvation in the presence of food;
it will begin to eat only when the food comes into contact
with its mouth.
This experiment brings out the insufficiency of the inborn
reflexes, their imperfection and their limited character; at
the same time it brings out clearly the great importance of
signals.
Now comes the fundamental question: what is the nature
of signalization and how should it be considered from the
purely physiological point of view?
^ We know that a reflex is an indispensable, natural reac¬
tion of the organism to an external agent effected by a defi¬
nite part of the nervous system. It is quite obvious that in
signalization there are present all the components of the

194
nervous activity which is called a reflex. An external stim¬
ulus is required for the development of a reflex; in our
first experiment this stimulus was provided by the beats
of a metronome. They set in motion the auditory receptor
of the dog, and the stimulation was further transmitted
along the auditory nerve to the central nervous system;
here it was transferred to the nerves of the salivary glands
which excited a secretion of saliva. It is true that in the
experiment with the metronome we observed an interval
of nine seconds between the beginning of the action of the
metronome and the beginning of the salivary secretion,
whereas for the reflex this interval was only one to two
seconds. But the longer latent period was due to special
conditions deliberately created by us in the course of the
experiment. Generally, the effect produced by signalization
far from being belated, is evoked as quickly as that induced
by ordinary reflexes; this question, however, will be dis¬
cussed in another lecture. A reflex is a reaction strictly
determined by definite conditions. The same holds true for
signalization, the only difference being that in the latter
case the effect depends on the greater number of conditions.
But this, of course, does not make signalization differ fun¬
damentally from reflexes, since in strictly definite conditions
reflexes likewise often vanish, are inhibited. A thorough study
of the subject shows that there is nothing accidental in the
signalling activity of the hemispheres; here, too, the experi¬
ments are carried out strictly in accordance with our
designs. In the special'laboratory I have described, it often
happens that the animal is under observation for one or
two hours without secreting a single drop of saliva not
caused by the stimuli applied; in the ordinary laboratories,
of course, the experiments are often distorted by extrane¬
ous stimuli.
All these facts leave no grounds for regarding the phe¬
nomena, which up to now I have designated “signaliza¬
tion,” as being other than reflexes. But there is another
aspect which, at first sight, would seem to indicate an

13* 195
 essential difference between the old reflex and this new
phenomenon, which only a moment ago I also termed a
“reflex.” Food, through its mechanical and chemical prop¬
erties, evokes the salivary reflex in any animal right from
birth. But this new type of reflex, which you have seen
illustrated, is developed gradually in the course of the
animal’s individual existence. Can this be regarded as an
essential difference? Is it not an argument against term¬
ing this new phenomenon a reflex? Undoubtedly, it is a
sufficient argument for distinguishing this type of reac¬
tion from the other, but by no means does it annul our
scientific right to term it a reflex. Here it is a question not
of the mechanism itself, but of the mode of formation of
the reflex mechanism. Let us, by way of example, take the
telephone system. Communication can be effected in two
ways. My apartment can be connected directly with the
laboratory by a special line which enables me to put a call
through whenever I like, or, as is actually the case, a con¬
nection with the laboratory may be established through the
central telephone exchange. But the result is the same, the
only difference being that in the first case there is a readily
available conducting line, while in the second a prelimi¬
nary connection is required; in one case the mechanism
effecting the communication is ready-made, in the other—
it must be supplemented every time to make it complete.
The same holds true for the reflex action: in the one case
it is complete, in the other—a certain preliminary prepara¬
tion is required.
Thus, we have to consider the question of the mode of
formation of the new reflex mechanism. Since the new
reflex develops easily and unfailingly in definite physiolog¬
ical conditions—a fact which will be illustrated later—
there are no grounds for worrying about the subjective
state of the dog. With complete knowledge of the matter,
this phenomenon is fully under our control; it is strictly
law-governed and there is no reason to regard it as being
other than physiological activity, similar to all other activ¬
ities with which physiology is concerned.
We have termed the new reflexes conditioned in contrast
to the unconditioned inborn reflexes. The term “condi¬
tioned” is, more and more, coming into general use. From
the point of view of research, it is fully justified, since in
comparison with the inborn, these reflexes are conditioned
in a special way: in the first place their formation requires
definite conditions, and, in the second place, their action
also depends on numerous conditions. Consequently, when
investigating them, the researcher must take very many
factors into account. Of course, our terms could, with jus¬
tification, be replaced by others. Thus, for example, the old
reflexes might be called “inborn” and the new ones—“ac¬
quired”; we could also term the former “species reflexes”
since they are typical of the species as a whole, and the
latter “individual reflexes,” since they vary in different
animals, and even in one and the same animal at different
times and in different conditions. The terms “conductor
reflexes” and “connection reflexes” would, likewise, be
fully justified.
As for the assumption of the formation of new nervous
connections within the cerebral hemispheres, there should
be no objection to it from the theoretical point of view. The
principle of connection is so often applied in modern tech¬
nique, as well as in our everyday experience, that it would
seem strange if it were regarded as an unexpected one in
the mechanism of the central nervous system, the function
of which is to establish highly complex and delicate rela¬
tions. It is perfectly natural that along with the conductor
mechanism there should also be a connector mechanism.
The physiologist of all people should have no objection to
this concept, especially since decades ago there was in
general use the German concept “Bahnung”''^ which means
laying down new paths, establishing new connections. The
conditioned reflex is a common and widespread phenom¬
enon. It is, evidently, what we recognize in ourselves and
in animals under such names as training, discipline, educa*
tion, habits; these are nothing but connections established
in the course of individual existence, connections between
definite external stimuli and corresponding reactions. Thus,
the conditioned reflex opens to the physiologist the door
to investigation of a considerable part, and possibly, even
of the entire higher nervous activity.
I shall pass now to the question of the circumstances in
which conditioned reflexes, or connections of new nervous
paths are established. The fundamental requisite is that the
external stimulus must coincide in time with the action of
the unconditioned stimulus. In our experiment food acted
as the unconditioned stimulus of the alimentary reaction.
If the intake of food by the animal coincides in time with
the action of a stimulus which previously had no relation
to food, this stimulus begins to produce the same reaction
as the food. Precisely this occurred in the case which
passed before our eyes. We repeatedly stimulated the dog
undergoing the experiment by the sound of the metronome
and then fed the animal immediately, i.e., evoked the inborn
alimentary reflex. After several repetitions the very sounds
of the metronome began to produce a secretion of saliva
and a corresponding motor reaction. The same occurs in
the case of a defensive reflex to unpalatable substances
introduced into the dog’s mouth. If we introduce a weak
acid solution we get an unconditioned acid reflex: the
animal begins to make various movements, shaking its head
violently, opening its mouth, trying to eject the acid with
the help of the tongue, and so on; at the same time it
manifests a profuse secretion of saliva. Exactly the same
reaction is caused by any external stimulus repeatedly
coinciding in time with the introduction of acid into the
dog s mouth. Thus, the first and foremost requisite for
the formation of a conditioned reflex lies in the coincidence
in time of the action of a previously indifferent agent with
the action of an unconditioned agent which evokes a defi¬
nite unconditioned reflex.

196
 The second important requisite is that the conditioned
reflex can be formed only if the indifferent agent somewhat
precedes the action of the unconditioned stimulus. If the
order is reversed, i.e., if we apply the unconditioned stirou-
lus first, and the indifferent agent afterwards, there will
be no conditioned reflex.
A. N. Krestovnikov carried out a variety of experiments
of this kind in our laboratory, and the effect was invariably
the same. Here are some of his results. In the case of one
dog 427 combinations of the odour of vanilin with the
introduction of acid into the mouth were applied, the acid
always preceding the odour of vanilin by five to ten sec¬
onds. Vanilin did not become’ a conditioned stimulus to
an acid reaction. However, in subsequent experiments the
odour of amyl acetate, which preceded the introduction of
acid into the dog’s mouth, became an effective conditioned
stimulus after only twenty combinations. With another dog
the sound of a loud electric bell, set buzzing five to ten
seconds after it began to take food, did not produce a con¬
ditioned alimentary reaction after 374 combinations; but
the rotation of an object in front of the dog prior to the
administration of food, acquired the properties of a con¬
ditioned stimulus after only five combinations. Later, when
the electric bell was rung prior to the administration of
food, it also became a conditioned stimulus after a single
combination. These experiments were tried on five dogs,
and the result was always the same, no matter whether
the new stimulating agent was applied ten seconds, five
seconds or only two and even one second after the onset
of the unconditioned stimulus. During the elaboration of
conditioned reflexes, for the sake of greater certitude, we
carefully observed not only the secretory but also the motor
reactions of the animals. Thus, the first set of conditions
includes the time relation between the unconditioned stimu¬
lus and the agent which becomes the conditioned stimulus.
As for the cerebral hemispheres themselves, only their
active state makes possible the formation of conditioned

199
reflexes. If the animal undergoing the experiment is in a
more or less drowsy state, the formation of the conditioned
reflex either acquires a protracted character, being consider¬
ably impeded, or becomes completely impossible. Conse¬
quently, the establishment of new connections, the process
of coupling new nervous paths is a function which can be
performed only when the animal is in an alert state. At
the same time during the formation of a new conditioned
reflex the cerebral hemispheres must be free from all other
activity.
When elaborating a new conditioned reflex it is important
to prevent extraneous stimuli from affecting the animal,
since they are liable to give-rise to altogether different reac¬
tions of the organism. If corresponding precautions are not
taken, the formation of a conditioned reflex becomes exceed¬
ingly difficult and in many cases utterly impossible. For
example, if during the elaboration of a conditioned reflex the
dog is strongly irritated by a certain part of the stand in
which it is fastened (causing pressure, strangulation, etc.),
then no matter how many times we repeat the combination
of our stimulus with the uncondiiioned stimulus, or at any
rate with some of them, we shall not get a conditioned reflex.
Another example is provided by the dog already mentioned
which would ncit keep quiet when constrained in the stand.
Hence the rule, almost without exception: in a new experi¬
mental animal, i.e., one which has not yet been subjected
to the experiments in question, the establishment of the
first conditioned reflex is difficult and often takes much
time. This is obvious, since the experimental conditions
themselves may provoke in different animals numerous
special reactions, i.e., cause one or other extraneous activ¬
ity of the cerebral hemispheres. It should be added that in
cases when we are not in a position to disclose the nature
of the extraneous reflexes that interfere with the formation
of our conditioned reflex and when we are unable to get
rid of them, the inherent properties of the nervous activity
qome to our aid. For if the environment of the animal dur-
ing the experiment does not contain any particularly des¬
tructive elements, then almost all extraneous and interfer¬
ing reflexes will gradually vanish of themselves.
Of course, this set of conditions also- includes the state
of health of the animal; sound health ensures the normal
functioning of the cerebral hemispheres and precludes any
influence of internal pathological stimuli coming into the
cerebral hemispheres.
Finally, the last set of conditions relates to the properties
of the agent which is to become a conditioned stimulus, as
well as to the properties of the given unconditioned
stimulus.
Conditioned'reflexes are easily elaborated from more or
less indifferent agents. Strictly speaking, there is no such
thing as an absolutely indifferent agent. In a normal animal
the slightest change in the environment—even the faintest
sound, odour, or change in the lighting of a room—imme¬
diately evokes the above-mentioned investigatory, “What-is-
it?” reflex in the shape of a corresponding motor reaction.
But if this relatively indifferent agent recurs, then it rapidly
loses its effect on the cerebral hemispheres, and the obstacle
to the formation of a conditioned reflex is thereby removed.
But if the agent belongs to the group of strong general
stimuli, or, moreover, of special stimuli, the formation of
our conditioned reflex will be greatly impeded and in
extreme cases even impossible. It should also be borne in
mind that in most cases the previous history of the dog was
not known to us, we knew little of its life, the conditioned
connections established in it, etc. On the other hand, we
used as an agent even a strong unconditioned stimulus and
were successful in transforming it into a conditioned stimu¬
lus. Take, for example, such a destructive stimulus as a
strong electric current applied to the skin and causing
injury and cauterization. This, obviously, is an uncondi¬
tioned stimulus to the defensive reflex: the organism res¬
ponds by a violent motor reaction directed either towards
removal of the stimulus itself or to moving away from it.
Nevertheless, even by means of such stimuli it is possible
to elaborate other kinds of conditioned reflexes.
In one experiment this destructive stimulus was con¬
verted into an alimentary conditioned stimulus. When an
extra strong electric current was applied to the skin of the
dog, the latter did not display even the slightest defensive
reaction: actually there was in evidence an alimentary reac¬
tion: the animal turned in the direction whence it usually
received its food, licking its lips and exhibiting an abundant
secretion of saliva.
Here is the original record of an experiment, carried
out by M. N. Yerofeeva.
rent (distance

saliva in drops
during 30 sec¬
between coils

Secretion of
Electric cur¬

Place of skin Motor

Time
in cm.)

stimulated reaction

onds
I

4.23 p. m. 4 Usual place 6 Alimentary

4.45 „ 4 »» ♦» * 5 No trace of
5.07 ,. 2 New place 7 defensive
5.17 „ 0 9
»» »> reaction
5.45 „ 0 >» i» 6

After each electric stimulation the dog was allowed to

eat food for a few seconds.
A sim.lar effect was obtained in :a dog whose skin was
repeatedly subjected to cauterization or to pricking deep
enough to draw blood. When sensitive people expressed in¬
dignation at these experiments we were in la position to
show that they were mistaken. Of course here, too, we had
no intention of penetrating into the subjective world of
the dog and of ascertaining its feelings. But we had ab¬
solutely reiiable proof that even the most delicate objec¬
tive phenomena usually manifested in the animals when
the latter are subjected to the action of strong and destruc-

202
tive stimuli, were not observed in this particular case. In
our dogs, in which the reflexes had been transformed as
described above, no appreciable change in the pulse in
the respiration was evoked by the stimulation, whereas
such changes inevitably occur and assume la pronounced
character when the destructive stimulus is not prelimina¬
rily associated with an alimentary reaction. Such is the
remarkable result of diverting the nervous excitation from
one path to another. But this transformation of reflexes de¬
pends on a definite condition—namely, a certam correla¬
tion between the two unconditioned reflexes. The conver¬
sion of the unconditioned stimulus for one reflex into the
conditioned stimulus for another is possible only when the
first reflex is physiologically weaker and biologically of less
importance than the second. This conclusion, I believe, can
be drawn from the further results obtained by Yerofeeva.
A destructive stimulus applied to the dog’s skin was trans¬
formed into a conditioned alimentary stimulus. But this,
we think, was due to the fact that in the case of the damage
to the skin, the alimentary reflex proved stronger than the
defensive reflex. We know that dogs, when fighting for food,
often sustain skin wounds, which means that the alimen¬
tary reflex predominates over the defensive reflex. But to
this, too, there is a limit. There is a reflex that is stronger
than the alimentary reflex—the life and death reflex, to be
or not to be. This explains the following phenomenon ob¬
served in the course of our experiments: a strong electric
current applied to skin overlying bone, without any inter¬
vening thick muscular layer, could not be converted into a
conditioned stimulus for an alimentary reaction instead of
a defensive reaction. This signifies that the afferent nerves,
stimulated by the damage to the bone and signalizing
a grave danger to the organism, establish with great dif¬
ficulty, or fail to do so at all, a temporary connection with
the part of the brain from which the alimentary reaction
is controlled. It should be said in passing that the foregoing
facts clearly show the advantage of employing the

20S
 unconditioned alimentary reflex for our experiments,
since it occupies a very high place in the hierarchy of
reflexes.
On the one hand, las we have just seen, strong and even
specialized agents become, in certain conditions, condi¬
tioned stimuli; on the other hand, there is, of course, a min¬
imum strength below which the agent cannot function
as a conditioned stimulus. Thus, for example, a thermal
agent below 38°-39° C. applied to the skin cannot be made
into a conditioned thermal stimulus (experiments of
O. S. Solomonov).
Similarly, if by using such a very strong unconditioned
stimulus as food—as was the case in our experiment—it
is possible to transform a most unfavourable agent, already
part of another reflex, even an unconditioned one, into a
conditioned stimulus, the use of a weak unconditioned stim¬
ulus makes it extremely difficult or even impossible to
transform even a favourable, i.e., almost indifferent agent,
into a conditioned stimulus; even when such a conditioned
stimulus is formed, it is inconsiderable. These are either
constantly weak or temporarily weak unconditioned stim¬
uli which, given other states of the organism, could be, on
the contrary, very strong. Food can be taken as an exam¬
ple: in a hungry animal food naturally evokes a strong un¬
conditioned alimentary reflex, and in this case the
conditioned reflex develops rapidly and is also of consider¬
able strength. In a permanently satisfied animal the un¬
conditioned reflex is less powerful, and the conditioned
reflex either is not formed at all or is established very
slowly.
By complying with the conditions enumerated above—
which is not a difficult task—we obtain a conditioned re¬
flex without fail. Why, then, should we not regard the for-
miation of a conditioned reflex as a purely physiological
phenomenon? We act on the dog’s nervous system by
means of a number of definite external stimuli, and they,
necessarily, result in the establishment of a new nervous

204
connection; a certain nervous coupling takes place and, as
shown above, a typical reflex reaction follows. Where, then,
is there any place for any kind of non-physiological rela¬
tions? Why, then, are the conditioned reflex and the laws
governing its formation not regarded as physiology, but
as something else? I see no reason for thinking about these
phenomena in any other way, and it is my helief that hu¬
man prejudice usually plays a harmful role in these questions
by its reluctance to admit that the higher nervous activity
is strictly determined; this is because of the extraordinary
complexity of our subjective experiences, of our actions
which in most cases at present cannot be traced to their
ultimate definite stimuli.
 NATURAL SCIENCE AND THE BRAIN«

One can truthfully say that for the first time since the
days of Galileo the irresistible march of natunal science has
been held up quite perceptibly before the study of the high¬
er parts of the brain, the organ of the highly complex rela¬
tionship between the animal and the external world. And
it would seem that this is not fortuitous, that this is indeed
a critical moment in natural science, since the brain, which
in its higher form—the human brain—created and is con¬
tinuing to create natural science, itself becomes the object
of this science.
But let us approach the matter more closely. For long
the physiologist has persistently and systematically, in keep¬
ing with the strict rules of natural science, studied the
animal organism. He has observed the vital phenomena
unfolding before him in time and space; he endeavours with
the help of experimentation to define the constant and ele¬
mentary conditions of their existence, their coming and
going. His foresight and his control over vital phenomena
are increasing all the time, in the same way as natural
science rises in all its grandeur over inanimate nature be¬
fore our very eyes. When the physiologist deals with the bas¬
ic functions of the nervous system—with the processes of
nervous excitation and conduction—even though the nature
of these phenomena is still obscure, he remains a natural¬
ist, investigating one by one the varied external influences
on these general nervous processes. Moreover, when the
physiologist studies the lower part of the central nervous
system, with the spinal cord, and finds out how the organ-

206
ism by means of this part responds to these or to other ex¬
ternal influences, i.e., when he studies the law-governed
changes taking place in the living substance under the ac¬
tion of one or another external agent, he remains exactly
the same naturalist. This natural reaction of the animal
organism to the external world, effected through the lower
part of the central nervous system, is termed by the phy¬
siologist a reflex. The reflex, as one would expect, is strictly
specific from the point of view of natural science; a cer¬
tain external phenomenon causes strictly definite changes
in the organism.
But when the physiologist turns to the higher levels of
the central nervous system, a sudden and abrupt change
takes place in his research. He no longer concentrates on the
connection between the external phenomena and the ani¬
mal’s reactions to them; instead of dealing with these ac¬
tual relations he begins to make suppositions about the
internal states of the animals modelled on his own subjec¬
tive state. So far he has based himself on the general con¬
cepts of natural science. But he now resorts to concepts
that are utterly alien to him and in no way related to his
earlier, psychological concepts; in short, he makes the leap
from the measurable world to the immeasurable. This, ob¬
viously, is a step of extraordinary importance. But what
caused it? What profound reasons impelled our physiolog¬
ist to do this? What conflict of opinions preceded it? A
totally unexpected answer must be given to these ques¬
tions: in the world of science absolutely nothing preceded
this extraordinary step. The natural scientist, in the person
of the physiologist, investigating the higher parts of the
central nervous system, has, so to speak, unconsciously
and imperceptibly for himself, yielded to the,common habit
of regarding the animal’s activity as analogous to I)is own
and of explaining it by the same intrinsic causes which he
feels and recognizes in himself.
This, then, is the point at which the physiologist de¬
parted from the firm position of natural science. And what

707
has he acquired instead? He has borrowed concepts from
that branch of human intellectual interest which, as those
who work in this field readily admit, is not yet entitled to
call itself science, despite its long existence. Psychology,
as the knowledge of the human inner world, is still seek¬
ing its own true methods. And the physiologist has taken
upon himself the ungratifying task of guessing the inner
world of the animial.
After this one can easily understand why the study of
the most complex nervous activity of the higher animals
is hardly making any progress, although research has been
carried on for about a hundred years. In ihe early seven¬
ties of the last century work on the higher part of the
brain received what seemed to be a powerful impetus to¬
wards further development, but even this failed to bring
research on to the highroad of science. A few basic facts
were discovered in the first few years and then progress
came to a standstill again. The subject, clearly, covers a
vast field, and yet one and the same themes have been
worked and reworked for the past thirty years and more,
and hardly any new ideas 'have appeared. The impartial
present-day physiologist is forced to admit that the physiol¬
ogy of the brain is now in a blind alley. Thus, psychology,
as an ally, has not justified itself in the eyes of physiology.
In view of this state of affairs common sense demands
that here, too, physiology should return to the path of
natural science. But what must it do then? In investigating
the activity of the higher parts of the central nervous
system it must remain faithful to the methods that it uses
in studying the lower parts, i.e., it must strictly compare
the changes in the external world with the corresponding
changes in the animal organism and disclose the laws
governing these relations. But these relations are, appar¬
ently, intricate in the extreme. Is it possible to begin to
record them objectively? To this really fundamental ques¬
tion there is but one serious answer: persevering and in-

205
cessant effort is needed in this direction. An exclusively
objective comparison of the external world and of the
animal organism is now being attempted by la number of
investigators on a great variety of species of animals.
I have the honour to submit for your esteemed attention
an attempt to investigate the most complex activity of one
of the higher animals, namely,-the dog. Later on in my ex¬
position I shall base myself on the results of ten years’ re¬
search in my laboratories where I have been joined by a
number of young scientists who are trying their luck in this
new field of investigation. This decade of research, at first
overshadowed by painful doubts, and then with growing fre¬
quency encouraged by the firm feeling that our efforts were
not in vain, offers, as I am now convinced, an indisputable
and positive answer to the above question.
All the activity of the higher parts of the nervous system,
which was revealed before our eyes, appeared to us in the
form of two main nervous mechanismis: first, the mecha¬
nism of a temporary connection, as it were, a temporary
coupling of the conductor paths between the phenomena of
the external world and the responsive reactions of the
animal organism; secondly, the mechanism of analysers.
Let us consider these mechanisms separately.
I have already mentioned that long ago physiology estab¬
lished in the lower part of the central nervous system the
mechanism of the so-called reflex, i.e., of a constant con¬
nection effected by the nervous system between certain
phenomena of the external world and the corresponding def¬
inite reactions of the organism. Since this connection is
simple and of a constant nature, it was natural to term it
an unconditioned reflex. On the basis of our facts we came
to the conclusion that temporary connection is effected in
the higher part of the nervous system. By means of this
part of the nervous system the phenomena of the external
world are now reflected in the activity of the organism, i.e.,
excite the organism to activity, and now indifferent to the or¬
ganism and inconvertible, just as if they did not exist at all.

14—773 209
This temporary connection, these new reflexes were, natural¬
ly, termed conditioned reflexes. In what way does the organ¬
ism benefit by the mechanism of temporary connection?
When does the temporary connection, the conditioned reflex,
appear? Let us take an actual example. The most essential
connection between the animal organism and the surround¬
ing world is that brought about by certain chemical sub¬
stances which constantly enter 'into the composition of the
given organism, i.e., the food connection. In the lower forms
of the animal world it is the direct contact between food
and the animal organism or vice versa, which chiefly leads
to alimentary metabolism. In the higher forms these rela¬
tions become more numerous and remote. Now odours,
sounds and pictures attract the animals to food substances
already in wide regions of the surrounding world. And in
the highest formation the sound of speech, as well as writ¬
ten and printed characters, send human beings all over
the world in search of daily bread. Thus, numberless, di¬
verse and distant external agents act, as it were, as food
signals, directing the higher animals to acquire it and mak¬
ing them establish food connection with the external world.
Along with this variety and remoteness, there takes place
a substitution of the temporary for the constant connection
between the external agents and the organism; first, be¬
cause, essentially, the rerhote connections are of a tempo¬
rary and changeable nature, and, secondly, because, due to
their variety and number, they cannot be covered as con¬
stant connections, even by the most capacious apparatus.
The given food object may be now in one place, now in an¬
other; it may, consequently, be accompanied at one time by
certain phenomena, at another time by quite different ones;
it may be part of one or another system of the external
world, and therefore now these now other natural phenom¬
ena must temporarily serve as stimulating agents produc¬
ing in the organism a positive motor (in the broad sense of
this word) reaction to this object. In order to make the sec¬
ond proposition more comprehensible—that distant connec-

210
tions cannot be of a constant nature—I shall make a com¬
parison. Suppose that instead of the present system of tele¬
phonic communication effected through the central tele¬
phone exchange, that is, temporary communication, all the
subscribers were permanently connected with one another.
How expensive, inconvenient and indeed impracticable it
would be! All that is lost in this case by the conditional na¬
ture of the connection (one cannot get connected every mo¬
ment with every subscriber) is largely compensated by the
wide range of possible connections.
How is the temporary connection, the conditioned reflex
formed? For this purpose it is necessary that the new indif¬
ferent external agent should coincide in time once, or more
than once, with the action of the agent already connected
with the organism, i.e., which calls forth this or that activ¬
ity of the organism. Given this coincidence, the new agent
enters into the same connection and manifests itself in the
sam.e activity as the old one. Thus, a new conditioned reflex
is formed with the help of the old one. In the higher nerv¬
ous system, where the process of formation of conditioned
reflexes occurs, the following procedure takes place; if a
new, previously indifferent stimulus, upon entering the cere¬
bral hemispheres, meets in the nervous system at that mo¬
ment a focus of strong excitation, it begins to concentrate,
as if working its way to this focus, and thence to the corre¬
sponding organ; thus it becomes a stimulus of that organ.
On the contrary, when there is no such focus, it disperses
in the mass of cerebral hemispheres without producing any
pronounced effect. Such, then, is the formulation of the fun¬
damental law of the higher part of the nervous system.
Allow me now, very briefly, to illustrate with facts what
I have just said about the mechanism of forming condi¬
tioned reflexes.
So far all our research has been done exclusively on the
small, physiologically insignificant organ—on the salivary
gland. This choice, although at first accidental, proved most
successful and even fortunate. In the first place, it corre-

14* 211
sponded to the fundamental requirement of scientific thought,
namely, in the field of complex phenomena to begin with the
simplest possible case; in the second place, this organ made
it possible clearly to distinguish between simple and com¬
plex forms of nervous activity, so that they could be easily
contrasted. It was this that led to comprehension of the mat¬
ter. Physiology has known for years that the salivary
glands begin to function, i.e., to secrete saliva in the mouth,
when food or other stimulating substances are introduced
into the oral cavity, and that this correlation is established
by means of definite nerves. These nerves receive the stim¬
ulation produced by the mechanical and chemical properties
of the substances introduced into the mouth, conduct them
first to the central nervous system and thence to the sali¬
vary gland, causing there the formation of saliva. This is the
old reflex, or, in our terminology, the unconditioned reflex,
a constant nervous connection, a simple nervous activity
which takes place in exactly the same way as in animals
having no higher parts of the brain. At the same time every¬
one, not only physiologists, knows that the relation of the
salivary gland to the external world is highly complex; for
example, the sight of food or even the thought of it causes
secretion of saliva in a hungry man or animal. According
to the old terminology, this signified that secretion of saliva
is excited also psychically. The higher parts of the brain
are necessary for such complex nervous activity.
The analysis of this particular point revealed that at the
basis of this complex nervous activity of the salivary gland,
of its complicated relation to the external world, lies the
mechanism of the temporary connection—the conditioned
reflex, which I described in general terms earlier. Our ex¬
periments clarified the matter and brought out indisputable
facts. Everything in the external world—every sound, pic¬
ture, and odour—could be brought into temporary connec¬
tion with the salivary gland and become an agent stimulat¬
ing the secretion of saliva—the only condition being that
it coincided in time with the unconditioned reflex, with the

2/2
flow of saliva caused by the substances introduced into the
mouth. In short, we were able to produce ,as many and as
varied conditioned reflexes on the salivary gland as we
wished.
At present the theory of conditioned reflexes, based on
the work of our laboratories alone, constitutes an extensive
chapter with a mass of facts and a number of strict rules
connecting them. Here is a very general sketch, or, to be
more exact, only the headlines of this chapter. First of all
there are numerous details relating to the speed of form.a-
tion of the conditioned reflexes. Then come various kinds
of conditioned reflexes and their general properties. Further,
since the centre of the conditioned reflexes is located in the
higher part of the nervous system, where collision of num¬
berless influences from the external world is always taking
place, it is understandable that a never-ending struggle
takes place between the various conditioned reflexes, or a
selection of them at any given moment. Hence—constant
ca.ses of inhibition of these reflexes. Three kinds of inhibi¬
tion have now been established—simple, extinguishing and
conditioned. Taken together they form the group of external
inhibition, since they are based on the addition of a col¬
lateral external agent to the conditioned stimulus. On the
other hand, an already formed conditioned reflex, because
of its internal relations alone, is subject to constant fluc¬
tuations, even to complete disappearance for brief periods,
i.e., is inhibited internally. For example, if even a very old
conditioned reflex is repeated several times without being
accompanied by the unconditioned reflex, with whose help
it was formed, it begins at once gradually but steadily to
lose strength and, more or less quickly, is reduced to zero,
i.e., if the conditioned reflex, as a signal of the uncondi¬
tioned, begins to signalize incorrectly, it gradually loses its
stimulating effect. This loss of effect occurs not by the de¬
struction of the conditioned reflex, but solely because of its
temporary inhibition, since the conditioned reflex thus ex¬
tinguished is restored of itself after some time. There are

213
 still other cases of internal inhibition. Further experimen¬
tation revealed a new Important side of the problem. It
proved that, in addition to excitation and inhibition of ex¬
citation, inhibition of the inhibition is just as frequent, i.e.,
disinhibition. It is impossible to say which of these three
acts is the most important. It should be simply stated that
all higher nervous activity, as manifested in the conditioned
reflexes, consists of a constant interchange, or to be more
precise, equilibration of these three basic processes—excita¬
tion, inhibition and disinhibition.
I shall pass now to the second of the above-mentioned
basic mechanisms—the mechanism of the analysers.
As stated above, the temporary connection is a necessity
when the relation of the animal to the external world be¬
comes complex. But this complexity of relations presup¬
poses ability on the part, of the animal organism to de¬
compose the external world into separates. And it is actual¬
ly the case that every higher animal possesses diverse and
most delicate analysers. These are what until now have
been known as the sense organs. The physiological teach¬
ing of these organs, as implied by their name, consists in
large measure of subjective material, i.e., of observation
and experimentation with the sensations and ideas of
human beings, and is thus deprived of all the extraordinary
means and advantages alTorded by the objective study and
the practically boundless field of experimentation on ani¬
mals. It is true that this branch of physiology, thanks to the
interest and participation of a number of brilliant investi¬
gators, is in some respects the most elaborated branch of
phvsiology and contains much data of great scientific sig¬
nificance. But this elaborate research concerns mainly the
physical side of the phenomena in the sense organs, for
example, the conditions for the formation of clear pictures
on the retina of the eye. But in the purely physiological
part, i.e., in the study of the conditions and kinds of ex¬
citability of the nerve endings in the given sense organ,
there is a multitude of unsolved problems. In the psycholo-

214
 gical part, i.e., in the teaching on sensations and ideas re¬
sulting from the stimulation of these organs, only elemen¬
tary facts have been established, despite the skill and keen¬
ness displayed by investigators in this field. That which the
great Helmholtz implied by the term “unconscious conclu¬
sion” evidently corresponds to the mechanism of the con¬
ditioned reflex.^® When, for example, the physiologist be¬
comes convinced that, for the purpose of getting an idea of
the actual dimensions of an object, a certain dimension of
its image on the retina is required, as well as a certain ac¬
tion of the external and internal muscles of the eye, he
is thereby establishing the mechanism of the conditioned re¬
flex. A definite combination of stimuli coming from the ret¬
ina and ocular muscles, repeatedly coinciding with the tac¬
tile stimulus-arising from an object of certain size, acts as
a signal and becomes a conditioned stimulus produced by
the real size of the object. From this point of view, which
will hardly be disputed, the principal facts of the psychol¬
ogical part of physiological optics are, physiologically,
simply a series of conditioned reflexes, i.e., of elementary
facts relating to the complex activity of the eye analyser.
Here, in the final analysis, as in all branches of physiology,
more, immeasurably more, remains unknown than is known.
An analyser is a complex nervous mechanism which be¬
gins with an external receiving apparatus and ends in the
brain, either in its lower, or in its higher part; in the latter
case it is much more complex. The basic fact of the physiol¬
ogy of the analysers is that each peripheral apparatus is a
special transformer of the given external energy into a
nervous process. Then there are numerous problems that
are far from having been solved or remain wholly unsolved:
how is this transformation effected in its last stage? What
underlies the analysis? Which part of the activity of the'
analyser is to be attributed to the construction and process
in the peripheral apparatus, and which to the construction'
and process in the cerebral ending of the analyser? What
are the consecutive stages of this analysis from their sim-'

215
plest to the highest forms? And finally, what are the gen¬
eral laws governing this analysis? At present these lare
questions for purely objective investigation on animals, by
the method of conditioned reflexes.
By establishing a temporary connection between the
organism and a certain natural phenomenon it is easy to
determine the extent to which the given analyser can de¬
compose the external world. For example, it can be re¬
vealed without any difficulty and at the same time with
great precision that the ear analyser of the dog differen¬
tiates the finest timbres, separate small parts of tones, that
it not only differentiates, but firmly retains this differentia¬
tion (which in man is called “absolute pitch”) and is much
more susceptible to high-pitch stimulation than man; it re¬
acts to oscillations of 80 to 90 thousand per second. Where¬
as the limit of the human ear is but from 40 to 50 thousand
oscillations per second.
In addition, objective investigation reveals the general
rules according to which the analysis is effected. The m.ost
important of these is the gradualness of the analysis. The
given analyser takes part in the conditioned reflex, in the
temporary connection, at first, by its more general and
gross activity and only afterwards, being gradually dif¬
ferentiated by the conditioned stimulus, does the activity
become highly delicate and refined. For example, if a bright
figure appears before the animal, the strong illumination
acts first as a stimulus and only afterwards is a special
stimulus elaborated from the figure itself, etc.
Further, these experiments on animals with conditioned
reflexes clearlv revealed that differentiation develops as a
result of an inhibitorv process, as if through a suppression
of all other parts of the analyser except the given one. And
it is this gradual develonment of this process that underlies
the gradual anaivsis. That has been proved by manv ex¬
periments. I shall refer to one convincing example. If the
equilibrium between the excitatorv and inhibitory processes
is broken down in favour of the former by the administra-

216
tion of stimuliants such as caffeine, then the well-eliaborated
differentiation is immediately and sharply deranged, and
in many cases disappears altogether, although temporarily.
Objective study of the analysers also yielded favourable
results in experiments with artificially damaged cerebral
hemispheres. These experiments disclosed an important and
exact fact: the more the cerebral end of the given analyser
is damaged, the less delicate is its work; it continues to
enter into the conditioned connection as previously, but only
through its more general activity. For instance, when the
cerebral end of the eye analyser is considerably damaged,
one or another intensity of light easily becomes a condi¬
tioned stimulus, but separate objects, definite combinations
of light and shadow irretrieviably lose their specific stimu¬
lating effect.
Concluding this exposition of facts relating to the new
field of research, I cannot refrain from a brief reference to
the peculiarities of this work. The investigator always has
the feeling that he is on sure and extremely fertile ground.
He is besieged on all sides by questions, and his task is to
establish their most expedient and natural order. Notwith¬
standing the speed of the research it invariably bears a
practical character. One who has not tested the facts for
himself can scarcely credit how often these, apparently
highly complex relations, which, from the psychological
point of view, seem truly enigmatic, are subject to clear
and successful objective physiological analysis easily
verified at all stages by corresponding experiments. Those
working in this field are often struck by the incredible pow¬
er of objective investigation in this new field of highly com¬
plex phenomena. I am convinced that extraordinary enthus¬
iasm and a real passion for investigation will grip all who
take to this new domain of research.
Thus, in a purely objective way, on the basis of natural
science, the laws of complex nervous activity are being elab¬
orated, and the secrets of its mechanisms gradually dis¬
closed. It would be an unjustified claim to assert that the

217
entire higher nervous activity of the higher animals is con¬
fined wholly and solely to the two general mechanisms de¬
scribed above. But this, too, is unimportant. The future of
research is always obscure land fraught with surprises. In
this case the essential point is that a vast and boundless
domain for investigation has now been opened up, based on
natural science and guided by fundamental, purely scien¬
tific concepts.
These basic concepts of the highly complex activity of the
animal organism fully harmonize with the most general
picture of it from the standpoint of natural science. As Dart
of nature, each animal organism is a complex and integral
system, the internal forces of which, so long as it exists, are
equilibrated at every moment with the external forces of the
surrounding medium. The more complex the organism,'the
more delicate, manifold and diverse are the elements of its
equilibration. There are analysers and mechanisms both of
constant and temporary connections which serve this pur¬
pose; they establish the most precise relations between the
most minute elements of the external world and the most
delicate reactions of the animal organism. Thus, life as a
whole, from the simplest to the most complex organisms, in¬
cluding man, of course, is a long series of equilibrations
with the environment—equilibrations which reach the
highest degree of complexity. And the time wilt come, dis¬
tant or not, when mathematical analysis based on natural
science will express in majestic formulae of equation all
these equilibrations, including; in the final analysis, itself.
But in stating all this, I should like to avoid any mis¬
understanding in relation to myself. I do not deny psychol¬
ogy as the knowledge of the inner world of the human
being. Even less am I inclined to deny anything which
concerns the deepest aspirations of the human spirit. Here
I now simply uphold and assert the absolute and incon¬
testable right of natural science to operate wherever and
whenever it is able to display its power. And who knows
the limits to this!

218
 In conclusion allow me to say something about the prac¬
tical side of this new field of research.
The researcher who has resolved to register all the in¬
fluences of the external environment on the animal organ¬
ism requires exceptional equipment for his investigations.
He must have in his hands all the external influences. That
is why he needs an absolutely new, hitherto unprecedented,
type of laboratory, where there are no accidental sounds,
no sudden fluctuations of light, no abruptly changing air
draughts, etc.; in short, it must be a laboratory with the
maximum evenness, where the investigator has at his dis¬
posal the drives of generators producing all kinds of energy,
and the widest range of corresponding analysers and meas¬
uring instruments. Here, there must be real competition
between the modern technique of the physical instruments
and the perfection of the animal analysers. This combina¬
tion will result in a close alliance between phvsiologv and
physics, which, it canbeassumed, will greatly benefit physics.
At present, because of existing laboratory conditions, the
work in question is often not only restricted, contrary to
our will, but almost always entails considerable difficulties
for the experimenter. He may have spent weeks preparing
for his experiment, and at the very last moment, when he
is patiently waiting for positive results, a sudden vibration
of the building, a noise from the street, etc., destroys his
hopes and delays the desired answer indefinitely.
The right kind of laboratory for this investigation is, in
itself, of great scientific importance, and since our country
has laid the foundations for this kind of research I would
like to see it build the first appropriate laboratory so that
this, as it seems to me, highly important scientific estabiish-
ment should redound solely to our honour and credit. This,
of course, can be achieved with the help of public interest
and initiative. In conclusion I must confess that this speech
has been prompted and encouraged predominantly and
mainly by the hope that public interest will be shown here,
in Moscow, in this home of Russian glory.
 “PURE PHYSIOLOGY” OF THE BRAINso

I have 'been invited by the President of the Organizing

Committee of this congress to read a paper before the Psy¬
chology Section on the cerebral activity based on the work
of the laboratories of which I lam in charge. I have readily
accepted the invitation since I feel that an exchange of
views between representatives of psychology on this vital
problem is an urgent necessity.
Some years ago our esteemed president wrote the follow¬
ing words: “When the physiologists succeed in creating
alongside psychology a physiology of the brain—I have in
mind pure physiology, and not the psychological imitation
appearing under this name, a physiology capable of speak¬
ing for itself, without psychology prompting it word by
word what it ought to say—then we shall see whether or
not it would be useful to abolish human psychology and,
consequently, comparative psychology. But we have not yet
reached that stage.”®^
One cannot but admit the justness of this criticism of
the situation as it then was, and that the general formula¬
tion of the question is most helpful.
Basing myself on the facts acquired over the years joint¬
ly with about a hundred colleagues, and also on the facts
accumulated by other investigators, I make bold to state
with full conviction that physiology of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres (and a “real” physiology at that, in the sense of
Prof. Claparede) has made its appearance and is rapidly
developing; in studying the normal and pathological activ-

220
ity of the cerebral hemispheres in animals it uses exclusive¬
ly physiological concepts and has no need whatever to re¬
sort to psychological concepts and terminology. Its research
rests on the solid foundation of facts, in the same way as
the other natural sciences, with the result that exact mate¬
rial is being accumulated at a truly irrepressible rate and
the horizon of investigation is constantly widening.
1 shall give now only the barest general outline of the
fundamental concepts and facts of this physiology of the
brain in order to dwell later in detail on one of its points
which seems to me particularly appropriate and of special
interest for our present meeting.
The basic functions of the higher part of the central nerv¬
ous system are the coupling of new and temporary connec¬
tions between the external phenomena and the work of the
different organs, and the decomposing by the organism of
the complex of the external environment into its separate
elements, that is, functions of coupling and analysing
mechanisms.
By means of these activities there are established finer
and more delicate adjustments of the animal organism to
the environment, or, in other words, a more complete equi¬
libration of the system of matter and energy which con¬
stitute the animal organism, with the matter and energy of
the environment.
The constant connection between certain phenomena and
the function of the organs has long been studied by physiol¬
ogists as the activity of the lower part of the central nerv¬
ous system and has been called by them reflexes. The func¬
tion of the higher part of the central nervous system con¬
sists in forming new, temporary reflexes; this means that
the nervous system is not only a conducting, but a cou¬
pling apparatus. Thus, modern physiology distinguishes two
kinds of reflexes—constant and temporary (inborn and
acquired, reflexes of species and those of the individual).
From the purely practical point of view, we call the first
reflex unconditioned and the second—conditioned. It is high-

221
 ly probable (and there lare indications to this effect) that
newly formed reflexes, given the same conditions of life in
the course of successive generations, invariably become
constant reflexes. Consequently, this must be one of the act¬
ing mechanisms in the evolution of the animal organism.
Similarly, elementary analysis is effected by the lower
part of the central nervous system, but this, too, like the in¬
born reflex, has been studied by physiology for a long time
already. When, for example, different physiological effects
are produced in a decapitated organism by skin stimuli of
different quality and location, we have before us the activ¬
ity of the lower analysing apparatus. In the higher levels
of the central nervous system there are the endings of the
most delicate and infinitely diverse analysers; the smallest
elements of the external world, which are isolated by them,
constantly make new connections with the organism and
form conditioned reflexes, whereas in the lower parts rela¬
tively fewer and more complex agents of the e.xternal world
participate in the formation of constant reflexes.
As is known, the entire route along which the nervous
excitation in an inborn unconditioned reflex travels, is called
the reflex arc. Three parts of this arc are rightly distin¬
guished in the lower central nervous system: the receptor
(receiving apparatus), the conductor (conducting appara¬
tus) and the effector (apparatus effecting the action). If we
add to “receptor” the word “analyser” (the decomposing
apparatus) and to “conductor” the word “contactor” (the
coupling apparatus), we have a similar anatomical sub¬
stratum for the two basic functions of the higher part of
the central nervous system.
As has long been established by numerous investigators,
the conditioned reflex is invariably formed in the presence
of a small number of definite conditions; hence, there are
no grounds whatever for regarding its formation as an espe¬
cially complex process. When a certain indifferent stimulus
coincides in time with the action of another stimulus pro¬
ducing a definite reflex, after one or several such coinci-

222
 dences this indifferent stimulus itself invariably evokes the
same reflex.
In our experiments on dogs we always used two uncon¬
ditioned reflexes for the elaboration of new conditioned re¬
flexes—the reflex evoked by food and the reflex evoked by
introducing lacid into the mouth; we measured the secretory
reaction of the salivary glands and only occasionally noted
motor reactions—positive in the first case and negative in
the second. A conditioned reflex can be elaborated in a sim¬
ilar way with the help of an old conditioned reflex. It can
be formed also from a stimulus already firmly connected
with a certain reflex, even a stable one. Such a conditioned
reflex was obtained by us in the case of a destructive stimu¬
lus. If the skin of the dog is stimulated by a more or less
strong electric current, there is, naturally, a defensive reac¬
tion on the part of the animal. By combining this stimulus
with repeated feeding of the dog we can make the same cur¬
rent, or even a current of greater strength, as well as any
other mechanical or thermal destruction of the skin, pro¬
duce not a defensive, but a strong alimentary reaction with¬
out any signs of the former (the dog turns towards the food
and an abundant secretion of saliva begins). A highly es¬
sential detail in the elaboration of the conditioned reflex is
that the supposed conditioned stimulus should not exactly
synchronize with the stimulus of the old reflex, but pre¬
cede the latter somewhat (by a few seconds).
I shall omit many details relating to the elaboration of
conditioned reflexes, their systematization, general charac¬
teristics, etc.
As to the activity of the analysers, the first thing to be
observed is that in the initial phase all stimuli enter into
the new reflex in their general form and only afterwards do
they gradually become specialized. If, for example, we elab¬
orate a conditioned stimulus from a given tone, then at
first other tones and even other sounds (beats and noises)
also produce the same reflex; later, when the conditioned
stimulus has been repeated frequently, the range of stimu-

223
lating sounds becomes smaller and smaller until only the
selected tone, and even a certain part of it, evokes the con¬
ditioned reflex. In this way the limits of the activity of the
analysers are defined; in some analysers of the animal on
which we experimented this activity was of incredible deli¬
cacy and had possibilities of wide development. A greater
or lesser destruction of the brain end of the analyser is re¬
spectively reflected in a greater or lesser decline of the de¬
gree of analysis.
Again I shall omit many particulars relating to these
facts.
Both the conditioned reflex and the process of analysis are
subject to constant fluctuations during the normal course of
life. I shall not touch now on their chronic changes, but
both of them manifest rapid variations, now stronger, now
weaker. Up to the present time we have studied most thor¬
oughly the phenomenon of rapid diminution of the acti\ ity
of the conditioned reflexes. The term “inhibition,” general¬
ly accepted in physiology, is used by us to denote this
phenomenon; we have all the grounds for distinguishing
three kinds of this inhibition: external, internal and sleep
inhibition.
External inhibition fully reproduces the inhibition which
physiology long ago recognized in the lower part of the
central nervous system, when the new additional reflex in¬
hibits the one already existing and active. Evidently, this
is the expression of constant, non-stop competition be¬
tween different external and internal stimulations for a rela¬
tively predominant role in the organism at the given mo¬
ment. External inhibition, in its turn, is subdivided into sev¬
eral types.
Internal inhibition has its origin in the mutual relations
between the new reflex and the old one with the help of
which it was formed; it always develops when the condi¬
tioned reflex temporarily or constantly (in the latter case
only under a definite new condition) is not accompanied
by the stimulus with the aid of which it wias elaborated. So

224
far we have studied four kinds of such inhibition. For the
sake of brevity I shall dwell only on one of them, the ear¬
liest investigated by us. This is the so-called extinction of
the conditioned reflex. If an elaborated conditioned stimulus
is repeated several times at definite short intervals (two,
three, five minutes and more) without being accompanied
by the old stimulus with the help of which it was formed,
then it gradually weakens and, finally, becomes wholly in¬
effective. This, however, does not signify destruction of the
conditioned reflex, but only its temporary inhibition, since
after some time it is completely restored in a spontaneous
way. I would like you to keep in mind this kind of internal
inhibition since I shall revert to it later in connection with
the most important point in my paper.
All kinds of internal inhibition may be disturbed, sup¬
pressed and, so to speak, inhibited themselves, i.e., the re¬
flexes inhibited by them become libenated, disinhibited, if
external inhibiting agents of moderate strength act on the
animal. That is why the study of the phenomena of internal
inhibition calls for a specially equipped laboratory, other¬
wise all accidental agents, and more frequently, of course,
acoustic phenomena, may constantly interfere with the ex¬
periments.
Finally, the last kind of inhibition is the sleep inhibi¬
tion, which regulates the proper chemical metabolism
of the entire organism, and especially the nervous sys¬
tem. It assumes the form of normal sleep or of hypnotic
state.
When describing the nervous activity it is necessary al¬
ways to take into account the absolute and relative strength
of the various stimuli and the duration of their latent traces.
Both phenomena clearly manifest themselves in the course
of our experiments and oan be studied and measured v/ith-
out difficulty. Moreover, one can say that here the most
striking phenomenon is the predominance of the law of
force and measure; and involuntarily the thought comes to
mind that it is not at all accidental that mathematics—the

15—773 225
teaching on the relations of numbers—had its origin wholly
and solely in the human brain.
The separate features of the nervous systems of different
animals were manifested in our experiments with partic-
uLar force, and can be expressed in exact figures. An ex¬
ample will be given below.
In the course of our investigation of the two basic cere¬
bral functions we gradually disclosed the fundamental
properties of the brain mass. One of these is a peculiar
movement of the nervous processes in this mass. On the
basis of our latest experiments I am in a position to sub¬
mit to you now, in truly striking form, the fundamental law
of the higher nervous activity. This is the law of irradia¬
tion and subsequent concentration of the nervous process.
This law applies both to excitation and inhibition. It has
been frequently and with particular thoroughness investi¬
gated by us in the phenomena of internal-inhibition. I take
the liberty of directing your attention to these experiments.
Before us is a dog, on which by means of the action of
acid in the oral cavity as an unconditioned stimulus, a
mechanical irritation of more than twenty places on the
skin has been made the conditioned stimulus of the acid
reaction, i.e., mechanical irritation of these places (effected
by a special device) evokes, each time, secretion of a def¬
inite quantity of saliva and a corresponding motor reac¬
tion. The effect obtained from the stimulation of any of
these places on the skin is equal. Now’ for the experiment
itself. Let us apply the mechanical irritation to a certain
point of the skin for a definite period, say thirty seconds.
We obtain a salivary reflex which is strictly measurable in
certain units. This time, to the conditioned stimulus we do
not add the introduction of acid into the mouth as an un¬
conditioned stimulus, and after a certain interval, say two
minutes, we repeat the application of the conditioned stimu¬
lus. In this way we get a decreased reflex. We continue to
repeat the application of the conditioned stimulus until the
conditioned reflex is reduced to zero. This is what we liave

226
 termed the extinction of the conditioned reflex, one of the
kinds of internal inhibition. We have thus evoked the proc¬
ess of inhibition in a certain point of the brain end of the
cutaneous analyser, i.e., in the larea of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres connected with the skin. Let us now follow the de¬
velopment of this process. Immediately after obtaining the
zero effect on the repeatedly stimulated point of the skin
(primary extinction) we begin to stimulate, without inter¬
ruption, a new. point 20 or 30 cm. distant from the first (our
dog being of average size). We obtain here a normal effect
equal to, say, thirty divisions on the tube with which we
measure the quantity of the secreted saliva. We repeat this
experiment (in one day, in two days, etc.) in the following
way: we stimulate a new, distant part of the skin not im¬
mediately after obtaining the zero effect on the place of
primary extinction, but five seconds later. Now the secre¬
tion of saliva is reduced to, say, twenty divisions (second¬
ary extinction). With the next repetition of the experiment,
but after an interval of fifteen seconds, the secretory effect
is reduced to five divisions. After an interval of twenty sec¬
onds it falls to zero. Let us continue. After an interval of
thirty seconds, a secretory effect reappears equalling tliree
or five divisions. After an interval of forty seconds we get
from fifteen to twenty divisions, after fifty seconds—from
twenty to twenty-five divisions, and after sixty seconds—
the customary effect is fully restored. Throughout this pe¬
riod (sixty seconds and even much longer) all attempts to
irritate the point of the primary extinction have no effect
whatsoever. We obtain the same series of figures, no matter
which two points of the skin we choose for primary and
secondary extinction, provided the distance between them
remains the same. If the distance between the stimulated
points is decreased, then the difference is as follows: the
decrease of the secretory effect and the zero effect at the
point of the secondary extinction appear earlier, the zero
effect persists longer and the return to normal takes place
later. These experiments, provided, of course, that all the

15* 227
necessary precautions are observed, proceed with marvel¬
lous exactitude. These experiments, carried out by two ex¬
perimenters on five dogs, were observed by me in the course
of one year. Their stereotype character was astonishing,
and I can say without exaggeration that for a long time I
could not believe my eyes.
If we compare these facts with other similar facts and
exclude various other hypotheses, we arrive at the follow¬
ing natural and simple conclusion. Regarding the skin as
the projection of a definite area of the brain, we must as¬
sume that the process of internal inhibition arising in a cer¬
tain point of this area first spreads, irradiates over the en¬
tire area, and immediately afterwards begins to concentrate
around the point of origin. It is worth noting that this
movement in both directions proceeds very slowly. Also of
interest is the fact that this speed, which greatly varies in
different animals (in the relation of 1 ; 5 and even more)
remains for any given animal highly stable, one might even
say, invariable.
As we see, the law of irradiation and concentration of the
nervous process is of great importance. It can establish the
relation between many, seemingly quite different, phenom¬
ena, for instance, the generalized character of each indi¬
vidual stimulus when it first becomes a conditioned stimu¬
lus, the mechanism of external inhibition; and the forma¬
tion of the conditioned reflex itself, which can be understood
as a phenomenon of concentrated stimulation. However, I
shall not now go into detailed consideration of the signif¬
icance of this law; I shall simply avail myself of the fore¬
going experiment, which illustrates this law, for some spe¬
cial purpose.
During thirteen years’ work jointly with my colleagues on
conditioned reflexes, I have always had the impression that
the psychological concepts and the systematization of sub¬
jective phenomena by the psychologists must profoundly
differ from physiological concepts and physiological clas¬
sification of the phenomena of the higher nervous activity;

228
that the reproduction of the nervous processes in the sub¬
jective world is very peculiar, is, so to speak, many times
refracted, with the result that the entire psychological con¬
cept of the nervous activity is highly conventional and ap¬
proximate. And it is from this point of view that the above-
mentioned experiment deserves special attention.
When we first established the fact of extinction of the con¬
ditioned reflex, many people used to say: “There is nothing
unusual in this. The explanation is quite simple. The dog
notices that the signal no longer corresponds to reality
and, therefore, begins to react more and more weakly, un¬
til, finally, there is no reaction at all.”
I believe that many of you who uphold the scientific val¬
idity of zoopsychology would say the same thing. Be that
as it may. But then, gentlemen, it seems to me that you are
obliged to interpret psychologically the experiment de¬
scribed above in detail and in all its phases. I have sug¬
gested this many times to men of different specialities (nat¬
uralists and sociologists). The result was most definite:
each gave his own interpretation, i.e., fancied in his own
wiay one or another internal state of the animal; however,
it proved impossible in most cases to harmonize or recon¬
cile their explanations. The zoopsyohologists spoke of the
ability of the animal to make distinctions, to remember
things, to draw conclusions, to experience confusion, disap¬
pointment, and other similar qualities in a variety of com¬
binations. In reality there took place in the nervous mass
only irradiation and subsequent concentration of the in¬
hibitory process, and this knowledge made possible an ab¬
solutely exact prediction (in figures) of the phenomena.
What can you say in reply, gentlemen? I await your an¬
swer with the greatest interest.
Here I conclude the part of my paper which deals with
facts. Allow me to make a few supplementary remarks. All
parts of the higher nervous activity of the experimental
animals are gradually involved in our investigation of the
conditioned reflexes; one can see this even from a rough.

229
approxiimate comparison between the external facts under
our observation, and the psychological classification of such
subjective phenomena, as consciousness, thought, will, affect,
etc. The meaning of some of these facts became clear to us
in the course of our objective study of animals with dam¬
aged cerebral hemispheres. Finally, the general condition
of the brain, in its active state and at rest, was revealed
more and more clearly.
So far the entire field of research opening before us com¬
prises our concept of the two basic activities of the cere¬
brum—the coupling and the analysing functions—and a
few fundamental properties of the brain mass. Life will
show whether this is sufficient, since, naturally, our gen¬
eral knowledge of the brain and also of its general proper¬
ties is bound to be extended and deepened.
And so, as mentioned above, the horizon of strictly objec¬
tive investigation of the higher nervous activity is steadily
widening. Why, then, should physiology strive to penetrate
into the hypothetical fantastic internal world of the animal?
In thirteen years of research I have never had success v/ith
psychological concepts. The physiology of the animal brain
must not for a single moment leave' the ground of natural
science, which every day proves its absolute solidity and
extreme fruitfulness. We can rest assured that along the
path taken by the strict physiology of the animal brain,
astonishing discoveries await science and, together with
them, extraordinary power over the higher nervous system—
discoveries and power not a whit inferior to other achieve¬
ments of natural science.
I greatly appreciate the contribution of the old and the
new psychologists, but it seems to me, and it can hardly
be doubted, that this work is being done in an extremely
inefficient way, and I am fully convinced that the pure
physiology of the animal brain will greatly facilitate, and,
moreover, enrich the Herculean labours of those who have
devoted their lives to the study of the subjective states
of man.
 RELATION BETWEEN EXCITATION
AND INHIBITION, DELIMITATION
BETWEEN EXCITATION AND INHIBITION,
EXPERIMENTAL NEUROSES IN DOGSss

Dedicated to the memory of my best friend, Pro¬

fessor Robert Tigerstedt, to whom physiology
owes so much for his investigations and for his
work in promoting physiological knowledge and
physiological research.

All the factual material which follows relates to the work

of the cerebral hemispheres and has been obtained bv the
method of conditioned reflexes, i.e., reflexes formed in the
course of the animal’s individual life. Since the concepl of
conditioned reflexes is not yet generally known and reccg-
nized among physiologists I shall, for the purpose of avoid¬
ing repetition, refer the reader to my articles recently pub¬
lished in these archives®* (1923).
Proceeding from the big difference between the phenom¬
ena,. we had to distinguish two kinds of inhibition in the
work of the cerebral hemispheres—external and internal—
according to our terminology. The former appears in our
conditioned reflexes at once; the latter develops with the
passage of time and is elaborated gradually. The first is an
exact repetition of the well-known inhibition in the physiol¬
ogy of the lower part of the central nervous system, which
appears when stimuli acting on the various centres and
evoking different nervous activities, meet; the second can
be inherent only in the cerebral hemispheres. It may be.

231.
however, that the difference between these kinds of inhibi¬
tion is connected only with the conditions of their emerg¬
ence land not with the essence of the process itself. This
question is still being investigated by us. The present article
deals only with internal inhibition; further, I shall call it
simpy inhibition, without the adjective, although each time
implying internal inhibition.
There are two conditions, or to be more precise, one con¬
dition, the presence or absence of which determines whether
the impulse brought into the cells of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres from the outside chronically provokes a process of
excitation or a process of inhibition. In other words, the
impulse will in one case become positive and in the other
negative. This fundamental condition consists in the fol¬
lowing; if the stimulation coming to a cerebral cell coin¬
cides with another extensive stimulation of the cerebral
hemispheres, or of a definite lower part of the brain, then
it will alwa-ys remain positive; given the reverse condition
it will, sooner or later, become a negative, inhibitory stim¬
ulus. Of course this indubitable fact gives rise to the ques¬
tion: why is this so? But so far there has been no answer
to this question. Thus, we must proceed from this fact with¬
out having analysed it. Such is the first basic relation be¬
tween excitation and inhibition.
Physiologists have long been aware of the irradiation of
the excitatory process. The study of the higher nervous
activity led us to the conclusion that the inhibitory process,
too, spreads, under certain conditions, from the point where
it is originated. The facts underlying this conclusion are
perfectly plain and obvious. Now, if the excitatory process
spreads from one point, and the inhibitory process from
another, they limit each other and confine each other to a
definite area and within definite bounds. In this way a very
delicate functional delimitation of separate points of the cere¬
bral hemispheres can be obtained. When these separate points
are subjected to excitation under corresponding conditions, it
can be easily explained by the scheme of the cellular con-

232
 struction. But this interpretation meets with certain diffi¬
culties when there is an excitatory or inhibitory process re¬
lated to various intensities or other similar variations (for
example, to different frequencies of the metronome heats)
of one and the same elementary external stimulatingf agent.
In order to explain this on the basis of the same simple
cellular scheme, it would be necessary to assume as a point
of application of this agent not a single cell but a group of
cells. In any case, it is actually possible to associate the
excitatory process with one intensity of a certain elemen¬
tary agent and the inhibitory process with another. Thus,
the second general relation between excitation and inhibi¬
tion consists in their mutual spatial limitation, in their de¬
limitation. A clear demonstration of this is obtained by the
experiments with mechanicial stimulation of various points
of the surface of the skin.
Thus, we have to assume that a certain conflict takes
place between two opposing processes w^hich normally ends
in the establishment of a definite equilibrium between them,
in a definite balance. This struggle and this equilibration
confront the nervous system with a difficult task. We have
seen this from the very outset of our research, and we are
seeing it now. This difficulty is often manifested in the ani¬
mal in the form of motor excitation, whining and dyspnoea.
But in most cases equilibrium finally sets in; each process
is allotted its place and time, and the animal becomes per¬
fectly quiet, reacting to respective stimuli now by the ex¬
citatory, now by the inhibitory process.
Only under certain conditions does this conflict end in
disturbance of the normal nervous activity; then a patho¬
logical state sets in which lasts for days, weeks, months
and perhaps even years, and either gradually returns to the
normal of itself after the experiments have been discon¬
tinued for a time and the animal has been allowed rest, or
it must be eliminated by definite treatment.
These special cases at first emerged spontaneously, un¬
expectedly, but later they were deliberately produced by us
for research purposes. We describe them here in chrono¬
logical order.
The first of these cases was obtained by us a long time
ago (experiments of Dr. Yerofeeva). It consisted in the
following. The conditioned alimentary reflex was elab¬
orated in the dog not from an indifferent agent, but
from a destructive one, provoking lan inborn defensive re¬
flex. The animial’s skin was irritated by an electric current,
and at the same time the animal was fed, at first even for¬
cibly. In the initial phase a weak current was applied, but
later it was increased to the maximum. The experiment
ended thus: the strongest current, las well as the severe
burning and mechanical destruction of the skin, provoked
only an alimentary reaction (a corresponding motor reac¬
tion and a secretion of saliva) without any sign of a defen¬
sive reaction, or even of any change in respiration and heart¬
beat—the usual accompaniments of this reaction. Evident¬
ly this result was obtained by transferring the external ex¬
citation to the food centre and simultaneous inhibition of
the centre of the defensive reaction. This specific conditioned
reflex persisted for months, and probably would have re¬
mained unchanged under the given conditions had we not
begun to modify it, systematically transferring the electric
irritation to new points of the skin. When the number of
these points became considerable, the picture suddenly and
abruptly changed in one of our dogs. Now only a very
strong defensive reaction manifested itself everywhere, even
in the first location of the skin stimulus and under the
action of the weakest current; there was no trace of the
alimentary reaction.
The old result could not be reproduced. The dog which
had previously been quiet became greatly excited. In an¬
other dog a similar result was obtained only when—not¬
withstanding the large number of points on the skin from
wh'ch we could produce only an alimentary reaction under
the application of a strongcurrent—we frequently and quick¬
ly, in the course of one and the same experiment, trans-

234
ferred the irritation from one place to another. We had to al¬
low rest to the dogs for several months, land only in one
of them were we able, acting slowly and cautiously, to re¬
store the conditioned alimentary reflex to the destructive
agent.
The second case of a similar character was observed
somewhat later (experiment of Dr. N. R. Shenger-Krestov-
nikova). A conditioned alimentary reflex was brought about
in a dog by a circle of light projected on a screen placed in
front of the animal. We then began to elaborate a differen¬
tiation of the circle from an ellipse of the same size and
intensity of light, i.e., the appearance of the circle was
accompanied each time by feeding, whereas that of the
ellipse was not. In this way the differentiation was obtained.
The circle evoked an alimentary reaction, but the ellipse
remained ineffective, which, as we know, is a result of
development of inhibition. The ellipse which was applied
first greatly differed in form from the circle (the proportion
of its axes was 2:1). Then the form of the ellipse was
brought closer and closer to that of the circle, i.e., the axes
of the ellipse were gradually equalized, and thus sooner or
later we were able to obtain an increasingly delicate dif¬
ferentiation. But when we applied an ellipse whose axes
were as 9 : 8, the picture abruptly changed. The new delicate
differentiation, which always remained incomplete, per¬
sisted for two or three weeks, after which it not only dis¬
appeared itself, but caused the loss of all earlier, even the
least delicate, differentiations. The dog, which previously
behaved quietly in the stand, was now constantly moving
about and whining. All differentiations had to be elabor¬
ated anew, and the crudest one now demanded much more
time than at first. When the final differentiation was reached,
the same story was repeated—all the differentiations van¬
ished, and the dog again became excited.
Some time after these observations and experiments we
set ourselves the task of investigating this phenomenon
more systematically and in more detail (experiments of

233
Dr. M. iK- Petrovia). Since it was possible to conclude from
the above-mentioned facts that the derangement of normal
relations was caused by a difficult collision between the ex¬
citatory and inhibitory processes, we carried out on two
dogs of different types—one very lively and the other in¬
active and quiet—experiments first of all with various inhib¬
itors and their combinations. Together with the condi¬
tioned reflexes, delayed for three minutes, i.e., when the un¬
conditioned stimulus was added to the conditioned only
three minutes after the beginning of the latter, owing to
which the positive effect of the conditioned reflex appeared
only after a preliminary inhibitory period of one or two
minutes, other kinds of inhibition were applied (differen¬
tiation, etc.). But this task was accomplished by the differ¬
ent nervous systems without any derangement of the nor¬
mal relations, although with a different degree of difficulty.
Then we added the alimentary reflex formed by means of a
destructive agent. Now it was sufficient, having evoked this
reflex, to repeat it for a certain period of time even on one
and the same part of the skin, in order to obtain an acute
pathological state. This deviation from the normal occurred
in the two dogs in opposite directions. In the lively dog the
elaborated inhibitions either suffered to a considerable de¬
gree or wholly disappeared and turned into positive agents;
in the quiet dog it was the positive salivary conditioned re¬
flexes that either weakened or completely vanished. And
these states persisted for months without any spontaneous
change. In the lively dog with the weakened inhibitory proc¬
ess a quick and lasting return to the normal was obtained
in a few diays by means of rectal injections of potassium
bromide. It is worth noting that with the appearance of
normal inhibition the strength of the positive conditioned
action, far from decreasing, was even somewhat increased;
consequently, on the basis of this experiment we can assume
that the action of bromide does not consist in diminution of
nervous excitability, but in regulating nervous activity. In
another dog permanent and more or less considerable sali-

236
vary reflexes could not be restored despite the different
means applied for this purpose.
Shortly after these experiments similar results, and even
with more instructive details, were obtained with a dog sub¬
jected to experimental investigation for quite a different
purpose (experiments of Dr. I. P. Razenkov). Many posi¬
tive conditioned reflexes were elaborated on the animal from
various receptors, or several reflexes from one and the same
receptor by a certain stimulating agent of varying intensity.
Amiong others there was obtained a reflex to a definite fre¬
quency of mechaniaal stimulation of a certain point on the
skin. We then began to elaborate a differentiation from, the
same place on the skin by means of a mechanical stimula¬
tion of another frequency. This differentiation was also ob¬
tained without difficulty, and no change in nervous activ¬
ity was observed. But when, after application of a complete¬
ly inhibited rhythm of mechanical skin stimulation, we tried
without any interval to effect stimulation by a positively-
acting rhythm, a peculiar disturbance was manifested in the
dog, lasting for five weeks and only gradually ending in a
return to the normal, perhaps somewhat accelerated by our
special measures. A few days after the collision of the nerv¬
ous processes occurred, all the positive conditioned reflexes
disappeared. This lasted for ten days, after which the re¬
flexes began to reappear, but in a peculiar way: contrary
to normal, the strong stimuli remained ineffective or pro¬
duced the minimum effect; considerable effect was shown
only by the weak stimuli. This state persisted for fourteen
days and was again superseded by a peculiar phase. Now
all the stimuli acted equally, approximately, with the same
force as strong stimuli under normal conditions. This lasted
seven days, and then came the last period before the return
to the normal; this phase was characterized by the fact that
the stimuli of average strength greatly exceeded those in
the normal state, the strong stimuli became somev/hat
weaker than in the normal and the weak stimuli lost their
action altogether. This, too, lasted for seven days, and then.

237
finally, came the return to the norm,al. Repetition of the
same procedure which was responsible for the disturijance
described above, i.e., repetition of direct, without any inter¬
val, transition from the inhibitory mechanical stimulation
of the skin to the positively-acting stimuliation, resulted in
the same disturbance with the same variation in phases,
but of considerably shorter duration. With further repetition
the disturbance became, more and more fleeting, until the
same procedure no longer evoked any derangement. The
decline of the pathological disturbance wias manifested not
only in the shortened duration of the abnormal state, but
also in a reduction in the number of phases, and in the
disappearance of the more abnormal phases.
Thus, the difficult collision between the excitatory and
inhibitory processes leads now to a predominance of the
excitatory process disturbing the inhibition, or, one may
say, to a prolonged increase of the tonus of the excitation,
and now to a predominance of the inhibitory process, with
its preliminary phases, disturbing the excitation, and in¬
creasing the tonus of the inhibition.
But then we witnessed the same phenomena also under
other conditions, besides those mentioned above.
Under the action of extraordinary, directly inhibiting
stimuli-on the animal a chronic predominance of inhibition
takes place. This manifested itself with particular force in
a number of dogs after the unusual flood that occurred in
Leningrad on September 23, 1924," when our experimental
animals were rescued with great difficulty and under ex¬
ceptional conditions. The conditioned reflexes disappeared
for some time and only slowly reappeared. For a consider¬
able period after rehabilitation any more or less strong
stimulus, which earlier would have been regarded as a very
strong conditioned stimulus, as well as the application of a
previously elaborated and thoroughy concentrated inhibi¬
tion, again provoked this chronic state of inhibition either
in the form of complete inhibition or of its above-men¬
tioned preliminary phases (experiment of Dr. A. D. Speran-

238
 sky and Dr. V. V. Rickman). To a lesser degree and for
a shorter time the same thing is often observed in more
normal conditions, such as transferring the animals to a
new environment, to a new experimenter, etc.
On the other hand, ;a slight change in the application
of a well-elaborated positive conditioned reflex, namely, lan
unconditioned stimulus administered directly, without any
interval, after the conditioned stimulus, increases the tonus
of the excitation to such a degree that the elaborated in¬
hibit.ons, now under investigation, either fully disappear,
or greatly lose in constancy and regularity. And often a
frequent interchange of positive and inhibitory reflexes
brings the dogs, especially the lively ones, to the highest
pitch of general excitation (experiments of Dr. M. K. Pet¬
rova and Dr. E. M. Kreps).
However, what has been said above does not exhaust all
our facts concerning the relation between excitation and
inhibition. In the course of our work we encountered other
peculiiar cases of the same kind.
We frequently noticed that a distortion of the action of
conditioned stimuli took place in certain phases of drow¬
siness in normal animals.
The positive stimuli lost their effect, while the negative
inhibitory ones assumed a positive character (for example,
in the experiments carried out by Dr. A. A. Shishlo). In
the light of this relation we can explain the frequently re¬
curring fact that in the drowsy state of the animal there
begins as it were a voluntary secretion of saliva not ob¬
served in the waking state. The explanation is that at the
beginning of the elaboration of the conditioned reflexes in
a given animal the entire mass of accessory stimuli, one
can say, the entire laboratory surroundings, enter into
conditioned connection with the food centre, but later all
these stimuli become inhibited owing to the specialization
of the conditioned stimulus applied by us. It can be
assumed that in a state of drowsiness these inhibited agents
temporarily recover their original effect.

239
 The temporary transformation of the elaborated inhibitory
stimulus into a positive one is also observed in pathologi¬
cal states of the cerebral cortex in intervals between the con¬
vulsive fits caused by post-operative cicatrization in the cor¬
tex. It is interesting to note that along with this elaborat¬
ed inhibitory stimulus, only the weakest of all the positive
conditioned stimuli, viz., light, acts, also positively, during
this time, whereas all other moderate and strong positive
conditioned stimuli remain ineffective (experiments of
Dr. I. P. Razenkov).
Related to this is the fact, frequently reproduced by us,
that accessory stimuli evoking certain reflexes of moderate
strength transform in the course of their action the inhib¬
itory reflexes into positive ones (we call it disinhibition).
On the contrary, during disturbance of the cortex,
caused by extirpation, the positive conditioned stimuli belong¬
ing to the disturbed part of the cortex become inhibitory, a
point mentioned in my last article on sleep. This phenome¬
non is particularly manifest and has been best studied in
the cutaneous region of the cerebral hemispheres. (Earlier
experiments of Dr. N. I. Krasnogorsky and recent experi¬
ments of Dr. I. P. Razenkov.) If the lesion is insignificant
the effect produced by the previous positive conditioned
mechanical stimulation of the skin is less than normal, and
if repeated during one and the same experiment soon
becomes inhibitory; being added to other effective stimuli
it weakens their effect and when applied alone induces a
state of sleepiness in the animal. If the lesion is more
severe, it does not, in normal conditions, produce any posi¬
tive effect, being of a purely inhibitory nature; its application
leads to the disappearance of all positive conditioned reflexes
in the other parts of the cerebral hemispheres.
But this agent, now inhibitory, may, in certain circum¬
stances, manifest a positive effect. If the animal becomes
sleepy of itself, this stimulus, as well as the elaborated
inhibitory agent, as mentioned above, produces a slight pos¬
itive effect. But afterwards this effect can be obtained by

240
other methods. If we repeatedly apply this stimulus sever¬
al times with a brief intermission, for example, of five sec¬
onds instead of the usual thirty (i.e., if the unconditioned
stimulus is added five seconds instead of thirty seconds
after the beginning of the conditioned stimulus), then, upon
delaying it again for thirty seconds, we may obtain a pos¬
itive effect, although a fleeting, one. Setting in very soon
after the beginning of the stimulation, it quickly diminishes
in the course of stimulation and finally disappears alto¬
gether (pure excitatory weakness). A similar transitory effect
can be obtained by means of a preliminary injection of caf¬
feine and by other measures (experiments of Dr. I. P. Razen-
kov).
Of a somewhat different character, but still related to
our subject, are the following facts. Given a very weak gen¬
eral excitability of the cortex, as observed in aged ani¬
mals (Dr. L. A. Andreyev’s experiments) or in animals with
removed thyroid glands (experiments of Dr. A. V. Valkov),
as well as in certain states brought on in the animals by
convulsions during post-operative scarring in the cortex
(experiments of Dr. I. P. Razenkov), the inhibitory process
either becomes impossible or is greatly weakened.
In such cases only an increase of the tonus of cortical
excitability, achieved by .application of stronger uncondi¬
tioned stimuli, can sometimes provoke an inhibitory process.
The phenomenon of reciprocal induction, mentioned by
me in the previous, above-mentioned articles (experiments
of D. S. Fursikov, V. V. Stroganov, E. M. Kreps, M. P. Kal¬
mykov, I. R. Prorokov and others), is also related to our
subject. Finally, the last fact: if separate points of the cor¬
tex are reinforced for a prolonged period by a correspond¬
ing procedure, some of them as points of excitation and
others as points of inhibition, they become highly resistant
to attacks, to the influence exerted by opposite processes,
and at times call for exceptional measures in order to
change their functions (experiments of Dr. B. N. Bierman
and Dr. Y. P. Frolov).

16—773 241
 All the foregoing facts allow us, it seems to me, to sys¬
tematize the states to which the cortex is subjected under
different influences in a definite consecutive order. At one
pole there is the state of excitation, an exceptional in¬
crease of the tonus of excitation, when an inhibitory process
becomes impossible or is greatly impeded. Next comes the
normal, wakeful state, the state of equilibrium between the
excitatory and inhibitory processes. This is followed by ;a
long, but also consecutive, series of states transitory to in¬
hibition; the most typical of these are: the equalization state
when in contrast to the wakeful state lall stimuli, irrespec¬
tive of their intensity, act with lan absolutely equal force;
the paradoxical state, when only the weak stimuli act, or
when the strong stimuli act, too, but produce a barely no¬
ticeable effect; and finally, the ultra-paradoxical state when
only the previously elaborated inhibitory agents produce a
positive effect—a state followed by complete inhibition.
There is yet no clear explanation of the state when excit¬
ability is so low that inhibition is utterly impossible or
greatly impeded, just as in the case of the state of e.xcita-
tion.
At present, among other things, we are engaged in the
experimental solution of the following question (for which
we now have some clues): are there not in evidence the
transitory states so sharply expressed in pathological cases
also in all cases of normal transition from an active state
to a state of inhibition, such as the process of falling asleep,
the process of elaborating inhibitory reflexes, etc.?
Should this be so, then only the retardation, certain iso¬
lation and fixation of the states which normally develop
and change quickly, or almost imperceptibly, bear a patho¬
logical character.
The above facts open the way to an understanding of nu¬
merous phenomena relating both to the normal and patho¬
logical higher nervous activity. I shall give some examples.
I have already shown in previous articles how normal
behaviour is based on the elaborated delimitation of the

242
points of excitation and inhibition, on their grandiose mo¬
saic in the cortex, and how sleep represents irradiated in¬
hibition. We are now in a position to give some details
showing how certain variations of normal sleep, as well as
separate symptoms of the hypnotic state, can be easily
understood when regarded as different degrees of exten¬
siveness and intensiveness of the inhibitory process.
Cases of sleep setting in while walking or riding horse¬
back are not unknown. This means that the inhibition is
confined only to the cerebral hemispheres and does not
spread to the lower centres established by Magnus.®^ We
know also of sleep accompanied by partial wakefulness in
relation to definite stimuli, for instance, the sleep of the
miller who wakes when the noise of the mill stops, the sleep
of the mother awakening at the faintest sound coming from
her sick child, but who is not disturbed by other and much
stronger stimuli, i. e., in general a sleep with easily excit¬
able points on guard. Catalepsy in hypnosis is, apparent¬
ly, an isolated inhibition only of the motor region of the
cortex, not affecting all the other parts of the cortex and
not spreading to the centres of equilibrium of the body.
Suggestion in hypnosis can be rightly interpreted as such
a phase of inhibition when weak conditioned stimuli (words)
produce a greater effect, evidently, than the stronger direct
and real external stimuli. The symptom established by
Pierre Janet®^—loss of the sense of reality during sleep
lasting for many years, can be explained as chronic inhibi¬
tion of the cortex which is interrupted only for a short time
and only under weak stimuli (usually at night); this inhi¬
bition particularly concerns the cutaneous and motor re¬
gions which are most important for the influence of the ex¬
ternal world on the organism, on the one hand, and for the
real action of the organism on the external world, on the
other. Senile talkativeness and dementia are easily ex¬
plained by the extreme weakening of inhibition in cases of
very low excitability of the cortex. Finally, our experiments on
dogs entitle us to regard chronic deviations of the higher

16* 243
nervous activity from the normal, produced in the animals
by us, as pure neurosis; to a degree they also explain the
mechanism of the origin of these deviations. Similarly the
action of exceedingly strong, extraordinary stimuli (for
example, unusual flood) on dogs with a weak nervous sys¬
tem and a predominance of the inhibitory process under
normal conditions, in other words, with a constantly in¬
creased tonus of inhibition, reproduces the aetiology of a
special traumatic neurosis.
As for a theory that would cover and generally substan¬
tiate all these phenomena, it is obvious that the time has
not yet come for it, although many hypotheses have been
advanced, each one of them justified to a degree. It seems
to me that as things are at present it is possible to make
use of the different concepts which actually systematize
the factual material and advance new and detailed prob¬
lems. In our experiments so far vve think of different
phases, from extreme excitation to deep inhibition, which de¬
velop in the nervous cells of the cojtex under the influence
of effective stimuli, and which depend on the intensity and
duration of these stimuli and on the conditions under which
the latter are formed. We incline to this view because of
the obvious analogy between the changes observed in the
activity of the cerebral cortex and the changes taking place
in the nerve fibre under various strong influences, which
have been described in the well-known work of N. E. We-
densky—Excitation, Inhibition and Narcosis.^^ We do not
share his theory, but we have grounds for relating all the
observed transitions from excitation to inhibition to one
and the same elements—to the nerve cells—just as
Wedensky rightly did in the case of the nerve fibre.
One can hardiy doubt that only the study of the phys¬
icochemical process taking place in the nerve fibre will
provide us with a real theory of all nervous phenomena,
and that the phases of this process will give us an exhaus¬
tive explanation of all external manifestations of the nerv¬
ous activity, of their sequence and interconnections.
 THE CONDITIONED REFLEX57

The conditioned reflex is now used as a separate phys¬

iological term to denote a certain nervous phenomenon,
the detailed study of which hias led to the creation of a new
branch in the physiology of lanimals—-the physiology of the
higher nervous activity, as the first chapter in the physiol¬
ogy of the higher parts of the central nervous system. For
many years empirical and scientific observations have
been accumulated which show that a mechanical lesion or
a disease of the brain, and especially of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, causes a disturbance in the higher, most com¬
plex behaviour of the animal and man, usually referred to
as psychical activity. At present hardly anyone with a med¬
ical education would doubt that our neuroses and psy¬
choses are connected with the weakening or disappearance
of the normal physiological properties of the brain, or v^dth
its greater or lesser destruction. But the following persist¬
ent, fundamental questions arise: what is the connection
between the brain and the higher activity of the animal
and man? With what and how must we begin the study
of this activity? It would seem that psychical activity is
the result of the physiological activity of a certain mass
of the brain and that physiology should investigate it in
exactly the same way as the activity of all other parts of
the organism is now being successfully investigated. How¬
ever, this has not been done for a long time. Psychical ac¬
tivity has long (for thousands of years) been the object of
study by a special branch of science—psychology. But phys-

245
iology, strange as it may seem, only recently—in 1870—
obtained with the help of its usual method of artificial stim¬
ulation the first precise facts relating to a certain (motor)
physiological function of the cerebral hemispheres; with the
help of its other usual method of partial destruction it ac¬
quired additional facts relating to the establishment of
connections between other parts of the cerebral hemispheres
and the most important receptors of the organism—the
eye, the ear, etc. This raised hopes among physiologists,
as well as psychologists, that close connection would be
established between physiology and psychology. On the one
hand, the psychologists used to begin text-books on psy¬
chology with a preliminary exposition of the theory of the
central nervous system, and especially of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres (sense organs). On the other hand, the physiol¬
ogists when experimenting v/ith the destruction of various
parts of the hemispheres in animals viewed the results ob¬
tained by them psychologically, by analogy with the human
internal world (for example, Munk’s assertion that the ani¬
mal “sees,” but “does not understand”).®® However, both
camps soon became disappointed. The physiology of the cer¬
ebral hemispheres perceptibly stepped at these first exper¬
iments and made no further substantial advance. In the
meantime many resolute psychologists again took up the
cudgels saying that psychological research should be fully
independent of physiological. At the same time there were
other attempts to link the triumphant natural science with
psychology through the method of numerical measurement
of psychical phenomena. At one time an attempt was made
to create in physiology a special branch of psychophysics
on the basis of the fortunate discovery by Weber and Fech-
ner of the law®® (named after them) which establishes a
certain numerical relation between the intensity of an exter¬
nal stimulus and the strength of a sensation. But the new
branch failed to go beyond this single law. More successful
was the attempt made by Wundt,®® a physiologist who be¬
came a psychologist and philosopher, experimentally to apply

246
 the method of numerical measurement to psychical phen-
omena in the form, of the so-called experimental psychol¬
ogy; thus, considerable material has been collected already
and more is being accumulated. Mathematical analysis of
the numerical material obtained by experimental psycholo-
p' IS called by some people, as Fechner did it, psychophys¬
ics. But now even among psychologists and especially
psychiatrists, there are many who are bitterly disappointed
in the practical application of experimental psycholocry.
_ So what is to be done? However, a new method of "solv¬
ing the fundamental question was already on the way. Was
it possible to discover an elementarv psychical phenome¬
non which at the same time could be fully and rightly regard¬
ed as a purely physiological phenomenon? Was it possible
to begin with it, and by a strictly objective study (as gen¬
erally done in physiology) of the conditions of its emer¬
gence, its various complexities and its disappearance, to
obtain first of all an objective physiological picture of the
entire higher nervous activity in animals, i.e., the normal
functioning of the higher part of the brain, instead of the
previous experiments involving its artificial irritation and
destruction? Fortunately, such a phenomenon had long been
observed by a number of researchers; many of them paid
attention to it and some even began to study it (special
mention should be made of Thorndike®'), but for some rea¬
son or other they stopped the study at the very beginning
and did not utilize the knowledge of this phenomenon for
the purpose of elaborating a fundamental method of system¬
atic physiological study of the higher activity in the ani¬
mal organism. This was the phenomenon now termed the
“conditioned reflex,” thorough study of which has fully jus¬
tified the previously expressed hope. I shall mention two
simple experiments that can be successfully performed by
all. W^e introduce into the mouth of a dog a moderate so¬
lution of some acid; the acid produces a usual defensive
reaction in the animal: by vigorous movements of the mouth
it ejects the solution, and at the same time an abundant

247
quantity of saliva begins to flow first into the mouth and
then overflows, diluting the acid land cleansing the mucous
membrane of the oral cavity. Now let us turn to the sec¬
ond experiment. Just prior .to introducing the same solu¬
tion into the dog’s mouth we repeatedly act on the 'animal
by a certain external agent, say, a definite sound. What
happens then? It suffices simply to repeat the sound, and
the siame reaction is fully reproduced—the same movements
of the mouth land the siame secretion of saliva.
Both of the above-mentioned facts are equally exact and
constant. And both must be designated by one and the
same physiological term—“reflex.” Both disappear if we
sever either the motor nerves of the mouth musculature
and the secretory nerves of the salivary gliands, i.e., the
efferent drives, or the afferent drives going from the mu¬
cous membrane of the mouth and from the ear, and finally,
if we destroy the central exchange wihere the nervous cur¬
rent (i.e., the moving process of nervous excitation) passes
from the afferent to the efferent drives; for the first reflex
this is the medulla oblongata, for the second it is the cere¬
bral hemispheres.
In the light of these facts even the strictest judgement
cannot raise any objection to such a physiological conclu¬
sion; at the same time, however, there is a manifest differ¬
ence between the two reflexes. In the first place, their
centres, as already mentioned, are different. In the second
place, as is clear from the procedure of our experiments,
the first reflex was reproduced without any preparation or
special condition, while the second was obtained by means
of a special method. This means that in the first case there
took place a direct passage of the nervous current from one
kind of drives to the other, without any special procedure.
In the second case the passage demanded a certain prelim¬
inary procedure. The next natural assumption is that in
the first reflex there was a direct conduction of the nervous
current, while in the second it was necessary preliminarily
to prepare the way for it; this concept had long been known

248
to physiology and had been termed “Biahnung.”®^ Thus, in
the central nervous system there are two different central
mechanisms—one directly conducting the nervous current
and the second—closing and opening it. There is nothing
surprising in this conclusion. The nervous system is the
most complex and delicate instrument on our planet, iby
means of which relations, connections are established be¬
tween the numerous parts of the organism, as well as be¬
tween the organism, as a highly complex system, and the
innumerable, external influences. If the closing and open¬
ing of electric current is now regarded as an ordinary tech¬
nical device, why should there be any objection to the idea
that the same principle acts in this wonderful instrument?
On this basis the constant connection between the external
agent and the response of the organism, which it evokes,
can be rightly called an unconditioned reflex, and the tem¬
porary connection—a conditioned reflex. The animal organ¬
ism, as a system, exists in surrounding nature thanks only
to the continuous equilibration of this system with the en¬
vironment, i.e., thanks to definite reactions of the living
system to stimulations reaching it from without, which in
higher animals is effected mainly by means of the nervous
system in the shape of reflexes. This equilibration, and con¬
sequently, the integrity both of the individual organism and
of its species, is ensured first of all by the simplest uncondi¬
tioned reflexes (such as coughing when foreign substances
enter the larynx), as well as by the most complex ones,
which are usually known as instincts—alimentary, defen¬
sive, sexual and others. The reflexes are caused both by
internal agents arising within the organism and by exter¬
nal agents, and this ensures the perfection of the equilibra¬
tion. But the equilibrium attained by these reflexes is com¬
plete only when there is an absolute constancy of the exter¬
nal environment. But since the latter, being highly varied,
is always fluctuating, the unconditioned, or constant con¬
nections are not sufficient; they must be supplemented by
conditioned reflexes, or temporary connections. For exam-

249
pie, it is not sufficient for the animal to take the food
placed before it—in this case it would often be hungry and
die of starvation; the animal must discover the food by its
various accidental and temporary symptoms, and the lat¬
ter are precisely conditioned (signalling) stimuli exciting
the animal’s movement towards the food which ends in its
introduction into the mouth, i.e., in general, they evoke a
conditioned alimentary reflex. The same holds for every¬
thing of importance for the well-being of the organism and
the species both in the positive and in the negative senses,
i.e., for everything which the animal must take from the
environment and against which it must be on guard. No
great power of imagination is needed to realize at once
what a truly innumerable quantity of conditioned reflexes
are constantly effected by the most complex system of the
human being who is placed not only in a very broad nat¬
ural environment, but often also in a very broad specifi¬
cally social environment, which, on the overall scale, em¬
braces all mankind. Let us take this alimentary reflex. How
many diverse conditioned temporary connections, both gen¬
erally natural and specifically social, are required by a hu¬
man being to secure adequate and wholesome food—and all
this is, in essence, a conditioned reflex! There is no need
to explain this in greater detail. Let us make a leap and
turn directly to the question of the so-called tact in life as
a specifically social phenomenon. Tact means the ability
to create for oneself a favourable standing in societv—the
quality infrequently met with, of being able to establish
with everyone and in any circumstances relations that con¬
stantly evoke a generally favourable attitude; it means
changing one’s attitude towards other people according to
their temper, sentiments and the given conditions, i.e., to
react to other people depending on the positive or negative
results of the previous intercourse with them. True, there
is worthy and unworthy tact, the tact which does not vio¬
late self-respect and the dignity of other people, and there
is the tact which is quite the reverse; but in their physiol-

250
 ogical essence both are temporary connections, conditioned
reflexes. Thus, the temporary nervous connection is the
most universal physiological phenomenon both in the ani¬
mal world and in ourselves. At the same time it is a psy¬
chological phenomenon—that which the psychologists call
association, whether it be combinations derived from all
manner of actions or impressions, or combinations derived
from letters, words and thoughts. Are there any grounds
for differentiiation, for distinguishing between that which
the physiologist calls the temporary connection and that
which the psychologist terms association? They are fully
identical; they merge and absorb each other. Psychologists
themselves seem to recognize this, since they (at least, some
of them) have stated that the experiments with condi¬
tioned reflexes provide a solid foundation for associative
psychology, i.e., psychology which regards association as
the base of psychical activity. This is all the more true since
it is possible to form a new conditioned stimulus with
the help of an elaborated conditioned stimulus; and recent¬
ly it was convincingly proved on a dog that two indiffer¬
ent stimuli repeated in succession can also become inter¬
connected and provoke each other. The conditioned reflex
has become the central phenomenon in physiology; it has
made possible a more profound and exact study both of the
normal and pathological activity of the cerebral hemispheres.
Of course, the results of this study, which so far has
yielded an enormous quantity of facts, can be described
here only in general outline.
The basic condition for the formation of a conditioned
reflex is, generally speaking, a single or repeated coinci¬
dence of the indifferent stimulus with the unconditioned
one. The formation of the reflex is quickest and meets with
least difficulties when the first stimulus directly precedes
the second, as shown in the above-mentioned auditory acid
reflex.
The conditioned reflex is formed on the basis of all un¬
conditioned reflexes and from various agents of the inter-

25/
nal medium and external environment both in their sim¬
plest and most complex forms, but with one limitation:
it is formed only from those agents for the reception of
which there are receptor elements in the cerebral hemi¬
spheres. Thus we have before us a very extensive synthesiz¬
ing activity effected by this part of the brain.
But this is not enough. The conditioned temporary con¬
nection is at the same time highly specialized, reaching the
heights of complexity and extending to the most minute frag¬
mentation of the conditioned stimuli as well as of some
activities of the organism, particularly such as the skeletal
movements and the speech movements. Thus we have be¬
fore us a highly delicate analysing activity of the same
cerebral hemispheres! Hence the enormous breadth and
depth of the organism’s adaptability, of its equilibration
with the surrounding world. The synthesis is, apparently, a
phenomenon of nervous coupling. What, then, is the analy¬
sis as a nervous phenomenon? Here we have several sepa¬
rate physiological factors. The foundation for the analysis
is provided first of all by the peripheral endings of all the
afferent nervous conductors of the organism, each one of
which is specially adjusted to transform a definite kind of
energy (both inside and outside the organism) in the proc¬
ess of nervous excitation; this process is then conducted
to special, less numerous, cells of the lower parts of the
central nervous system, as well as to the highly numerous
special cells of the cereibnal hemispheres. From there, how¬
ever, the process of nervous excitation usually irradiates to
various cells over a greater or lesser area. This explains
why when the conditioned reflex has been elaborated, say,
to one definite tone, not only all the other tones, but even
many of the other sounds produce the same conditioned
reaction. In the physiology of the higher nervous activity
this is known as the generalization of conditioned reflexes.
Consequently, here we simultaneously meet with phenom¬
ena of coupling and irradiation. But afterwards the irra¬
diation gradually becomes more and more limited; the ex-

252
citatory process concentrates in the smallest nervous point
of the cerebral hemispheres, probably the group of corre¬
sponding special cells. This limitation is most rapidly effect¬
ed by means of another basic nervous process known as
inhibition. This is how the process develops. First we elab¬
orate a conditioned generalized reflex to a definite tone.
Then we continue our experiment with this reflex, constant¬
ly accompanying and reinforcing it with the unconditioned
reflex; but along with it we apply other, so to speak,
spontaneously acting tones, but without any reinforcement.
The latter gradually lose their effect, and, finally, the same
thing takes place with the closest tone; for exiample, a tone
of 600 oscillations per second will produce an effect,
whereas the tone of 498 oscillations will not, i.e., it will be
differentiated. These tones, which have now lost their effect,
are inhibited. This is proved in the following way:
If immediately after the application of the inhibited tone
we apply the constantly reinforced conditioned tone, the lat¬
ter will either produce no effect at all or a considerably
lesser effect than usual. This signifies that the inhibition
which has eliminated the effect of all accessory tones, has
acted on this tone as well. But this is a fleeting phenom¬
enon—it is no longer observed if some time passes after
the application of the inhibited tones. From this it can be
deduced that the inhibitory process irradiates in the same
way as the excitatory process. But the more frequently the
non-reinforced tones are repeated, the more concentrated
becomes the inhibitory process both in space and in time.
Consequently the analysis begins with the special activity
of the peripheral mechanisms of the afferent conductors and
is terminated in the cerebral hemispheres by means of the
inhibitory process. The case of inhibition described above is
known as differential inhibition. I shall mention other
cases. In order to obtain a definite, more or less constant
strength of the conditioned effect, usually, after a certain
period of action of the conditioned stimulus, the latter is
supplemented by an unconditioned stimulus, that is, it is

253

4
 reinforced. Then, depending on the duration of the isolated
application of the conditioned stimulus, no effect is observed
during the first seconds or minutes of the stimulation,
since being premature as a signal of the unconditioned
stimulus, it is inhibited. This is the analysis of the differ¬
ent moments of the acting stimulus. Inhibition of this kind
is called the inhibition of a delayed reflex. But the conditioned
stimulus, as a signalling one, is itself corrected by the
inhibition, gradually being reduced to zero, if it is not rein¬
forced during a certain period of time.
This is the extinguishing inhibition. It persists for some
time and then disappears of itself. The restoration of the
extinguished conditioned effect of the stimulus is accelerat¬
ed by reinforcement. Thus, there are positive conditioned
stimuli, i.e., provoking an excitatory process in the cere¬
bral cortex, and negative ones, provoking an inhibitory
process. In the above cases we have a special inhibition of
the cerebral hemispheres, the cortical inhibition. It arises
under certain conditions at points where previously it was
absent, it varies in size and disappears under other con¬
ditions; this distinguishes it from a more or less constant
and stable inhibition of the lower parts of the central nerv¬
ous system, and this is why, in contrast to the latter (i.e.,
to external inhibition), it is called internal inhibition. It
would be more correct to call it elaborated, conditioned in¬
hibition. The participation of inhibition in the work of the
cerebral hemispheres is as continuous, complex and deli¬
cate as that of the excitatory process.
Just as in some cases the stimulations coming into the
hemiispheres from without enter into connection' with defi¬
nite cerebral points which are in a state of excitation, in
other cases similar stimulations can, also on the basis of
simultaneity, enter into temporary connection with the in¬
hibitory state of the cortex, if there is any. This follows from
the fact that such stimuli have an inhibitory effect, evoke by
themselves an inhibitory process in the cortex and are con¬
ditioned negative stimuli. In this case, as in the foregoing

254

0
oases, we have la conversion, under certain conditions, of
the excitatory process into the inhibitory. And this oan to
a degree be explained if we recall that in the peripheral
apparatus of the afferent conductors there takes place a con¬
stant transformation of various kinds of energy into an
excitatory process. Why, then, should there not take place
in certain conditions a similar transformation of the ener¬
gy of the excitatory process into the energy of the inhibi¬
tory process, and vice versa?
As we have just seen, both the excitatory and inhibitory
processes, arising in the cerebral hemispheres, first spread
over them or irradiate, and then concentrate in the point of
origin. This is one of the fundamental laws of the eniire
central nervous system, but here, in the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, it manifests itself with the mobility and complexity
which are inherent only in them. Among the conditions
which determine the onset and course of irradiation and
concentration of the processes, the strength of these proc¬
esses must be considered of prime importance. The facts
which have been accumulated up to date entitle us to draw
the conclusion that given a 'weak excitatory process irra¬
diation takes place, given a medium one—concentration,
and under a very strong one—again irradiation. Exactly
the same thing occurs in the inhibitory process. Cases of ir¬
radiation accompanying very strong processes are observed
more seldom, and, therefore, have been less investigat¬
ed, especially under inhibition. The irradiation of a weak
excitatory process, being of a temporary character, discloses
the latent state of excitation which is caused by another
acting stimulus (but too weak to be revealed) or by a stim¬
ulus that had acted not long before, and finally by one
which was often repeated and resulted in an increased tonus
of a certain cortical point. On the other hand, the irradia¬
tion eliminates the inhibitory state of other points of the
cortex. This phenomenon is known as disinhibition: the ir¬
radiation of an accessory weak stimulus transforms the
effect of a certain acting negative conditioned stimulus into

255
the opposite, positive effect. When the excitatory process is
of medium strength, it concentrates in a definite and limit¬
ed point and is manifested in certain activity. Under very
strong excitation the irradiation evokes the highest tonus of
the cortex, and against the background of this excitation
all other successive stimulations produce the maximum ef¬
fect. The irradiation of a weak inhibitory process is what
we aali hypnosis; under alimentary conditioned reflexes it
manifests itself in both the secretory and motor compo¬
nents. When, in the above-mentioned conditions there arises
inhibition (differential and others), the development of
peculiar states of the cerebral hemispheres is the most com¬
mon fact. At first, contrary to the rule of a more or less
parallel change in the size of the salivary effect of the con¬
ditioned alimentary reflexes, corresponding to the physical
intensity of the stimuli, all stimuli become equal in effect
(the equalization phase). Then the weak stimuli provoke a
more abundant secretion of saliva than the strong (the
paradoxical phase). And finally there takes place a distor¬
tion of the effects: the conditioned positive stimulus re¬
mains fully ineffective, whereas the negative stimulus pro¬
duces a secretion of salivia (the ultra-paradoxical phase).
The same thing occurs with the motor reaction: when, for
example, food is offered to the dog (i.e., when natural con¬
ditioned stimuli begin to act), the dog turns away from it;
on the contrary, when the food is being removed, taken
away, the dog reaches for it. Besides, in the state of hyp¬
nosis, in the case of alimentary conditioned reflexes, it is
sometimes possible clearly to observe a gradual irradiation
of inhibition over the motor region of the cortex. First the
tongue and the masticatory muscles become paralyzed, then
the inhibition of the cervical muscles follows, and, finally,
of all muscles of the body. Given a further downward irra¬
diation of the inhibition along the brain a state of catalep¬
sy is sometimes observed, and finally general sleep sets
in. The hypnotic state, being of an inhibitory nature,
enters quite easily, on the basis of simultaneity, into tem-

256
porary conditioned connection with the numerous external
agents.
When the inhibitory process is intensified, it becomes con¬
centrated. This leads to delimitation between the cortical
point which is in a state of excitation and the points in a
state of inhibition. And since there is la multitude of diverse
points in the cortex, excitatory and inhibitory, relating both
to the external world (visual, lauditory and others) and to
the internal world (motor, etc.), ,it represents a grandiose
mosaic of intermittent points of various properties and vari¬
ous degrees of strength of the excitatory land inhibitory
states. Thus, the alert working state of an lanimal or of a
human being is la mobile and at the same time localized
process of fragmentation of the excitatory and inhibitory
states of the cortex, now in large, now in very small parts;
it contrasts with the state of sleep when inhibition at the
height of its intensity and extensity is spread evenly over
the whole mass of the cerebral hemispheres, as well as
down to a certain level. However, even then there may re¬
main separate excitatory points in the cortex—which are,
so to speak, on guard or on duty. Consequently, in the alert
state both processes are in permanent mobile equilibra¬
tion, as if struggling with^each other. If the mass of exter¬
nal or internal stimulations falls off at once, a marked pre¬
dominance of the inhibitory process takes ..place over the ex¬
citatory. Some dogs, in which the peripheral basic external
receptors (visual, auditory and olfactory) are damaged,
sleep twenty-three hours a day.
Along with the law of irradiation and concentration of
the nervous processes, there is another permanently operat¬
ing fundamental law—the law of reciprocal induction. Ac¬
cording to this law, the effect of the positive conditioned
stimulus becomes stronger when the latter is applied im¬
mediately or shortly after the concentrated inhibitory stim¬
ulus, just as the effect of the inhibitory stimulus proves
to be more exact and profound after the concentrated posi¬
tive stimulus. The reciprocal induction manifests itself both

17—773 257
in the circumference of the point of excitation or inhibition
simultaneously with their action, and in the point itself after
the termination of the processes. It is clear that the law of
irradiation land concentration and the law of reciprocal
induction are closely interconnected, mutually limiting, bal¬
ancing and reinforcing each other, and thereby determin¬
ing the exact correlation between the activity of the organ¬
ism and the conditions of the external environment. Both
laws operate in all parts of the central nervous system, but
in the cerebral hemispheres they manifest themselves in
newly arising points of excitation and inhibition, and in
the lower parts of the central nervous system—in more or
less permanent points. In the theory of conditioned reflexes,
negative induction, i.e., the emergence or intensification of
inhibition in the circumference of a point of excitation, was
previously called external inhibition, when the given con¬
ditioned reflex diminished and disappeared as a result of
the action on the animal of an accessory, accidental stimu¬
lus, more often evoking an orienting reflex. It was this that
gave the occasion to group all the cases of inhibition de¬
scribed above (extinguishing and others), occurring without
the interference of outside stimulation, under the common
name of internal inhibition. Besides these two different
cases of inhibition in the cerebral hemispheres, there is a third
one. When the conditioned stimuli are physically very strong,
the rule of direct proportionality between the strength of
the effect produced by these stimuli and their physical in¬
tensity is violated; their effect becomes not stronger but
weaker than that of moderate stimuli; this is the so-called
transmarginal inhibition. This inhibition arises both under
the action of a very strong conditioned stimulus and in the
case of summation of separate and not very strong stimuli.
It is natural to regard transmarginal inhibition as a kind
of reflex inhibition. If we systematize the cases of inhibi¬
tion more exactly, we shall have either permanent, uncon¬
ditioned inhibition (inhibition of negative induction and
transmarginal inhibition), or temporary, conditioned inhi-

258
 bition (extinguishing, differential and retarding). How¬
ever, from the point of view of their physicochemical foun¬
dation, there is every reason to regard all these kinds of
inhibition as one and the same process, but arising under
different conditions.
The entire establishment and distribution in the cortex
of excitatory and inhibitory states, taking place in a certain
period under the action of external and internal stimuli,
become more and more fixed under uniform, recurring con¬
ditions and are effected with ever-increasing ease and auto¬
matism. Thus, there appears a dynamic stereotype (system¬
atization) in the cortex, the maintenance of which be¬
comes an increasingly less difficult nervous task; but the
stereotype becomes inert, little susceptible to change and re¬
sistant to new conditions and new stimulations. Any initial
elaboration of a stereotype is, depending on the complexity
of the system of stimuli, a difficult and often an extraordin¬
ary task.
The study of conditioned reflexes in numerous dogs grad¬
ually led to the idea of different nervous systems in dif¬
ferent animals, until, finally, sufficient data were obtained
to systematize the nervous systems according to some of
their basic properties. There proved to be three such prop¬
erties: the strength of the basic nervous processes (exci¬
tatory and inhibitory), their equilibrium and their mobil¬
ity. Actual combinations of these three properties produce
four more or less strongly-pronounced types of nervous
system. According to the strength, the animals are divid¬
ed into strong and weak types; according to the equilibrium
of the nervous processes, the strong animals are divided
into equilibrated and unequilibrated; and the equilibrated
strong animals are divided into labile and inert. This, ap¬
proximately, coincides with the classical systematization of
temperaments. Thus, there are strong but unequilibrated
animals in which both nervous processes are strong, the
excitatory process, however, predominating over the inhib¬
itory; this is the excitable, impetuous type, or choleric, ac-

17* 259
cording to Hippocnates. Further, there are strong, quite equi¬
librated but inert animals; this is the inert, slothful type,
or i)hlegmatic, according to Hippocrates’ classification. Then
come the strong, quite equilibrated, but labile animals; this
is the lively, active type, or sanguine, according to Hippo¬
crates. And finally, there is the weak type, which is clos¬
est to Hippocrates’ melancholic type; the predominant and
common feature of this type is quick inhibitability due to
internal inhibition which is always weak and easily irra¬
diates, and especially to external inhibition under the ac¬
tion of various, even inconsiderable, accessory external stim¬
uli. In other respects it is less uniform than all other
types; it includes various animals; those in which both nerv¬
ous processes are equally weak; those in which the inhibi¬
tory process is predominantly very weak; fussy animals,
constantly glancing around, and, on the contrary, animals
constantly halting, as if becoming petrified. The cause of
this non-uniformity lies, of course, in the fact that animals
of the weak type, as well as those of the strong type, differ
in other features, apart from the strength of the nervous
processes. But the predominant and extreme weakness now
of the inhibitory process, now of both processes, abolishes
the vital significance of the variations of all other features.
Constant and strong inhibitability makes all these animals
equally disabled.
Thus, type is a congenital, constitutional form of the
nervous activity of the animal—the genotype. But since the
animal is exposed from the very day of its birth to the most
varied influences of the environment, to which it must in¬
evitably respond by definite actions which often become
more and more fixed and, finally, established for life, the ul¬
timate nervous activity of the animal (phenotype, charac¬
ter) is an alloy of the characteristics of type and the changes
produced by the external environment. All that has been
said above, obviously, represents indubitable physiological
material, i.e., the objectively reproduced normal physiologi¬
cal activity of the higher part of the central nervous system;

260
and it is precisely with this activity that the study of every
part of the animal orgianism must begin land actually does
begin. However, this does not prevent certain physiologists
from regarding the above facts as having no relation to
physiology. A case of conservatism not infrequent in
science!
It is not difficult to bring this physiological activity of
the higher part of the lanimial brain into natural land direct
connection with numerous manifestations of our subjective
world.
As already mentioned, a conditioned connection is, ap¬
parently, what we call association by simultaneity. The gen¬
eralization of a conditioned connection corresponds to
whiat is called association by likeness. The synthesis and
analysis of conditioned .reflexes (associations) are, in es¬
sence, the same as the basic processes of our mental activ¬
ity. When we are absorbed in our thoughts or carried away
by certain work, we do not see land hear what is going on
around us; this is obvious negative induction. Who would
separate in the unconditioned highly complex reflexes (in¬
stincts) the physiological, the somatic from the psychical,
i.c., from the powerful emotions of hunger, sexual attrac¬
tion, anger, etc.? Our sense of pleasure, displeasure, com¬
posure, difficulty, joy, pain, triumph, despair, etc., is con¬
nected now with the conversion of very strong instincts and
of their stimuli into corresponding effector acts, now with
their inhibition; they are connected with all the variations
of an easy or difficult course of development of the nervous
processes in the cerebral hemispheres, as is ob.served in
dogs which are able or unable to cope with nervous tasks
of varying degrees of difficulty. Our contrasting emotions
are, of course, phenomena of reciprocal induction. The irra¬
diation of excitation makes us speak and act in a manner
that would not be admitted by us in a state of calm. Ob¬
viously, the wave of excitation transforms the inhibition
of certain points into a positive process. A drastic weaken¬
ing of the memory for the near past—a normal phenome-

261
non in old age—signifies a senile decrease of the mobility
of the excitatory process, its inertness, and so on.
When the developing animal world reached the stage of
man, an extremely important addition was made to the mechn
anisms of the nervous activity. In the animal, reality is
signalized almost exclusively by stimulations land by the
traces they leave in the cerebral hemispheres, which come
directly to the special cells of the visual, lauditory or other
receptors of the organism. This is w^hat we, too, possess as
impressions, sensations and notions of the world around
us, both the natural and the social—with the exception of
the words heard or seen. This is the first system of signals
of reality common to man and animals. But speech con¬
stitutes a second signalling system of reality which is pe¬
culiarly ours, being the .signal of the first signals. On the
one hand, numerous speech stimulations have removed us
from reality, and we must always remember this in order
not to distort our attitude to reality. On the other hand,
it is precisely speech which has made us human, a subject
on which I need not dwell in detail here. However, it can¬
not be doubted that the fundamental laws governing the ac¬
tivity of the first signalling system must also govern that
of the second, because it, too, is activity of the same nervous
tissue.
The most convincing proof thab the study of the condi¬
tioned reflexes has brought the investigation of the higher
part of the brain on to the right trail and that the functions
of this part of the bnain land the phenomena of our subjec¬
tive world have finally become united and identical, is pro¬
vided by the further experiments with conditioned reflexes
on animals reproducing pathological states of the human
nervous system—neuroses and certain psychotic symptoms;
in many cases it is also possible to attain a rational delib¬
erate return to the normal—recovery—i.e., a truly scien¬
tific mastery of the subject. Normal nervous activity is a
balance of all the above-described processes participating
in this activity. Derangement of the balance is a patholog-

262
ical state, a disease; and often there is a certain disequilib¬
rium even in the so-called normal, or to be more precise,
in the relative normal. Hence the probability of nervous ill¬
ness is manifestly connected with the type of nervous sys¬
tem. Under the influence of difficult experimental condi¬
tions those of our dogs are quickly and easily susceptible
to nervous disorders which belong to the extreme—excit¬
able and weak—types. Of course, even in the strong equi¬
librated types the equilibrium can be deranged by applying
very strong, extraordinary measures. The difficult condi¬
tions, which chronically violate the nervous equilibrium, in¬
clude; overstrain of the excitatory process, overstrain of the
inhibitory process and a direct collision of both opposite
processes, in other words, overstrain of the mobility of
these processes. We have a dog with a system of conditioned
reflexes to stimuli of different physical intensity, positive
and negative reflexes \yhich are called forth stereotypically
in one and the same order land at the same intervals. We
sometimes apply exceptionally strong conditioned stimuli,
sometimes we greatly prolong the duration of the inhibi¬
tory stimuli; we now elaborate a very delicate differentia¬
tion, now increase the quantity of inhibitory stimuli in the
system of reflexes; finally, we either make the opposing
processes follow each other immediately, or even simultane¬
ously apply opposite conditioned stimuli, or at once change
the dynamic stereotype, i.e., convert the established sys¬
tem of conditioned stimuli into an opposite series of stim¬
uli. And we see that in all these cases the above-mentioned
extreme types fall with particular ease into chronic path¬
ological states differently manifesting themselves in these
types. In the excitable type the neurosis is expressed in the
following way. The inhibitory process, which even in la nor¬
mal state constantly lags behind the excitatory process in
relation to' strength, now becomes very weak, almost dis¬
appearing: the elaborated, although not absolute, differen¬
tiations become fully disinhibited; the extinction assumes
an extremely protracted character, the delayed reflex is

26.1
converted into la short-delayed one, etc. In general, the ani¬
mal becomes highly unrestrained and nervous during the
experiments in the stand: it either behaves violently, or
which is much less frequent—falls into a state of sleep,
this had not been observed before. In the weak type the
neurosis is almost exclusively of a depressive character.
The conditioned reflex activity becomes highly confused,
and more often completely vanishes; in the course of the
experiment the animal is in an almost continuous hypnot¬
ic state, manifesting its various phases (there are no con¬
ditioned reflexes at all, the animal even refuses food).
lExperimental neuroses in most cases assume a linger¬
ing character lasting for months and even years. Some ther¬
apeutic remedies have been successfully tested in protract¬
ed neuroses. Already long ago bromide was applied in the
study of the conditioned reflexes when certain experimental
animals could not cope with the tasks of inhibition. And
it was of essential help to these animals. A prolonged and
diverse series of experiments with conditioned reflexes on
animals proved beyond all doubt that bromide bears no
special relation to the excitatory process and does not de¬
crease the latter, as was generally believed, but influences
the inhibitory process, intensifying and tonifying it. It is
a powerful remedy, regulating and rehabilitating the dis¬
turbed nervous activity, on the indispensable and essential
condition, however, that it is exactly dosed according to
the types and states of the nervous system. In the case of a
strong type and when the state of the dog’s nervous sys¬
tem is still strong enough, large doses of bromide are to
be administered—from two to five grammes a day; for the
weak type the dose must be reduced to centigrammes and
milligrammes. Such bromization for a period of two or three
weeks sometimes proves sufficient to cure a chronic exper¬
imental neurosis. Recent experiments have shown even a
greater therapeutic effect, especially in very severe cases, of
a combination of bromide and caffeine, but again subject
to very precise dosage of both substances. Sometimes recov-

264
ery was also attained in animals, though not so quickly
and fully, exclusively by means of & regular prolonged or
short rest from laboratory work in general, or by the abo¬
lition of the difficult tasks in the system of conditioned
reflexes.
The described neuroses in animals can best be compared
with neurasthenia in human beings, especially since some
neuropathologists insist on two forms of neurasthenia
excitatory and depressive. Besides, certain traumatic neu¬
roses may correspond to them, as well as other reactive
pathological states. It may be assumed that recognition of
two signalling systems of reality in man will lead specially
to an understanding of the mechanisms of two human neu¬
roses—hysteria and psychasthenia. If, on the basis of the
predominance of one system over the other, people can be
divided into a predominantly thinking type and a predom¬
inantly artistic type, then it is clear that in pathological
cases of a general disequilibrium of the nervous system, the
former will become psychasthenics and the latter hysterics.
Along with elucidation of the mechanisms of neuroses,
the physiological study of the higher nervous activity pro¬
vides a clue to an understanding of certain aspects and
phenomena in the pictures of psychoses. We shall dwell
first of all on some forms of delusion, namely, on the va¬
riation of the persecution delusion, on what Pierre Janet*’^
calls “senses of possession,” as well as on iKretschmei s
“inversion.” The patient is persecuted precisely by that
which he particularly wants to avoid; he desires to have
his own secret thoughts, but he is certain that they are con¬
stantly being disclosed and made known by others; he
wishes to be alone, but he is tormented by the persistent sen¬
sation that someone else is in the room, although there is
nobody there except himself, etc.; according to Janet, these
are senses of possession. Kretschmer refers to two girls
who, having entered the period of puberty, and being sex¬
ually attracted by certain males, for some reason suppressed
this attraction As a result, they were first seized with

265
an obsessive idea; to their great grief, it seemed to them
that their countenance betrayed their sexual excitation and
that everybody noticed this; at the same time they greatly
valued their chastity, their virginity. Afterwards one of the
girls suddenly began to imagine and even to sense that
the sexual tempter—the serpent which had seduced Eve in
the Garden of Eden—was inside her and was even reach¬
ing towards her mouth. The other girl imagined that she
was pregnant. It is this latter phenomenon that Kretsch¬
mer terms inversion. In respect of its mechanism it is ob¬
viously identical with the sense of possession. This patho¬
logical subjective experience can, without undue strain, be
interpreted as a physiological phenomenon of the ultra-par¬
adoxical phase. The idea of sexual inviolability, being a
very strong positive stimulus, on the background of- the
state of inhibition or depression in which both girls found
themselves, turned into an equally strong opposite negative
idea, reaching the level of sensation; in one girl it was the
idea of a sexual tempter existing inside her body, in the
other—the idea of pregnancy as a result of sexual inter¬
course. Exactly the same thing is experienced by the pa¬
tient with the sense of possession. The strong positive idea
“I am alone” turned, under the same conditions, into a
similar negative idea—“there is always someone near me!”
In the course of experiments with conditioned reflexes in
various difficult and pathological states of the nervous
system it is often observed that temporary inhibition leads
to a temporary improvement in these states; in one dog
there was twice observed a patent catatonic state,which
resulted in a marked decline of a chronic and persistent
nervous disorder, almost in a return to the normal for sev¬
eral days in succession. In general, it should be pointed
out that in experimental disorders of the nervous system
almost always separate phenomena of hypnosis are ob¬
served, which gives the right to assume that this is a normal
physiological remedy against morbific agents. Hence, the
catatonic form or phase of schizophrenia®® entirely consist-

266
ing of hypnotic symptoms, can be regarded las physiological
protective inhibition, limiting or fully excluding the work
of the disordered brain which, owing to the lactioi of a
certain, still unknown, noxious agent, has been threatened
by serious disturbances or complete destruction. Medicine
knows very well that the first therapeutic measure, which
m.ust be applied in the treatment of almost every illness is
to ensure a state of rest for the diseased organ. That such
a concept of the mechanism of catatonia in schizophrenia
conforms to reality, is convincingly proved by the fact that
only this form of schizophrenia shows a considerable rate
of recovery, despite the protracted character of the cataton¬
ic state, which sometimes persists for years (twenty years).
From this point of view any attempt to act on catatonics
by means of stimulating methods and remedies is definitely
injurious. On the contrary, a very considerable increase
in the rate of recovery can be expected when physiological
rest (inhibition) is supplemented with deliberate external
rest for such patients, when they are kept away from the
action of constant and strong stimuli emanating from the
surroundings, kept away from other, restless patients.
In the course of the study of conditioned reflexes, along
with general disorders of the cortex, there were frequently
observed extremely interesting cases of disorders experi¬
mentally and functionally produced in very small points
of the cortex. Let us take a dog with a system of various
reflexes and among them conditioned reflexes to different
sounds—a tone, a noise, the beat of a metronome, the sound
of a bell, etc.; it is possible to induce a disorder only
at one of the points of application of these conditioned stim¬
uli, while all other points remain normal. The pathologi¬
cal state of an isolated cortical point is produced by the
methods described above as morbific. The disorder mani¬
fests itself in different forms and degrees. The mildest
change effected at this point is expressed in its chronic
hypnotic state: instead of the normal relation between the
strength of the effect induced by the stimulation and the phys-

267
ical intensity of the stimulus, the equalization and para¬
doxical pihases develop at this point. Proceeding from the
above, this, too, can be interpreted as a physiological pre¬
ventive measure under a difficult state of la cortical point.
When the pathological state develops further, the stimulus
in some cases has no positive effect at all, provoking only
inhibition. In other cases the opposite occurs. The positive
reflex becomes unusually stable; its extinction proceeds
more slowly than that of the normal reflexes; it is less sus¬
ceptible to successive inhibition by other, inhibitory condi¬
tioned stimuli; it often stands out in bold relief for its
strength among all other conditioned reflexes. Which was
not observed prior to the disorder. This signifies that the
excitatory process at the given point has become chronic¬
ally and pathologically inert. The stimulation of the patho¬
logical point sometimes remains indifferent to the points
of other stimuli, and sometimes it is impossible to touch
this point with its stimulus without deranging in one way
or another the entire system of reflexes. There are grounds
for assuming that in the case of disorder of isolated points,
when now the inhibitory, now the excitatory processes pre¬
dominate at the diseased point, the mechanism of the path¬
ological state consists precisely in the derangement of
equilibrium between the opposed processes; there takes
place a considerable and predominant decrease now of one
process, now of the other. In the case of pathological inert¬
ness of the excitatory process bromide (which reinforces
the inhibitory process) often fully eliminates the inertness.
The following conclusion can hardly be considered fan¬
tastic. If stereotypy, iteration and perseveration, as is per¬
fectly obvious, have their natural origin in the pathological
inertness of the excitatory process of the different motor
cells, then obsessional neurosis and paranoia must also have
the same mechanism. This is simply a matter of other cells
or of groups of cells connected with our sensations and
notions. Thus, only one series of sensations and notions con¬
nected with the diseased cells becomes abnormally stable

268
 and resistant to the inhibitory influence of other numer¬
ous sensations and notions, which to a greater degree con¬
form with reality because of the normal state of their cells.
Another phenomenon, frequently observed in the study of
pathological conditioned reflexes and having a direct bear¬
ing on human neuroses and psychoses, is circularity in the
nervous activity.®" The disturbed nervous activity manifest¬
ed more or less regular fluctuations. There was observed at
first a period of extremely weakened activity (the condi¬
tioned reflexes were of a chaotic character, often fully disap¬
peared or declined to the minimum); then, after several
weeks or months, as if spontaneously, without any visible
reason, there took place a greater or lesser, and even com¬
plete, return to the normal, which was again superseded
iby a period of pathological activity. Sometimes periods of
weakened activity and abnormally increased activity alter¬
nated in this circularity. It is impossible not to see in these
fluctuations an analogy with cyclothymia®® and the manic-
depressive psychosis.®® The simplest way would be to as¬
cribe this pathological periodicity to the derangement of
normal relations between the excitatory and inhibitory proc¬
esses, as far as their interaction is concerned. Since the
opposite processes did not limit each other in due time and
in the proper measure, but acted independently of each
other and excessively, the result of their activity reached
its maximum—and only then was one process superseded
by the other. Thus, there developed a different, namely,
exaggerated, periodicity, lasting a week or a month, in¬
stead of the short and very easy periodicity of one day. Fi¬
nally, it is impossible not to mention a phenomenon which so
far has manifested itself with exceptional, force only in one
dog. This is the extreme explosiveness of the excitatory
process. Certain individual stimuli or all the conditioned
stimuli produced an extremely violent and excessive effect
(both motor and secretory), which, however, abruptly dis¬
appeared already during the action of the stimulus—when
the alimentary reflex was reinforced, the dog did not take

269
 the food. Obviously, this was because of the high patholog¬
ical lability of the excitatory process, which corresponds
to the excitatory weakness of the human clinic. In certain
conditions a weak form of this phenomenon is often ob¬
served in dogs.
All the pathological nervous symptoms described above
are manifested in corresponding conditions both in normal
dogs, i.e., not subjected to surgical operation, land (espe¬
cially some of these symptoms, for example, circularity) in
castrated animals, being, consequently, of an organic path¬
ological nature. Numerous experiments have shown that
the most fundamental property of the nervous activity in
castrated animals is a considerable and predominant de¬
cline of the inhibitory process, which in the strong type,
however, is greatly levelled out with the passage of time.
To sum up, we must emphasize once more that when we
compare the ultra-paradoxical phase with the sense of pos¬
session and with inversion, and the pathological inertness
of the excitatory process with obsessional neurosis and
paranoia, we see how closely the physiological phenomena
and the experiences of the subjective world are intercon¬
nected and how they merge.
 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HIGHER
NERVOUS ACTIVITY70

Since this, I suppose, is my last opportunity to address

a general meeting of my colleagues, I shall take the liberty
of calling your attention to the general, most systematized
and summarized results of my recent work, which I have
carried out jointly with my esteemed fellow-workers and
which comprises a full half of my entire physiological activ¬
ity; naturally, I shall repeat many of the already published
facts. I pass on to you the results of our work, passionately
dreaming of the majestic, ever-widening horizon opening up
before our science, and of the ever-growing influence
exerted by science on human nature and human destiny.
For the anatomist and histologist the cerdbral hemi¬
spheres have always been as accessible and tangible as any
other organ or any other tissue, i.e., that they possess sim¬
ilar workability and are susceptible of investigation, but, of
course, commensurately with their specific properties and
construction. Quite different was the position of the physiol¬
ogist. Every organ of the animal body, the general role of
which in the organism is known, its actual function, and
the conditions and mechanism of this function, are objects
of study. As to the cerebral hemispheres, their role is well
known—they effect the organism’s most complex relations
with the environment; but the physiologist did not engage
in a further study of their activity. For him the study of the
cerebral hemispheres did not begin with the concrete repro¬
duction of their activity, only after which the gradual ana-

27/
lysis of the conditions and mechanism of this activity is
possible. The physiologist possessed many facts relating to
the cerebral hemispheres, but these facts were not manifest¬
ly and closely connected with their usual normal activity.
Today, after thirty years of diligent and ceaseless work
jointly with my numerous collaborators, I make bold to say
that the situation has radically changed, that while remain¬
ing physiologists, i.e., the same oibjective observers as in all
other branches of physiology, we are studying at present the
normal activity of the cerebral hemispheres and at the same
time constantly analysing it in ever-increasing measure.
The generally-recognized criteria for every true scientific
activity, namely, precise prevision and control over phenom¬
ena, testify to the serious character of this study, which
is irrepressibly advancing, overcoming all obstacles. An
ever-growing number of relations which constitute the most
complex external activity of the higher animal organism,
unfolds before us.
The central physiological phenomenon in the normal
work of the cerdbral hemispheres is that which we have
termed the conditioned reflex. This is a temporary nervous
connection between numberless agents in the animal’s ex¬
ternal environment, which are received by the receptors of
the given animal, and the definite activities of the organ¬
ism. This phenomenon is called by psychologists associa¬
tion. The fundamental physiological significance of this
connection is as follows; in the higher animal, for example,
in the dog which was the object of our investigations, the
basic, most complex correlations established between the
organism and the environment in order to preserve the in¬
dividual and the species, are determined first of all by the
activities of the subcortex which is nearest to the cerbbral
hemispheres; this was demonstrated long ago in Goltz’s’^
experiment with the extirpation of the cerebral hemispheres
in a dog. These activities include the search for food, or the
alimentary activity; the avoidance of injurious factors, or
the defensive activity, etc. They are usually called instincts

272
or inclinations; psychologists term them emotions, but we
designate them by the physiological term most complex
unconditioned reflexes. They exist from the very diay of birth
and^are indispensably called forth by definite, though very
limited in number, stimuli which are sufficient only in early
childhood, under the conditions of parental care. It is this
latter circumstance that makes an animal with extirpated
cerebral hemispheres disabled, incapable of a self-depend¬
ent existence. The basic physiological function of the cere¬
bral hemispheres throughout the subsequent individual life
consists in a constant addition of numberless signalling
conditioned stimuli to the limited number of the initial, in¬
born unconditioned stimuli, in other words, in constantly
s'j''plementing the unconditioned reflexes by conditioned
onVs. Thus, the objects of the instincts exert an influence
on the organism in ever-widening regions of nature and
by means of more and more diverse signs or signals, both
simple and more complex; consequently, the instincts are
more and more fully and perfectly satisfied, i.e., the organ¬
ism is more reliably preserved in the surrounding nature.
The basic condition for the formation of a conditioned re¬
flex is a single or repeated coincidence in time of indiffer¬
ent stimuli with unconditioned reflexes. This is the same
principle of coincidence in time, on the basis of wihioh
groups of various agents or elements of nature, both simul¬
taneous and consecutive, are synthesized by the animal
into units. In this way the synthesis is effected in general.
But owing to the complexity of the permanent movement
and variation of the natural phenomena, the conditioned re¬
flex must, of course, also undergo certain changes, i.e., be
constantly corrected. If for some reason or other the con¬
ditioned stimulus in the given conditions is not accom¬
panied by its unconditioned stimulus, then, when repeated,
it quickly loses its effect, however, temporarily, being re¬
stored spontaneously, after a certain lapse of time. If the
conditioned stimulus constantly and greatly precedes in
time the moment when the unconditioned stimulus is added.

18—773 273
then its distant part, which is, so to speak, premature and
violates the principle of economy, proves ineffective. When
the conditioned stimulus, connected with another indiffer¬
ent one, is permanently not accompanied hy an uncondi¬
tioned stimulus, it remains, in this combination, ineffective.
Finally, if agents closely akin to the given elaborated con¬
ditioned stimulus (for example, close tones, other spots of
the skin, etc.) are usually effective immediately after the
elaboration of the first one, they gradually lose their effect
when repeated later on without the accompaniment of the
unconditioned stimulus, or, in our usual terminology, with¬
out reinforcement. All this ensures the differentiation, the
analysis of the surrounding world with all of its elements
and moments.
In the long run, the cerebral hemispheres of the dog con¬
stantly effect in the most varying degrees both the analysis
and synthesis of stimuli coming to them, and this can and
must be termed elementary, concrete thinking. And it fol¬
lows that this thinking is responsible for the perfect adap¬
tation of the organism, for its more delicate equilibration
with the environment.
This real activity of the cerebral hvimispheres and of the
nearest subcortex, just described in general outline, the
activity which ensures normal complex relations between
the organism as a whole and the external world, must be
rightly considered and denoted as the higher nervous activ¬
ity, the external behaviour of the animal, instead of “psy¬
chical” as it was termed previously; 'it should be distin¬
guished from the activity of other parts of the brain and of
the spinal cord which are mainly in charge of the correla¬
tions and integration of separate parts of the organism; this
activity should be termed the lower nervous activity.
Now the following questions arise: what intrinsic proc¬
esses and laws govern the higher nervous activity? What
has it in common with, and how does it differ from, the
lower nervous activity which until now has been the pre¬
dominant object of physiological study?

274
 The basic processes of the entire central nervous activity
are, obviously, always the same, namely, the excitatory and
inhibitory processes. There are sufficient grounds for assum¬
ing that the fundamental laws governing these processes
are also of a constant nature—irradiation and concentra¬
tion of the processes and their reciprocal induction.
It seems to me that experiments with conditioned reflexes
on the cerebral hemispheres, given normal conditions, per¬
mit a more complete and exact formulation of these laws
than was possible on the basis of experiments performed
mainly on the lower parts of the central nervous system,
and which, in most cases, were acute experiments.
Concerning the cerebral hemispheres we can say that the
following phenomenon is observed in them: when the exci¬
tatory and inhibitory processes are weak, then, under the
action of corresponding stimuli there takes place irradia¬
tion, diffusion of the processes from the point of origin;
when they are of medium strength, a concentration of the
processes occurs at the point of application of the stimulus,
and when they are very strong irradiation is again in
evidence.
In the entire central nervous system, on the basis of irra¬
diation of the excitatory process, a summation reflex sets in,
i.e., a summation of the spreading wave of excitation with
a local manifest or latent excitation; in the latter case the
latent tonus becomes revealed—la phenomenon already
known for a long time. While in the cerebral hemispheres
the confluence of waves irradiating from various points
leads to a quick development of a temporary connection, to
an association of these points, it bears a momentary, tran¬
sient character in the remaining part of the central nerv¬
ous system. This connection in the cerebral hemispheres
probably owes its emergence to their extremely high reac¬
tivity and ability to impress, and is a permanent and in¬
herent property of this part of the central nervous system.
Moreover, in the cerebral hemispheres the irradiation of the
excitatory process instantly and for a short period of time

18* 275
 eliminates, washes off the inhibition from the inhibitory,
negative points of the hemispheres, converting these points
for the same period of time into positive ones. This phenom¬
enon is called disinhibition.
Under the irradiation of the inhibitory process there is
observed a decline or complete disappearance of the effect
of the positive points and an increased effect of the negative
points.
When the excitatory and inhibitory processes are concen¬
trated, they induce the opposite processes (both at the periph¬
ery during their action and in the place of action upon
its termination); this is the law of reciprocal induction.
In the entire central riervous system when there is a con¬
centration of the excitatory process, we meet with phenom¬
ena of inhibition. The point of concentration of the excita¬
tion is encircled to a greater or lesser extent by the inhib¬
itory process; this is the phenomenon of negative induc¬
tion. This phenomenon manifests itself in all reflexes, de¬
velops at once and in full measure, persists for some time
after the termination of excitation and exists both between
the small points and the large parts of the brain. We call
this external, passive, unconditioned inhibition. This phenom¬
enon, which has also been known for a long time, was
sometimes called the conflict of centres.
There are in the cerebnal hemispheres also other kinds
or cases of inhibition, in all probability, having one and
the same physicochemical substratum. This is, in the first
place, the inhibition effecting the correction of the condi¬
tioned reflexes, already mentioned and arising when the
conditioned stimulus in the above-indicated conditions is
not accompanied by its unconditioned stimulus; it gradual¬
ly grows, becomes stronger and can be trained and per¬
fected; this, too, is due to the exceptional reactivity of the
cortical cells, and hence to the particular lability of inhibi¬
tion in them. We call this inhibition internal, active, con¬
ditioned. The stimuli, which are thus converted into per¬
manent agents of inhibition in the points of the cerebral

27l5
hemispheres, are called by us inhibitory, negative. Similar
inhibitory stimuli can be also obtained in another way—
if we repeatedly apply indifferent stimuli during the inhib¬
itory state of the cerebral hemispheres (experiments of
Prof. Volborth). As is known, the initial inhibitory reflexes
are also developed in the lower parts of the brain and in
the spinal cord; but here they appear at once in a finished
and stereotyped form, while the same inhibitory reflexes of
the cerebral hemispheres arise gradually and are always
observed by us in the process of formation.
There is one more case of inhibition in the cerebral hemi¬
spheres. All other conditions being equal, the effect of con¬
ditioned stimulation, as a rule, is proportionate to the in¬
tensity of the physical strength of the stimulus, but to a
certain maximum (and probably to a certain minimum,
too). Beyond this limit the effect does not increase; it either
rem.ains unchanged or declines. We have grounds for as¬
suming that beyond this margin the stimulus together with
the excitatory process evoke also an inhibitory process. We
interpret this fact in the following way. The cortical cell
possesses a certain limit of efficiency, and beyond this point
there arises inhibition which prevents an excessive func¬
tional exhaustion of the cell. The limit of efficiency is not
constant; it undergoes both acute and chronic changes in
cases of inanition, hypnosis, disease and in old age. This
inhibition, which can be called transmarginal, arises some¬
times instantaneously and sometimes manifests itself only
when the super-powerful stimuli are repeated. It can be
assumed that analogical inhibition also exists in the lower
parts of the central nervous system.
Peculiar internal inhibition could also be considered as
transmarginal inhibition, in which case the intensity of ex¬
citation is, as it were, replaced by its long duration.
Any inhibition irradiates in the same way as excitation,
but the irradiation of internal inhibition is particularly dis¬
tinct in the cerebral hemispheres where it is very easily ob¬
served in various forms and degrees.

277
 There is no doubt that inhibition, when spreading and
deepening, calls forth different degrees of a hypnotic state,
and when irradiating to the utmost from the cerebral hemi¬
spheres down the brain, produces normal sleep. Particular¬
ly manifest, even in our dogs, is the diversity and multi¬
plicity of the stages of hypnosis, which at first hardly dif¬
fers from the wakeful state. In respect of intensity of inhi¬
bition the following stages are worth mentioning: the
so-called equalization, paradoxical and ultna-paradoxical
phases. Now conditioned stimuli of different physical
strength produce either an equal, or even an inversely pro¬
portional effect; in rare cases only the inhibitory stimuli act
positively, and the positive stimuli are converted into inhibi¬
tory ones. In respect of extensity of inhibition, functional
dissociations in the cortex itself are observed, as well as
between the cortex and the lower parts of the brain. In the
cortex the motor region is particularly offen isolated from
other regions, and even within this region a distinct func¬
tional dissociation sometimes comes to the fore.
Unfortunately, the rivalry of what the clinicians and
some experimenters designate “the centre of sleep” prevents
these facts from being generally recognized and properly
utilized for an understanding of the multitude of physiolog¬
ical and pathological phenomena. However, it is not dif¬
ficult to reconcile and combine these facts. Sleep can be
originated in two ways—either by irradiation of inhibition
from the cortex, or by limiting the stimulations reaching the
higher parts of the brain both from without and from with¬
in the organism. Striimpel long ago produced sleep in a
patient by means of drastic limitation of external stimula-
tions.72 Recently Prof. Speransky and Galkin by means of a
peripheral destruction of the olfactory, auditory and vis¬
ual receptors in dogs obtained a very profound and chronic
sleep (lasting weeks and months). Similarly, as a result of
a pathological or experimental exclusion of stimulations,
constantly reaching the higher part of the brain there sets
in due to the vegetative activity of the organism an exag-

278
gerated and more or less profound and chronic sleep. It
can be reco??nized that in some of these cases too, sleep, in
the final stage, is produced by similar inhibition which be¬
comes predominant when the number of stimuli is limited.
The law of reciprocal induction begins to operate when
there is -a concentration of the inhibitory process, just as it
does when there is a concentration of the excitatory process.
The point of concentration of the inhibition is to a greater
or lesser extent encircled by the process of heightened excit¬
ability; this is the phenomenon of positive induction. The
heightened excitability arises either instantly or gradually
and persists not only during the action of inhibition, but
for some time after, and in some cases even for a quite
considerable length of time. The positive induction mani¬
fests itself between the small points of the cortex, when the
inhibition is fragmentary, as well as between the large
parts of the brain, when it is more diffused.
The permanent operation of the above-mentioned laws
helps us to understand the mechanism of the origin of the
numerous separate phenomena (among which are many
peculiar, at first sight enigmatic, phenomena) of the higher
nervous activity; however, I cannot dwell on them here. I
shall refer only to one of a series of similar cases which for
a long time completely baffled comprehension. It relates
to the complex influence of accessory stimuli on the delayed
conditioned reflex (experiments performed a long time ago
by our colleague Zavadsky).
Let us suppose that a delayed conditioned reflex is being
elaborated, the conditioned stimulation constantly lasting
three minutes before the unconditioned stimulus is added
to it. When such a reflex has been elaborated, the condi¬
tioned stimulus does not produce any effect during the first
minute. Half-way through or towards the end of the second
minute the stimulus begins to produce a certain effect, and
maximum effect is attained only during the third minute.
Thus, the conditioned reflex consists of two external phases
—ineffective and effective. Special experiments, however.

279
 have established that the first phase is not la zero phase,
but an inhibitory one.
Now, if simultaneously with the conditioned stimulus
there are applied accessory stimuli of different intensity call¬
ing forth only lan orienting reaction, a number of changes
are observed in the delayed reflex. When the stimulation is
weak the ineffective phase becomes effective, that is, the
special effect of the conditioned stimulus is manifested; the
effect of the second phase either remains unchanged or is
slightly increased.
When the stimulation is more intense the same thing oc-
curs with the first phase, but the effect of the second phase
drastically declines. Under the strongest stimulation the
first phase again remains ineffective, while the effect of the
second completely disappears. At present, on the basis of
the latest, not yet published, experiments carried out by our
colleague Rickman, we interpret all these phenomena as a
result of the operation of the following four laws: 1) irra¬
diation of the excitatory process, 2) negative induction,
3) summation, and 4) the law of maximum. Given a weak
orienting reflex the spreading wave of excitation eliminates
the inhibition of the first phase; this reflex, which soon all
but disappears When the same stimulation is continued,
either does not influence the second phase at all, or, owing
to a slight summation, somewhat intensifies it. With a more
considerable orienting reflex the effect persists longer; con¬
sequently, along with the disinhibition of the first phase,
due to a considerable summation of the effective phase of
the conditioned reflex with the irradiated wave of excitation
of the orienting reflex, transmarginal inhibition takes place
during the last minute of the delayed reflex. Finally, given
a very strong orienting reflex there takes place a complete
concentration of excitation accompanied by a strong nega¬
tive induction which merges with the inhibition of the first
phase and abolishes the effective phase.
Despite the fact that a multitude of particular relations
between the excitatory and inhibitory processes have been

280
studied by us, the general liaw of the interconnection of
these processes cannot, as yet, be exactly formuliated. As for
the profound mechanism of both processes, many of our
experimental facts incline us to the point of view that the
inhibitory process is probably connected with assimilation,
just as the excitatory process is naturally connected with
dissimilation.
As for the so-called voluntary volitional movements, in
this field, too, we have accumulated some material. In
keeping with earlier investigations we have shown that the
motor region of the cortex is first of all a receptor one, like
all its other regions,—visual, auditory, etc., since the ani¬
mal’s passive movements, i.e., the kinesthetic stimuli of this
region can be transformed by us into conditioned stimuli
in the same way as all external stimuli. Another ordinary
phenomenon, reproduced by us also in the laboratory, is the
temporary connection established between various external
stimuli and passive movements which in response to certain
signals evokes definite active movements of the animal.
However, it is still not clear whether the connection between
the kinesthetic stimulus and the corresponding motor action
is of an unconditioned or of a conditioned character. Beyond
this extreme point the entire mechanism of volitional move¬
ment is a conditioned associative process which obeys all
the above-mentioned laws of the higher nervous activity.
The cerebral hemispheres are continually receiving count¬
less stimuli both from the external world and the internal
medium of the organism itself. These stimuli are conducted
from the periphery along definite and numerous paths and,
consequently, they first of all come to definite points and
areas in the mass of the brain. Thus we have before us in
the first place a highly complex structure, a mosaic. Count¬
less and varied positive processes enter the cortex along
the conductor paths, and in the cortex itself they are joined
by inhibitory processes. From each of the separate states
of the cortical cells (and there is an infinite number of
such states) a specific conditioned stimulus may arise, as

281
 constantly observed by us in the course of our investiga¬
tion of the conditioned reflexes. All these meet, collide, must
come together and be systematized. Thus, in the second
place, we have a vast dynamic system. We observe and
study in the conditioned reflexes of our normal dogs this
continual systematization of the processes, this, one may
say, constant tendency towards a dynamic stereotype. Here
is a most illustrative fact. If we elaborate in an animal a
number of conditioned positive as well as inhibitory reflexes
from stimuli of different intensity, and apply them during a
certain period of time from day to day at regular intervals
between the stimuli and always in a definite order, we estab¬
lish thereby a stereotype of processes in the cerebral hemi¬
spheres. This can be easily demonstrated. If we now repeat¬
edly apply throughout the experiment at equal intervals
only one of the positive conditioned stimuli (better, one of
the weak stimuli), it will reproduce in the proper sequence
the fluctuations in the strength of the effects, as they were
represented by the entire system of the various acting
stimuli.
Not only the establishment, but a more or less lasting
maintenance of the dynamic stereotype, is a nervous task
of considerable difficulty, the degree of which depends on
the complexity of the stereotype and on the individuality of
the animal. There are, of course, nervous tasks the solution
of which requires even from animals of the strong nervous
type painful efforts. Other animals react to any simple
change in the system of conditioned reflexes, such as the
introduction of a new stimulus, or even to a certain trans¬
position of the old stimuli, by complete loss of the condi¬
tioned reflex activity, sometimes lasting for a considerable
period. Some animals can retain the proper system only if
there are recesses in the experiments, i.e., if they are al¬
lowed certain rest. And finally, some animals show regular
work only under a very simplified system of reflexes, con¬
sisting, for example, of two stimuli, both of them positive
and of equal intensity.

282
 It can be assumed that the nervous processes in the cere¬
bral hemispheres, when establishing and maintaining a
dynamic stereotype,^^ are what we usually call senses in
their two categories—positive land negative, and their ex¬
tensive gradation of intensity. The processes of establishing
a stereotype, of fully accomplishing it, of its maintenance
and derangement are subjectively different positive and neg¬
ative senses, and that has always been manifested in the
motor reactions of the animals.
Our entire work gradually enabled us to establish various
types of nervous system in our animals. Since the cerebral
hemispheres are the most reactive and supreme part of the
central nervous system, their individual properties, natural¬
ly, must determine to a great extent the principal nature of
the general activity of each animal. Our systematization of
tvpes coincides with the ancient classification of the so-
called temperaments. There is the type with a strong ex¬
citatory process, but a relatively weak inhibitory process.
Animals belonging to this type are aggressive and unre¬
strained. We call them strong and excitable or choleric.
Ne.xt comes the type of strong and at the same time equilib¬
rated animals, in which both processes are of equal
strength. This is an easily disciplined and highly practical
type which is met in two variations—quiet, sedate animals
and active, lively ones. We name them respectively phleg¬
matic and sanguine. And finally, there is the weak inhibit-
able type, in which both processes are weak. We call such
animals weak and also inhibitable since they are highly
susceptible to external inhibition. They are cowardly and
fussy and can be also characterized as melancholic, since
everything constantly upsets them.
That our investigation of the higher nervous activity has
taken the right road, and our definition of its phenomena,
as well as our analysis of its mechanism are correct, is
most convincingly proved by the fact that at present we are
able in many cases to produce with great exactitude its
functional chronic disturbances, and at the same time sub-

255
 sequently to obtain a return to the normal at will. We know
which type of our animals can be easily turned into neurot¬
ics, we know how to achieve this, and the kind of disorder
that will set in. The strong, but unequilibrated, excitable
and weak inhibitable types prove to be the best objects for
the elaboration of experimental neuroses. If an excitable
animal is persistently offered such tasks, the solution of
which requires strong inhibition, then it loses it completely
and is deprived of the ability to correct the conditioned re¬
flexes, i.e., ceases to analyse, to distinguish the stimuli
reaching it as well as the intervals of time. Stimulations
produced by the strongest agents have no noxious patholog¬
ical influence on them. With equal ease the weak inhibit¬
able type becomes ill both under a slightly strained inhibi¬
tion and under the action of very strong stimuli; it either
fully loses its conditioned reflex activity under our experi¬
mental conditions, or manifests it in a chaotic way. As for
the animals of the equilibrated type, we did not succeed in
inducing nervous disorders in them even by colliding the
opposite processes, which is a particularly morbific method.
Bromide proved to be the most reliable remedy against
neuroses, just as it is,in the human clinic; as shown by our
numerous and in many respects instructive experiments, it
has a special bearing on the inhibitory process, greatly
tonifying it. However, very strict dosage is essential; for the
weak type the dose of bromide must be from five to eight
times smaller than that for the strong type. Rest, i.e., a re¬
cess in the experiments, often produces good results.
Among animals of the weak type there are frequent in¬
stances of natural neurotics.
We already have and we can even produce certain symp¬
toms of psychotics: stereotypy, negativism and circularity.
Last year I specially acquainted myself with the clinic of
human hysteria, which is regarded as being entirely or pre¬
dominantly a mental disease, as a psychogenic reaction to
the surroundings; as a result, I have become convinced that
its symptomatology can, without any hesitation, be inter-

284
preted p;hysiologically, from the point of view of the de¬
scribed physiology of the higher nervous activity, and I
have expressed this conviction in the press.’^ However,
some particulars of this symptomatology made us guess
the existence of an addition which should be taken into con¬
sideration in order to get a general idea of the human nerv¬
ous activity as well. This addition relates to the speech
function, which signifies a new principle in the activity of
the cerebral hemispheres. If our sensations and notions
caused by the surrounding world are for us the first signals
of reality, concrete signals, then speech, especially and pri¬
marily the kinesthetic stimuli which proceed from the speech
organs to the cortex, constitute a second set of signals, the
signals of signals. They represent an abstraction from real¬
ity and make possible the forming of generalizations; this
constitutes our extra, specially human, higher mentaliiy
creating an empiricism general to all men and then, in the
end, science, the instrument of the higher orientatibn of man
in the surrounding world and in himself. The extreme fan-
tasticism, the twilight states of hysterical persons, and the
dreams of all men, are nothing more than the vitalization
of the imaginative and concrete first signals, as well as of
the emotions; the oncoming hypnotic state first of all
switches off the organ of the system of the second signals—
the most reactive part of the brain, which always predomin¬
antly functions in the wakeful state, and which regulates,
and at the same time to a certain degree inhibits, both the
first signals and emotional activity.
The frontal lobes, in all probability, represent the organ
of this additional purely human mentality, but it can be as¬
sumed that it is subordinated to the same general laws of
the higher nervous activity.
The foregoing facts, as well as the considerations based
on thern, are bound to lead to the closest connection be¬
tween physiology and psychology—a development partic¬
ularly observed in American psychology. In the 1931 Ad¬
dress of Walter Hunter, President of the American Psycho-

255
 logical Association, despite strenuous efforts on the part of
the speaker—who is a psychologist-behaviourist—to detach
physiology from his psychology, it is absolutely impossible
to see any difference between them. But even psychologists
not belonging to the ciamp of behaviourists admit that our
experiments with the conditioned reflexes have been of great
help to the association theory of the psychologists. Other
facts of a like nature could be cited.
I am convinced that an important stage in the develop¬
ment of human thought is approaching, a stage when the
physiological and the psychological, the objective and the
subjective, will really merge, when the painful contradic¬
tion between our mind and our body and their contraposi¬
tion will either actually be solved or disappear in a natural
way. Indeed, when the objective study of the higher ani¬
mals, for example, the dog, reaches the level when the
physiologist is able to foresee with absolute exactitude the
behaviour of this animal under any conditions (and this
level will be reached), then what will be left to prove the
independent, separate existence of the subjective state, which
the animal, of course, possesses but which is as peculiar
as our own? When that occurs will not the activity of any
living thing, man included, be indispensably regarded by us
as a single, indivisible whole?
 THEORY OF ANALYSERS,
LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTIONS
AND MECHANISM
OF VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS
■I*.

■f

_ .M
 m>o<m

SUMMARY OF RESULTS
OF THE EXPERIMENTS WITH EXTIRPATION
OP DIFFERENT PARTS
OF THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES
BY THE METHOD OF CONDITIONED REFLEXES^s

When I was confronted with the question of a subject for

my report today I was uncertain for a time what to do—
whether to take a small part of the subject, to review and
discuss the results of a single series of experiments, or to
make a general review of a considerable part of our work.
I chose the latter course. It seems to me that a general
review will be more instructive for my audience, and at the
same time quite useful for ourselves. It is always of great
value to review and summarize the work carried out over
a period of years, to weigh its results, thoroughly to con¬
sider them, to define more distinctly our shortcomings and
to fix our goal and tasks for the future.
In my laboratory we have been occupied for seven years
now with the partial and complete extirpation of the cere¬
bral hemispheres; scores of dogs have been used for this
purpose, and this has provided ample data which must be
thoroughly summarized. To this I shall now proceed.
As most of the audience knows, we, many years ago,
expressed our special point of view regarding the higher
nervous activity, as manifested in the higher animals. In
the study of this activity we rejected the subjective, psychol¬
ogical conceptions and chose the external, objective point
of view—the method employed by naturalists in studying

19—773 289
 the material of their sciences. From this point of view the
entire complex nervous system, previously interpreted as
psychical, appears to us as the expression of two chief
mechanisms—the mechanism of the formation of temporary
connections between the agents of the external world and
the activities of the organism, i.e., according to our usual
terminology, the mechanism of conditioned reflexes, and
the mechanism of the analysers, i.e., of an apparatus whose
purpose is to analyse the complexity of the external world,
to decompose it into separate elements and moments. At
least until now all the results obtained by us fit into these
concepts. This, however, does not exclude the possibility
of a further extension of our concepts relative to this
subject.
As the audience is also aware, the study of the complex
nervous activity is carried out by us on an organ of minor
physiological importance—the salivary gland; nevertheless,
the two mechanisms gofverning the work of the cerebral
hemispheres, which I have mentioned above, are very clearly
manifested in the activity of this organ.
I shall, naturally, submit my material not in chronolog¬
ical order, that is, not in the order in which the facts were ob¬
tained by us, but in their logical sequence, arranging the ma¬
terial in such a way as to clarify the essence of the matter.
The first question to be decided here is the relation of the
cerebral hemispheres to the above-mentioned mechanisms—
to the mechanism of the formation of conditioned reflexes
and to the mechanism of the analysers. The fundamental
fact which in the course of the seven years was constantly
observed and established by us and our numerous col¬
leagues in a large number of animals is that the cerebral
hemispheres are the seat of conditioned temporary reflexes,
that one of the most important functions of the cerebral
hemispheres consists precisely in the formation of condi¬
tioned reflexes, of temporary connections. We have very
many facts testifying to this, although, of course, our sub¬
ject is of such a character that every additional proof is

290
always helpful. When fully extirpating the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, or removing certain parts of them, the experimenters
observed the disappearance either of all the conditioned
reflexes or only of certain groups of them. Various measures
were taken to obtain the most precise and pure facts, and
the results were always the same. Under certain condi¬
tions all the conditioned reflexes, or only some of them,
invariably disappeared. We were most persevering in this
experimental work; in some cases we tried for years to res¬
tore a reflex before deciding that it was impossible. In the
case of one dog, we even went so far as to accompany the
feeding—not only in the experimental chamber, but at all
times—with a certain sound, by means of which we
expected finally to form, if it was at all possible to do so,
a conditioned reflex. However, since the organ of the given
conditioned stimulus was destroyed, the reflex could not
be formed. In view of these, so to speak, stubborn facts, it
had to be admitted that the cerebral hemispheres are, in
effect, the organ of temporary connections, the birthplace
of the conditioned reflexes. Certainly, one might categori¬
cally ask the following question: can these conditioned, tem¬
porary connections be formed also outside the cerebral
hemispheres? But it seems to me that there are no grounds
for considering this question. The facts already obtained
by us inevitably lead to the conclusion that the temporary
connections owe their emergence to the cerebral hemi¬
spheres and that they disappear with the extirpation of the
latter. But, of course, it is possible that sometimes,
in certain specific conditions, conditioned reflexes may arise
also outside the cerebral hemispheres, in another part of the
brain. In this respect one cannot be too rigid, since all our
classifications and laws are always of a more or less con¬
ditional character and are valid only for the given time,
under the given methods and within the limits of the given
available material. Still fresh in all our minds is the recent
example—the indivisibility of the chemical elements, long
regarded as a scientific axiom.

19* 29]
 Thus, I repeat, in the course of various experiments many
investigators constantly found that the temporary connec¬
tions developed only in the presence of the whole or part
of the cerebral hemispheres. In view of this, we can now
admit without any hesitation that one of the essential
functions of the cerebral hemispheres is precisely the elab¬
oration of conditioned reflexes, just as the most important
function of the lower parts of the nervous system is con¬
nected with the simple reflexes, or in our terminology,
unconditioned constant reflexes.
The second mechanism related to the cerebral hemi¬
spheres is the mechanism of the so-called analysers. In
this respect we proceeded from the old facts, but some¬
what modified their interpretation. We define an analyser
as an apparatus whose purpose is to decompose the com¬
plexity of the external world into separate elements; for
example, the eye analyser consists of the peripheral part—
the retina, of the optic nerve and, finally, of the cerebral
cells in which this nerve ends. The union of all these parts
into a single mechanism, which is called analyser, is justi¬
fied by the fact that so far physiology does not possess any
data for an exact division of the entire analysing activity.
So far we cannot say which part of it is performed by the
peripheral section and which by the central one.
Thus, the cerebral hemispheres, according to our under¬
standing, consist of a number of analysers—the eye, ear,
skin, nose and mouth analysers. Study of these analysers
led us to the conclusion that their number must be
iincreased, that in addition to the above-mentioned analys-
»ers relating to the external world, the existence of special
analysers in the cerebral hemispheres must be recognized,
whose function iv, to decompose the enormous complexity of
the internal phenomena arising within the organism itself.
Undoubtedly, not only an analysis of the external world
is of importance to the organism; it also needs a signalling
upwards and an analysis of everything taking place inside
the organism itself. In a word, in addition to the external

292
analysers already mentioned, there must be internal analys¬
ers, the most important of which is the motor analyser, the,
analyser of movement. We knaw that from all parts of the
motor apparatus—from the joint capsules and surfaces of
the joints, tendons, etc., there stretch centripetal nerves
which signalize every moment the slightest detail of the
act of movement. All these nerves unite at the supreme
points—in the cerebral cells. The various peripheral end¬
ings of these nerves, the nerves themselves, as well as the
nerve cells, in which they end, in the cerebral hernispheres,
constitute a special analyser which decomposes the motor
act with its enormous complexity into a large number of
the most delicate elements; this ensures the enormous
variety and the precision of our skeletal movements.
The concept of such an analyser is of particular interest
in the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres. As you know,
in 1870 (the year when fruitful scientific study of the cere¬
bral hemispheres began) the Germans Fritsch and Hitzig
demonstrated that stimulation of definite parts of the cor¬
tex in the anterior half of the cerebral hemispheres by
means of an electric current evoked a contraction of cer¬
tain groups of muscles. This discovery supplied the grounds
for recognizing the existence of special motor centres in
these places. But then the question arose as to how these
parts of the cerebral hemispheres should be pictured. Are
they motor centres in the full sense of the term, i.e., cells
from which impulses proceed direct to the muscles, or are
they sensory cells to which the peripheral stimulations
come and from which the latter are merely transmitted to
the active motor centres, the motor cells, where the motor
nerves going direct to the muscles originate? This con¬
troversy, started by Schiff, is still in progress.
We also had to take part in deciding this question and
this is how we did it. We had long inclined to the view
that the places in the cerebral cortex, stimulation of which
results in certain movements, represent aggregations of
sensory cells, or brain endings of the centripetal nerves

293
going from the motor apparatus. But how to obtain more
or less convincing proofs of the correctness of this view?
In addition to the old-established facts already utilized by
the adherents of this view, we succeeded in finding fresh
proof which, in our opinion, is most convincing.
If the so-called motor region is really the motor analyser,
fully analogous to' any other analyser—the ear, the eye,
etc.—then the stimulation brought to this analyser can be
directed along any centrifugal path, i.e., the stimulation
can, at our will, be connected with any activity. In other
words, in this case a conditioned reflex can be elaborated
from a motor act. And we did elaborate it. Dr. Krasnogor-
sky, applying, on the one hand, our usual stimuli, for
example, acid, and, on the other hand, flexing a certain
joint, formed a conditioned reflex, a temporary connection
between the flexion and the work of the salivary gland.
Definite movements produced the same secretion of saliva
as was the case with conditioned stimuli from the eye, ear,
etc. Then the question arose, how correct is the interpreta¬
tion of this fact, and is it really a reflex proceeding from
flexion, in other words, fram the motor act, or a reflex from
the skin? In this respect, too. Dr. Krasnogorsky was for¬
tunate enough to round off his proof, one can say, to the
point where it was beyond reproach. When he formed a
cutaneous reflex on one of the legs of the dog, and a flexion
reflex on another, and then extirpated different parts of the
cerebral hemispheres, the following phenomena were
observed. If the g. sigmoideus was removed, the flexion
reflex disappeared, but the cutaneous reflex persisted and
could be elaborated. On the contrary, when the gg. coron-
arius and ectosylvius’® were removed, the cutaneous reflex
disappeared, while the flexion reflex remained. Thus, it was
established beyond doubt that the cutaneous and motor
analysers are different and that the motqr analyser is
located in the motor region of the brain.
It seems to me that all these experiments give us the
right scientifically to speak of the motor analyser in exactly

294
the same way as we do in respect of the eye, ear and other
analysers.
It remains for us to explain why movement is provoked
by electrical stimulation of those areas in the cerebral
hemispheres where, as some investigators believe, the spe¬
cial motor centres are located. Since, in our opinion, it is
the sensory cells of the motor analyser that are located
here, and consequently, from here throughout lifetime
stimulations normally and constantly stream out to definite
motor centres, it is clear that with such well-beaten paths
and with electrical stimulation of these areas, a usual
effect arises, i.e., the stimulation proceeds from here along
the customary path to the muscles.
Thus, on the basis of all our experiments we can say
that the cerebral hemispheres constitute a combination of
analysers, having the function, on the one hand, of analys¬
ing the external world, for example, the eye and ear analys¬
ers, and on the other hand, of analysing the internal phen¬
omena, for example, the motor analyser. As for all the pos¬
sible internal analysers, it is clear that the analysis of any
other internal phenomena must be much more limited. So
far, apart from the motor analyser, no other analysers of
this kind have been revealed by the method of conditioned
reflexes. There is no doubt, however, that sooner or later,
these phenomena, too, will enter into the physiology o-f the
conditioned reflexes.
Now let us pass to a thorough consideration of the
analysers. What functions do they perform? As indicated
by their name, their purpose is td decompose complex
phenomena into separate elements. But what else do we
know about their functions, and what have our experi¬
ments, based on the method of conditioned reflexes, shown
us in this respect? I think that here the objective point of
view has been of great service to us. The general facts
relating to the work of the analysers have been known for
a long time. The research carried out by Perrier and Munk
provided a number of facts which have a bearing on the

295
work of the analysers. But these facts were elucidated from
a very confused and unscientific point of view. You probably
remember that when Munk extirpated the occipital and
temporal lobes of the cerebral hemispheres, he observed cer¬
tain abnormalities of hearing and sight in the dog subjected
to the operation. He termed the peculiar attitude of the
animal towards the external world which resulted from
these abnormalities of hearing and sight, “psychical deaf¬
ness” and “psychical blindness.” But what did this mean?
Let us consider psychical blindness. This meant that after
the removal of the occipital lobes the dog did not lose the
ability to see; it avoided objects met on its way, distin¬
guished between light and dark, but at the same time no
longer recognized its master whom formerly it had known
very well; it completely failed to react to him; if he existed
at all for the dog, it was only as an optical stimulus. The
dog displayed the same attitude to all other objects. Munk
and others assert that the dog “sees” but “does not under¬
stand.” But what does this mean—he “understands” and
“does not understand”? These words express nothing def¬
inite; they, too, must be explained.
Only the method of conditioned reflexes, excluding all
psychological concepts ensured a solid foundation to the
matter and fully clarified it. From the objective point of
view the destruction of a certain part of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres was regarded as complete removal or partial de¬
struction of one or another analyser. If the given analyser
remained intact and its cerebral end undamaged, the dog,
by means of this analyser, could differentiate both separate
elementary phenomena and their definite combinations, i.e.,
it behaved normally. But when the analyser was destroyed,
or damaged to a greater or lesser degree, then the dog could
no longer differentiate delicately the corresponding phe¬
nomena of the external world. And the more the analyser
is destroyed, the greater the decline of analysis. If the
analyser is completely destroyed no trace remains of
analysis even of the simplest phenomena. If, however, some

296
fragments of the analyser remain, if a certain part has
escaped destruction, then the correlation between the organ¬
ism and the environment in respect of the given phenom¬
ena also remains, although in a very general form. Further,
the larger the part of the analyser remaining intact, the
more of it that remains uninjured, the better and the more
delicate is the analysis it can effect. In brief, since the dam¬
age of the analyser is regarded as damage of a mechanism,
it is clear that the greater the scale of the damage, the
poorer is its capacity for work. This concept makes the sub¬
ject quite*clear and paves the way for further investigation,
while the psychological point of view brings the subject into
a blind alley and cannot add anything to the words “under¬
stands” and “does not understand.”
Now let us consider Munk’s experiments from our stand¬
point. We destroy the occipital lobes of the animal, i.e., the
cerebral end of the eye analyser. If after this operation a
minimal part of the analyser remains undamaged, the
animal is still capable of a very crude analysis; it can dis¬
tinguish only between light and dark. In such animals it
is impossible to elaborate conditioned reflexes to the form
of objects or to their movement. At the same time, however,
a reflex to light or darkness is easily formed in them. If,
for example, during the feeding of the animal you repeat¬
edly produce an intensive light, then afterwards, as soon
as the light appears, the animal begins to show a secre¬
tion of saliva; this means that only the small part of the
analyser left after the extirpation of the occipital lobes con¬
tinues to function. This explains why Munk’s dog did not
stumble against objects in its way; it could distinguish
between dark and light, and thus avoided objects. In this
limited way the eye analyser functioned very well. But
when a more delicate analysis was required, when it was
necessary to distinguish between various combinations of
light and shade, as well as between different forms, the
power of analysis proved insufficient and the damaged
analyser did not function. It is understandable, therefore.

297
that a dog in this state cannot recognize its master—it
cannot distinguish him from other objects. The ponnt is
absolutely clear, and there is no need for vague formula¬
tions. Instead of saying that the dog no longer understands,
we say that its analyser is injured, with the result that it
has lost the ability to form conditioned reflexes to more
delicate and more complex visual stimuli. And now our
big task is to investigate this analyser step by step, to
study its action when fully intact and to see what disap¬
pears gradually from its activity when damaged to one
or another degree.
We already have precise and convincing data in this
respect. If after extirpation an insignificant part of the eye
analyser of the dog is left, then in such an animal a con¬
ditioned reflex can be evoked only by intensity of light,
and nothing else. If the analyser is injured to a lesser
degree, a reflex can be elaborated also to the movement
of an object, later to its form, etc., up to the point of normal
activity.
The same is true for the ear analyser. If a small part
of it is left undamaged or if its activity is temporarily
inhibited to a similar degree, then the animal distinguishes
only between silence and sound. For an animal in this state
different sounds are identical—for it all sounds, noises and
tones, both high and low, are the same; it reacts only to
the intensity of the sounds, but does not discern their detailed
properties. If the damage to the analyser is less and a larger
part of it is left, then it is possible to form reflexes to
noises and tones separately; this means that here we have
also a qualitative analysis, although a crude one. When
the damage is still less, a reflex can be formed to separate
tones and different varieties can be observed: the less the
injury, the more delicate is the analysis of tone. When the
analyser is severely damaged, the animal distinguishes only
between big intervals of pitch, for instance, octaves; if the
damage is moderate, it distinguishes first between tone,
and then between fractions of a tone (1/2, V4 of a tone).

298
Thus there takes place a gradation from complete inability
to analyse to perfectly normal activity of the ear analyser.
Now I shall dwell on the highly interesting experiments
carried out by Dr. Babkin. One of his dogs lived for three
years after extirpation of the posterior part of its cerebral
hemispheres; thus it can be said that the condition of the
dog became stationary. The dog distinguished perfectly
not only between noise and sound, but also between different
tones. To one tone there was a definite reflex, while to
another—a close tone—no reflex at all, which shows that
in this respect the dog was quite normal. But it suffered
from an irreparable defect: it could not distinguish between
more complex sound combinations. For example, you elabo¬
rate in the dog a conditioned stimulus from a series of
ascending tones—do, re, mi, fa. After some time you obtain
a corresponding conditioned reflex. Now you reverse the
tone sequence to fa, mi, re, do. A normal dog distinguishes
the change very well, but this animal is unable to make
such an analysis, and the change means nothing to it; it
cannot differentiate between the sequence of sounds. Try
as you may, no differentiation will be obtained. The damage
to the analyser is so great that the dog is unable to per¬
form this work. Closely linked with this fact is another, old
one, to which the words “understands” and “does not under¬
stand” have also been applied: it relates to dogs which,
because of damage to the ear analyser, failed to respond
to their names. The just mentioned dog was named “Rus¬
lan,” but after the operation the name, even if repeated
a thousand times, produced no effect whatever. Obviously
the ear analyser of this animal was in such a state that it
could not distinguish one combination of sounds from
another. If the dog is unable to distinguish between the
group of tones do, re, mi, fa and the same group in a
reverse order—fa, mi, re, do—then, of course, it cannot
recognize its name, since the word “Ruslan” is an even
more complex sound combination. Such an analysis is
beyond the ability and power of its damaged ear analyser.

299
 I wish to stress once more the great merit of the objective
method, the method of conditioned reflexes, in studying the
function of the analysers. This method has completely
stripped all mystery from the subject, discarded the mean¬
ingless words “understands” and “does not understand,”
and has replaced them with a clear and effective programme
for the study of the analysers.
The task of the investigator is to define exactly the func¬
tions of the analysing apparatus, to investigate all the
variations in its operation in cases of destruction of its
different parts. And from the mass of facts so obtained it
will be possible to attempt to reproduce the structure of
the analyser, to establish its parts and discover how these
parts interact.
So much for the activity of the analysers. As for the
topography of the analysers and their arrangement, it
should be pointed out that the view concerning their exact
localization, established on the basis of earlier facts, can¬
not be regarded as satisfactory. Even in the past many
objections to this view had been raised. Our experiments
have also shown that the formerly established limits of the
analysers are incorrect, that actually they are much wider,
not so distinctly separated, but intermingled and inter¬
woven one with another. Of course, it is a very difficult
matter to define exactly the localization of the analysers in
the cerebral hemispheres and to establish how and why
they are interlaced.
Thus, from the point of view of the conditioned reflexes
the cerebral hemispheres appear as a complex of analysers,
whose purpose is to decompose the complexity of the inter¬
nal and external worlds into separate elements and mo¬
ments, and then to connect all these with the manifold
activity of the organism.
Now another question arises, closely connected with the
method of conditioned salivary reflexes, a question which
in all probability cannot be decided or even strictly for¬
mulated without this method. Here it is: is the activity of

300
the cerebral hemispheres confined to the mechanism of the
form.ation of temporary connections and to the mechanism
of the analysers, or are there not other, higher mechanisms
which so far have not been designated by names? This is
not a far-fetched question, but one which is advanced by
life, by experimental practice. If you extirpate the entire
posterior part of the cerebral hemispheres in a dog, i.e.,
just behind the gyrus sigmoideus and then along the fis-
sura Sylvii, you will have a generally normal animal; it
will recognize you and the food, as well as all other objects
on its way, with the help of its nose and skin. It will wag
its tail when you stroke it, evince joy upon recognizing you
by sniffing, etc. But this animal will not react to you if
you are at a distance, i.e., it does not use its sight in the
normal manner. Nor will it react if you call it by name.
You are bound to conclude that this dog uses its eyes and
ears only very little, but in other respects it is absolutely
normal.
But, if yon remove the anterior part of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres along the same line as in the above-mentioned oper¬
ation with the removal of the posterior part, you will, to
all appearances, get a completely abnormal animal; its atti¬
tude to you, to other dogs, and to food (which it will be un¬
able even to detect), and generally to all the surrounding
objects, will be abnormal; it will be a completely mangled
animal, obviously with no trace of proper behaviour left.
Thus, there is a big difference between the two animals—
the one without the anterior, and the other without the poste¬
rior part oif the cerebral hemispheres. With regard to the
first animal you would say that it is blind or deaf, but other¬
wise normal, about the other that it is a confirmed invalid
and a helpless imbecile.
Such are the facts. An important and perfectly lawful
question arises:Is there not something special in the anterior
parts of the cerebral hemispheres, and are they not called
upon to fulfil higher functions than the posterior parts?

301
Perhaps here, in the anterior parts, there is concentrated the
most essential activity of the cerebral hemispheres?
I believe that the method of conditioned salivary reflexes
provides a clear answer to this question, an answer that
cannot be obtained by any other method of investigation. Is
it really the case that an animal with the anterior parts
of the cerebral hemispheres extirpated differs essentially
from a normal animal and shows no trace of normal higher
nervous activity? If you adhere to the old methods of in¬
vestigation, if you observe only the work of the skeletal
muscles, then you will reply to this question in the affirma¬
tive. But if you turn to the salivary gland with its condi¬
tioned reflexes, the picture will be entirely different. This is
not only the merit of the method of conditioned reflexes; it
is also due to the fact that precisely the salivary gland was
selected for the study of these reflexes. If you o^bserve the
work of the salivary gland in such an animal, which at first
sight seems completely disabled, you will be surprised at
the high degree the gland maintains its complex nervous re¬
lations. You will not observe even the slightest disorder in
the function of the gland. On the basis of this gland you
can elaborate in such an animal temporary connections,
inhibit and disinhibit them, etc. In short, the salivary gland
displays the whole complex of the relations observed in the
normal animal. You can see clearly an unexpected discrep¬
ancy between the work of the skeletal musculature and
that of the salivary gland. While the work of the former
is abnormal and deranged, the latter functions perfectly
well.
What does all this mean? First of all it is quite obvious
that there are no mechanisms in the anterior lobes dominat¬
ing the entire cerebral hemispheres. If such mechanisms
existed, then the removal of the anterior lobes would de¬
stroy the entire delicate and complex work of the salivary
gland. However, everything proceeds here quite normally.
Evidently, we must admit that all the abnormalities which
we o-bserve in this dog are phenomena which relate only

302
to the skeletal muscles. And our task boils down to reveal¬
ing the causes of this disturbance in the work of the skeletal
muscles. The existence of any general mechanism in the
anterior lobes is out of the question. Obviously, the latter do
not contain any particularly vital arrangement that could
be regarded as establishing the highest perfection of the
nervous activity.
Here is a simple explanation of this peculiar disturbance
in the work of the skeletal musculature. At any given mo¬
ment this work greatly depends on the cutaneous analyser
and on the motor analyser. Thanks to these the animal’s
movements are constantly co-ordinated and adapted to the
surrounding world. Since in the given dog both the cutane¬
ous and the motor analyser are destroyed, the general ac¬
tivity of its skeletal musculature is, naturally, profoundly
disturbed. Consequently, when the anterior lobes are de¬
stroyed we actually get a partial defect, just as in the case
of the damage to the eye analyser, but not a general defect
which might ensue from the abolition of the work of a hypo¬
thetical higher mechanism of the cerebral hemispheres sit¬
uated in the anterior lobes.
In view of the importance of this question, a series of cor¬
responding experiments were carried out by Drs. V. A. De¬
midov, N. M. Saturnov, and S. P. 'Kurayev. The experi¬
ments were so conducted that first the entire anterior parts
together with the olfactory lobes were removed from the
dog. In this dog it proved possible to elaborate a condi¬
tioned salivary reflex only from the mouth cavity by using
water; when acid was repeatedly poured into the dog’s
mouth as an unconditioned stimulus of the salivary gland,
then the subsequent introduction of water, which formerly
had been absolutely indifferent to the gland, also caused a
secretion of saliva, thus acting as a conditioned stimulus.
However, since this water reflex might be regarded as being
doubtful, it was necessary to prove the existence in such a
dog of other conditioned reflexes. Therefore, Dr. Saturnov
extirpated the anterior lobes but left the olfactory ones.

303
Then, after the operation, it was possible to obtain in this
dog a conditioned reflex from the olfactory nerves. _
After these experiments we regarded the subject as being
sufficiently clarified, and we reached the final conclusiori
that a dog deprived of the anterior parts of the cerebral
hemispheres loses only particular mechanisms, i.e., some ot
the analysers, but by no means any general mechanisms.
Thus, the study of the activity of the cerebral hemispheres
by the method of conditioned reflexes provides an abso¬
lutely definite answer. Basing ourselves on precise facts, we
can state that the cerebral hemispheres represent a system
of analysers, which decompose the complexity of the exter¬
nal and internal worlds into separate elements and moments
and then connect the phenomena thus analysed with one or
another activity of the organism.
Can W6 be satisfied with the results obtained? Of course,
we can, and chiefly because they have paved the way for
further fruitful study of the subject. At the same time, how¬
ever, it is clear that this study has just been started, and
that the most complicated, the most essential part of this
study is still ahead of us. In outlining the further course of
research, we must pay attention first of all to' our present
method of dismembering the apparatus under investigation
into separate parts. It is an awful method! The more we
experiment with extirpation of the cerebral hemispheres, the
more we are surprised at the successful results achieved by
former investigators by means of this method. Because of
extirpation we hardly ever obtain stable conditions; they
bear a fluctuating, changeable character. You place your
heavy hands on the brain, and damage it by removing cer¬
tain of its parts. The damage irritates the brain and this
irritation persists for some time, spreading to uncertain lim¬
its. You never know when its action will end. That such
irritation really exists is proved by many well-known exper¬
iments on which I shall not dwell here. But finally the de¬
sired moment comes—the irritation evoked by the damage
passes, and the wound begins to heal. Then a new irritation

304
appears—the scar. And it may be that there are only a few
days at your disposal during which you can work .with the
assurance that all the changes observed depend only upon
the absence of the removed parts of the cerebrum. Then the
following phenomena begin to develop. At first the phenom¬
ena of depression appear, and you know that it follows
from the action of the scar. This state lasts for days, and
then convulsions set in. After this, after the excitation, there
comes a new period of subsequent depression, or an entirely
new, peculiar state of the animal develops. After the convul¬
sions a drastic change takes place in the dog and you can¬
not recognize it: it becomes much more disturbed than was
the case immediately after the operation. Obviously the scar
not only irritates, but exerts pressure on the tissues, strains
and wrenches them, i.e., causes fresh damage.
I must add that this effect of the scar never ends, at least
I have never seen it end. Sometimes it persists for months
and years. Convulsions usually appear after a month or a
month and a half, and then recur. We have operated on
scores and scores of dogs, and I can state categorically that
not one of them escaped convulsions and recurring fits of
them provided it survived the first, attack.
Just try under these unfavourable conditions to analyse
successfully such complex activity as that of the cerebral hem¬
ispheres. Without a shadow of doubt the present-day inves¬
tigator of the cerebral hemispheres must, above all, attend
to the question of how to adapt the whole procedure of his
investigation to the brain. This is a highly important matter*
since, the present method of investigation entails a tre^
mendous waste of human labour and a great loss of animals.
Endeavours have already been made to reduce this waste.
A German experimenter (Trendelenburg) has attempted
local cooling of the brain. In our laboratory this method is
employed by Dr. L, A. Orbeli. The near future will show
whether this method will be suitable and bring us good results;
Such are our achievements, our aspirations, oui* com¬
plaints and hopes.

20—773 305
 C£X><a

PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISM
OF THE SO-CALLED VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS”

In the physiological laboratory of the Military Medical

Academy Dr. Krasnogorsky (1911) definitely established the
undoubtedly afferent nature of the motor region of the cor¬
tex by forming from the kinesthetic stimulation’® of the skel¬
etal musculature a conditioned food stimulus just as it is
formed from all other stimulations entering the cortex
through the external receptors—the eye, the ear, etc. In other
words, he showed that any passive skeletal movement could
be made a signal of a positive unconditioned alimentary
reflex, that is, a conditioned alimentary stimulus. Y. M. Ko-
norsky and S. M. Miller, who had obtained their basic exper¬
imental facts in Warsaw and who are going ahead with
their elaboration in the Physiological Department of the In¬
stitute of Experimental Medicine, afterwards applied suc¬
cessfully kinesthetic stimulation (passive movements) as
signals of unconditioned negative reflexes (a painful stimu¬
lation of the ear, the introduction of acids, etc.) and as con¬
ditioned inhibitors for both groups of unconditioned reflexes.
In this way many facts were obtained relating to the highest
important physiological problem of the mechanism of vol¬
untary movements, i.e., movements proceeding from the
cerebral cortex.
First of all we must recognize as an established fact that
a definite movement corresponds to the stimulation of def¬
inite kinesthetic cells in the cortex, and, on the contrary,
a passive reproduction of a definite movement, in its turn.

m
evokes impulses in the kinesthetic cerebral cells, the stimu¬
lation of which actively produces this movement. This can
be proved in the following way. The first part of the above
proposition is a constant physiological fact of long stand¬
ing: when definite points of the surface of the motor region
in the cerebral cortex are stimulated by means of a weak
electric current, mechanically or chemically, strictly definite
skeletal movements arise. As for the second part of the prop¬
osition, it is proved by the simplest facts relating to the
training of domestic animals, for example, dogs. You lift the
dog’s paw saying “give me the paw,” or simply “paw,” and
then give the dog something to eat. After repetition of this
procedure the dog itself offers its paw at these words; it does
so even without any word of command when it has a keen
appetite, i.e., when it experiences alimentary excitation. Tne
physiological conclusions from this well-known and con¬
stant fact are both obvious and many-sided. It is clear, in
the first place, that the kinesthetic cell, stimulated by a defi¬
nite passive movement, produces the same movement when
it is stimulated not from the periphery, but from the centre;
in the second place, that the kinesthetic cell establishes a
connection both with the auditory cell and the cell of ali¬
mentary excitation, or the gustatory cell, since the stimula¬
tions coming from both of these cells evoke an active state
of the kinesthetic cell; and in the third place, that in this
interconnected system of cells the process of excitation
moves in two opposite directions—from the kinesthetic cell
to the gustatory, alimentary one (during the establishment
of the connection) and from the alimentary to the kin¬
esthetic cell (in the case of alimentary excitation). These
conclusions are also confirmed by other facts. It has long
been observed and scientifically proved that when you think
of a certain movement (i.e., when you have a kinesthetic
idea), you involuntarily, without noticing it, produce the
movement. The same thing occurs in the well-known trick
when a man has to do something of which he has no knowl¬
edge: he has to go somewhere and do something with the

20* 307
help of another man who knows how to do the thing, but
has neither the intention nor the desire to help. However,
to get actual help it suffices for the first man to take the
other’s hand in his own. In this case the second man in¬
voluntarily, without noticing it, gives the first slight pushes
towards the go^al and keeps him from moving in the oppo¬
site direction.’® The process of learning to play the piano or
the violin from music entails an obvious transition of the
excitation from the visual to the kinesthetic cell.
Thus, the kinesthetic cells of the cerebral cortex can, and
do establish connections with all the cerebral cells which
represent the external influences as well as various internal
processes of the organism. It is this that constitutes the phys¬
iological basis of the so-called voluntariness of move¬
ments, i.e., of their dependence on the aggregate activity
of the cortex.
Still unsolved in this physiological concept of voluntary
movements is the question of the cerebral connection of the
kinesthetic cells with the corresponding motor cells, whence
the pyramidal efferent paths originate. Is this connection
inborn, or is it acquired, elaborated in the course of the
post-natal existence? Most probably the latter is the case.
If this connection is constantly extended and perfect¬
ed during the entire lifetime, then it can be assumed that
even the first period of the individual existence of higher ani¬
mals, and especially of man who for months learns to con¬
trol his first movements, is spent on establishing this con¬
nection.
The general physiological law of the work of the skeletal
musculature, on the one hand, consists in constant move¬
ment towards everything, in grasping everything that pre¬
serves and ensures the integrity of the animal organism,
that equilibrates it with the surrounding medium; this is a
positive reaction, positive movement. On the other hand, it
is constant movement from everything, throwing aside and
ejecting everything that hinders and threatens the vital
process, that violates the equilibration of the organism with

308
the environment; this is a negative reaction, negative move¬
ment. A conditioned stimulus is a signal, as it were, a sub¬
stitute for the unconditioned stimulus. This explains why a
dog, for example, reaches for the electric bulb and even licks
it, when its flashing acts as a conditioned alimentary stim¬
ulus. And on the contrary, under the action of a condi¬
tioned acid stimulus, the dog reproduces the movements it
makes when acid is introduced into its mouth. The same
thing occurs when a kinesthetic stimulation acts as a con¬
ditioned stimulus. Thus a passive movement, when it is con¬
nected with an alimentary reflex, evokes a positive alimen¬
tary reaction, and when it is connected with an acid reflex—
a negative, acid reaction.
Now let us consider all the cases in which kinesthetic stim¬
ulation (passive movement) has been applied by the re¬
searchers in studying conditioned reflex activity.
1. When the flexion of a leg is connected with an ali¬
mentary reflex, it is reproduced by the animal, just as any
other natural alimentary movement, every time it is in a
state of alimentary excitation; this takes place so long as the
connection functions, so long as it is not eliminated by a
protracted non-reinforcement, or is not abolished tempo¬
rarily by one or another kind of inhibition.
2. In the case of a conditioned acid reflex, when the
flexion of the leg is a signal, a substitute for the acid, a
struggle begins against the flexion, just as against the acid
itself. The flexion must be eliminated just as the acid must
be ejected from the mouth. But flexion can be eliminated by
extension, and it is the latter phenomenon which is actually
observed. It is a well-known fact that when for some reason
the flexion is associated with pain, the animal keeps its leg
extended.
3. In the case of flexion, applied as a conditioned inhib¬
itor, i.e., when a passive movement is added to the con¬
ditioned alimentary stimulus, but no food is offered, this
movement is a signal of the animal’s difficult state caused
by inducing but not satisfying the alimentary excitation.

m
Naturally, there must be a struggle against it: it must be
eliminated—and this is attained by extension.
4. In the last case, when the flexion of the leg is added
to the conditioned acid stimulus as a conditioned inhibitor,
without introducing acid, the passive movement is a signal
of the elimination of the noxious agent; at the same time it
is, as it were, a reliable means of combating this agent, and
is, naturally, always repeated by the animal even when it
encounters other noxious agents.
But all that has been said above explains the phenomena
only from the more general physiological point of view. It
is impossible not to see that the mechanism of some partic¬
ular physiological phenomena still remains to be eluci¬
dated. The question arises: how and on what immediate
basis does the transition from flexion to extension take
place, since physiologically these motor acts are definitely
and constantly interconnected? And another question: was
there manifested in the third and fourth cases, and if so
when and how, the inhibitory process which, in our experi¬
ments, inevitably appeared when the combination of a con¬
ditioned stimulus with an extraneous one was not reinforced
by a corresponding unconditioned stimulus? These questions
must be subjected to further experimental analysis, since the
available data are insufficient to, answer them properly.
THEORY OF TYPES
 GENERAL TYPES OF ANIMAL
AND HUMAN HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITYso

The mode and standards of our own behaviour, as well

as of the behaviour of the higher animals close to us and
with which we are in constant vital relations (for instance,
dogs), represent a great, a truly boundless variety, if be¬
haviour is considered as a whole, in its smallest details,
especially as manifested in man. But since our behaviour, as
well as that of higher animals, is determined and controlled
by the nervous system, it is possible to reduce the above-
mentioned variety to a more or less limited number of b sic
properties of this system, with their combinations and gra¬
dations. This makes it possible to distinguish between the
types of nervous activity, i.e., between these or other com¬
plexes of the basic properties of the nervous system.
The observation and study of a large number of dogs,
using the method of conditioned reflexes, carried out in our
laboratory for many years, have gradually disclosed to us
these properties in their vital manifestations and combina¬
tions. These properties include: in the first place, the
strength of the basic nervous processes—excitatory and in¬
hibitory—which always constitute the sum total of nervous
activity; in the second place, the equilibrium of these proc¬
esses; and, finally, in the third place, their mobility. \i is
obvious that while all these properties exist and act simul¬
taneously, they provide the highest adaptation of the ani¬
mal’s organism to the surrounding world, or, in other words,
the complete equilibration of the organism as a whole with

m
the external environment, i.e., they secure the organism’s
existence. The significance of the strength of the nervous
pro-cesses is clearly shown by the fact that in the surround¬
ing medium there arise (more or less often) unusual, ex¬
traordinary developments, powerful stimuli, and that, nat¬
urally, other external conditions of a similar and even
greater force not infrequently necessitate the suppression oo’
retardation of the effects of these stimuli. And the nervous
cells must endure this extraordinary tension in their ac¬
tivity. From this also follows the importance of equilibrium
between both processes, their equal strength. Since the or¬
ganism’s external environment is constantly—and often
powerfully and abruptly—fluctuating, both processes must,
so to speak, keep pace with these fluctuations, i.e., they must
possess great mobility and be able, in compliance with the
demands of the external conditions, rapidly to recede, to
give preference to one stimulus, to excitation before inhibi¬
tion and vice versa.
Leaving aside the gradations and considering only the
extreme cases, only the limits of fluctuation, viz., strength
and weakness, equality and inequality, lability and inert¬
ness in both processes, we obtain eight combinations, eight
different complexes of basic properties of the nervous sys¬
tem, eight types of the nervous system. If we also take into
account that in the absence of equilibrium the predominance
may, generally speaking, be on the side now of the excita¬
tory, now of the inhibitory process, and that in the case of
mobility, inertness or lability may also become a property
now of one, now of the other process, then the number of
possible combinations increases to twenty-four. And finally,
if we also take into consideration even the rough gradations
of the three basic properties, we shall thereby again greatly
augment the number of possible combinations. However,
only extensive and thorough observation can establish the
presence, frequency and intensity of these or other actual
complexes of basic properties, of the actual types of nerv¬
ous activity.

S14
 Since normally our general behaviour, as well as that of
higher animals (we imply here healthy organisms), is di¬
rected by the higher part of the central nervous system—by
the cerebral hemispheres and the adjacent subcortex—the
study of this higher nervous activity under normal condi¬
tions by the method of conditioned reflexes is bound to lead
to knowledge of the actual types of nervous activity and
the basic standards of behaviour of human beings and
higher animals.
It seems to me that this problem was solved—of course,
only in general outline—by the Greek genius in his system
of the so-called temperaments, where the basic components
of the behaviour of human beings and higher animals were
exactly emphasized and advanced, as we shall show in our
further exposition.®^
But before proceeding to our factual material, I must
touch on one very substantial and so far almost insur¬
mountable difficulty connected with the definition of the type
of nervous activity. Human and animal behaviour is deter¬
mined not only by congenital properties of the nervous sys¬
tem, but also by the influences to which the organism is con¬
tinuously subjected during its individual existence: in other
words, it depends on constant education and training in the
broadest sense of these wqrds. This is due to the fact that
along with the above-mentioned properties of the nervous
system, another very important property incessantly mani¬
fests itself—its high plasticity. Consequently, since this is a
question of the natural type of nervous system, we must take
into account all the influences to which the organism has
been exposed from the day of its birth to the present mo¬
ment. With regard to our experimental material (i.e., our
dogs) in the overwhelming majority of cases the fulfilment
of this requirement still remains a passionate desire. We
shall be able to fulfil it only when OjUr dogs are born and
reared before our eyes, under our unremitting observation.
We shall soon have convincing corroboration of the im¬
portance of this requirement, So far there is only one way
of overcoming the above-mentioned difficulty: it is necessary
to increase and to diversify the forms of our diagnostic tests
as much as possible in the hope that in this or that case we
shall succeed in bringing to light the specific changes in the
natural type o,f nervous system that were determined by the
definite influences of the individual existence; in other
words, by means of a comparison with all other features of
the type we shall reveal both the more or less disguised nat¬
ural features and the elaborated, acquired ones.
Right from the very beginning of our experiments with
dogs based on the method of conditioned reflexes we (like
others) were struck by the different behaviour of the bold
and the cowardly dogs. The former offered no resistance
when led to experimentation; they remained quiet in the
new experimental conditions, both when they were placed
in the stands mounted on tables, and when certain appara¬
tuses were attached to their skin and even placed in their
mouths. When food was given to them by means of an auto¬
matic device, they began to eat it at once. Such was the be¬
haviour of bold animals. But the cowardly animals had to
be accustomed gradually to the procedure—a process which
required days and even weeks. Another difference was ob¬
served when we began to elaborate conditioned reflexes in
these dogs. In the first case the conditioned reflexes devel¬
oped rapidly, after the application of two or three combina¬
tions; they reached considerable strength and remained con¬
stant, no matter how complicated the system of reflexes. In
the second case, on the contrary, the conditioned reflexes
were formed very slowly, after many repetitions; their
strength increased at a very low rate, and they never ac¬
quired stability, being sometimes even at zero, no matter
how considerably their system was simplified. It was, there¬
fore, natural to assume that in the first dogs the excitatory
process was strong, while in the second it was weak. In
the bold dogs the excitatory process, which from the biolog¬
ical point of view arises properly and in time, for instance,
at the sight of food, constantly resists minor influences, re-

.3/6
mainirjg, so to speak, legitimately predominant. In the cow¬
ardly dogs the strength of the excitatory process is insuf¬
ficient to overcome conditions which are less important in
the given case and which produce what we term external
inhibition; for this reason we say that such dogs are in-
hibitable. In the bold dogs even physically excessive exter¬
nal stimuli, when conditionally connected with physiologi¬
cally important functions, continue to serve their purpose
witho.ut bringing the nerve cell to a pathological state; thus
they represent an exact index of the intensity of their excita¬
tory process, of the strength (i.e., working capacity) of their
nerve cells.
It is here that the specific difficulty, which I have just
mentioned made itself felt. All the dogs which seemed to us
cowardly, i.e., which only very slowly became accustomed
to our experimental conditions and formed conditioned
reflexes with difficulty (since their entire conditioned reflex
activity was easily disturbed by insignificant new external
influences), were regarded by us, quite groundlessly, as be¬
longing to the weak type of nervous system. This even re¬
sulted in a blunder—at one time I regarded these dogs as
experts in inhibition, i.e., as being strong in this respect. The
first doubts as to the correctness o,f this diagnosis arose in
connection with the external behaviour of these animals in
their habitual surroundings. Further, it seemed strange that
their conditioned reflex activity, despite its high complexity,
should be of a perfectly regular character so long as the sur¬
rounding conditions remained strictly uniform. But the final
solution was found thanks to a special investigation. We
(Virzhikovsky and Mayorov) took a litter of puppies and di¬
vided it into two parts: half of the puppies, from the very
day of their birth, were kept in the kennel, the others were
given complete freedom. All the animals of the first group
turned out to be cowardly and susceptible to, inhibition given
the slightest changes in the surroundings; in the animals of
the second group nothing of the kind was observed. It be¬
came clear that when the puppies first appeared in the ex-

5/7
lernal environment they were provided with a special reflex,
sometimes referred to as a panic reflex, but which I suggest
should be termed an initial and temporary reflex of natural
caution. The moment acquaintance with the new environ¬
ment begins it is necessary to wait some time for the con¬
sequences of any new stimulation, no matter which receptor
it affects, i.e., to abstain from any new movement and to
repress the existing movement, since it is not known what
the new phenomenon promises the organism, whether harm¬
ful, useful, or of no consequence at all. And only in the
course of the gradual acquaintance with the environment
is this reflex replaced, little by little, by a new, special, in¬
vestigatory reflex, and, depending on its effect, by other cor¬
responding reflexes. The puppy, which is not given the op¬
portunity to gain this practical experience independently, re¬
tains the persisting tempo,rary reflex for a very long time,
if not for life, and the reflex constantly disguises the real
force of the nervous system. What a vital pedagogical fact
this is! A sure sign of this unduly persisting feature, apart
from the fact that in many respects it contradicts other
stable inborn features, is the inhibitory action not so much
of the particularly strong stimulations but of the new stim¬
ulations—no matter how weak they may be in them¬
selves (Rosenthal, Petrova).
Thus, the strength of the excitatory process was regarded
by us as the first property of the type of nervous system.
Hence the initial division of all our dogs into, strong and
weak ones.
Another property of the nervous system, clearly observed
by us and according to which the animals are subdivided
into new groups, is the equality or inequality of the two op¬
posite nervons processes—excitation and inhibition. We im¬
ply here the higher active cortical inhibition (or according
to the terminology used in the theory of conditioned reflexes
—internal inhibition), which, together with the excitatory
process, continuously maintains the equilibration o.f the or¬
ganism with the surrounding medium and helps (on the

318
 basis of the analysing- function of the organism’s recep¬
tors) to distinguish between the nervous activity cor¬
responding to the given conditions and moments and that
which do,es not (extinction, differentiation and retarda¬
tion) .
The significance of this property was first observed by us
in dogs with a very strong excitatory process. We soon
noticed that whereas in such dogs positive conditioned
reflexes were formed rapidly, inhibitory reflexes, on the con¬
trary, were elabo,rated very slowly, with obvious difficulty;
this was often accompanied by a violent resistance on the
part of the animal; it was manifested either in destructive
actions and barking, or, on the contrary, in stretching out
the forepaws, as if imploring the experimenter to release it
from the task (the latter, however, is rarer). At the same
time, these reflexes are never fully inhibited; they are often
disinhibited, i.e., greatly deteriorate in comparison with the
degree of inhibition obtained previously. The following phe¬
nomenon is usually observed: when we subject the cortical
inhibition in such animals to severe strain by means of very
delicate differentiation, or by a frequent or protracted appli¬
cation of difficult inhibitors, their nervous system becomes
fully, or almost fully, deprived of the inhibitoi^-y function;
real neuroses set in, typical and chronic nervous diseases,
which must be treated either by allowing the animals a very
long rest, i.e., by a complete discontinuance of the experi¬
ments, or by giving bromide. Together with such animals,
there are others in which both nervous processes are at an
equally high level.
Consequently, the strojig animals are divided into two
groups—equilibrated and unequilibrated. Unequilibrated
animals belonging to the category described above are met
with quite often. It might seem that there should also be
unequilibrated dogs of another kind, namely, with a predom¬
inance of the inhibitory process over the excitatory. But
so far we have not met with such absolutely incontestable
cases, or at least we have not been able to discern them.

319
However, we have had fairly obvious and not infrequent
cases when, after a time interval and with the help of grad¬
ual and repeated exercises, the initial disequilibrium lev¬
elled out to a considerable degree. And this is just another
instance when the natural type of nervous system proved to
be disguised to a great measure as a result of lifetime
training.
Thus, we have a perfect graup of strong and equilibrated
dogs. However, the animals with this type of nervous sys¬
tem differ greatly, even in appearance. Some are extremely
reactive, mobile and lively, i.e., as it were, extremely excit¬
able and alert. Others, on the contrary, are only slightly
reactive, sluggish and self-contained, i.e., in general, so to
speak, little susceptible to excitation, inert. This difference
in the general behaviour must, of course, be due to a specific
property of the nervous system and may be best accounted
for by the mobility of the nervous processes. Like everybody
else we long ago observed this external difference between
animals, but we lag considerably in elucidating, on the basis
of the conditioned reflex activity, its cause—the mobility of
the nervous processes. Only now is this mobility being sys¬
tematically investigated on two dogs—strongly pronounced
representatives of the latter group. Strong and equilibrated,
these animals differ greatly in external behaviour. On the
one hand, we (Petrova) have an exceedingly lively and re¬
active animal, on the other (Yakovleva)—an extremely
inert and indifferent one. The different mobility of the nerv¬
ous processes in these animals is distinctly manifested in
their conditioned reflex activity which, unfortunately, was
not investigated in identical experiments.
The first animal (“Boy”) even in the course of usual ex¬
perimentation with conditioned reflexes displays an amaz¬
ingly rapid transition from extreme excitation at the begin¬
ning—when being placed in the stand and equipped with the
apparatus—to a state almost of petrifaction, to a statuesque
posture, and, at the same time, to a good working state in
the course of the experiment. In the intervals between the

320
conditioned alimentary stimuli the animal remains in a very
strained posture, evincing no reaction to extraneous acci¬
dental stimuli; hut under the action of conditioned stimuli
a strictly recurring salivary reaction sets in immediately,
and the dog gulps the food placed before it. Subsequently,
this high mobility of the nervous processes, their rapid in¬
terchange, manifested themselves, so to speak, with incred¬
ible force also in the course of special experiments. In our
“Boy” we long ago elaborated two opposite conditioned
reflexes to a metronome; one frequency of the metronome
acted as a positive conditioned alimentary stimulus, while
the other acted as a negative inhibitory one. We then began
to reverse the action of the metronome. The negative stimu¬
lus was reinforced, i.e., it had to be transformed into a pos¬
itive stimulus, while the positive one was no longer ac¬
companied by feeding and had to be converted into an in¬
hibitory stimulus. Next day we were able to observe the
onset of this reversal and by the fifth day it had been fully
accomplished—a rare case of such rapid transformation.
One day later an error was made—the metronomes were
applied in accordance with their previous significance,
namely, the old positive stimulus was again reinforced,
while the old inhibitory stimulus was left without reinforce¬
ment; as a result, the old relations were immediately re¬
established. When the error was corrected, the new relations
again quickly reappeared. But this dog presented a truly
wonderful, unprecedented example o,f the formation of a de¬
layed reflex. Generally the elaboration of a delayed reflex,
when one and the same stimulus during different periods
of its action produces now an inhibitory, now an excitatory
effect, is in itself a difficult task. But its elaboration after a
long experience of short-delayed reflexes, and even during
it, is a truly complicated task, one that cannot be accom¬
plished by the overwhelming majority of dogs and which in
successful cases requires much time, even many months.
Our dog accomplished this task in the space of few days.

21—773 321
What an extraordinary rapid and free use of the two Op¬
posite processes!
All that has been said about this dog entitles us to state
that it represents the most perfect type, since it ensures
strict equilibration with all that is taking place in the ex¬
ternal environment, no matter how strong the stimuli are
—both those to which the response must be positive activ¬
ity, and those the effect of which must be inhibited—and
no matter how quickly these different stimuli may inter¬
change. It should be added that these extremely difficult tests
were endured by the dog after it had been castrated.
The very opposite, in relation to the property of the nerv¬
ous system under consideration, is the other dog (“Zolo-
tisty,” used by Yakovleva), whose general behaviour has
been characterized above. Particularly manifest in the
study of the conditioned reflex activity of this dog was the
impossibility of obtaining a constant and adequate salivary
alimentary reflex; it fluctuated chaotically, often falling to
zero. What did this signify? If the reflex tended to be
strictly related to the moment of reinforcement, i.e., of feed¬
ing, why did it fluctuate and not become constant? This
could not have been caused by insufficient inhibition, since
we knew that the dog could endure protracted inhibition.
Besides, the absence of preliminary salivation is by no
means a manifestation of perfection; on the contrary, it in¬
dicates an obvious defect. Indeed, the importance of this sal¬
ivation consists in the fact that the food introduced into
the mouth immediately meets with the substance it needs.
That this interpretation conforms to reality is proved, in the
first place, by its universality, and, in the second place, by
the fact that the extent of the preliminary salivation, which
is biologically indispensable and important, always strictly
corresponds to the amount of food. The natural explanation
for the peculiarity of our dog must be sought in the fact
that the initial inhibition, which exists in each delayed con¬
ditioned reflex—the period of retardation (or the lateiit pe¬
riod, as we called it previously)—although strong, is obvi-

322
 Ously insufficiently labile to keep within the proper time,
and owing to inertness, oversteps the normal limits. None
of the measures aimed at obtaining a constant salivary
effect was successful.
Since the excitatory and inhibitory processes were strong
in the dog, it was offered a very difficult task, one, however,
that is satisfactorily solved by some other dogs. Among
other elaborated conditioned stimuli, and at different mo¬
ments of this system of reflexes, a new, stimulus was ap¬
plied four times in the course of the experiment, but it was
reinforced only when applied the last time; this was a task
which required ail the resources of the nervous system, and
above all a high mobility of the nervous processes. Our dog
did its best to solve this problem in a roundabout way,
holding on everything which could be a simple, ordii'iary
signal of the fourth reinforced application of the new stim¬
ulus. First of all it made use of the noise produced by the
food receptacle which was moving before its eyes; during
the first three applications of the new stimulus, when no
food was offered and consequently no movement of the 'ood
receptacle took place, the dog remained in sitting posture.
When, during the intervals between the stimulations, empty
food receptacles were placed before it in order to deprive it
of the signal connected with the reinforcement, it looked
into them to see whether there was any food, and only when
this was the case, did it stand up (usually it was sitting).
When the receptacle was placed too high so that the dog
could not see whether it contained anything, it rejected the
food altogether, remaining in sitting posture regardless of
the stimulus applied. In the case of a positive stimulus, it
was necessary to enter the chamber and shov/ the dog that
the receptacle contained food, i.e., to invite it to eat, and
only then did it begin to eat. Then both the new stimulus
and the presentation of empty receptacles were discontin¬
ued. Only the old stimuli were applied, of course accom¬
panied by reinforcement. And only gradually did the dog
begin to rise under the action of the stimuli and to eat.

2!* 323
Again the reflex evoked by the empty receptacle was extin¬
guished. The dog continued to rise under the action of the
old conditioned stimuli but—which was the usual thing with
it—'did not always exhibit any preliminary secretion of sa¬
liva. Now the new stimulus was again applied four times,
being reinforced only the last time; during the first three
applications the food receptacle was not placed before the
dog, since, as has just been mentioned, the reflex to it had
been extinguished. This time, too, the problem was solved
by means of a simple, but new signal, namely, a complex
stimulus formed from the new stimulus plus the noise of the
moving food receptacle. When the new stimulus was ap¬
plied for the first three times without the addition of the
last stimulation, there was no reaction. But when during
these first applications the receptacle was placed before the
dog, but with no food in it, i.e., when the complex stimulus
was depreciated, the dog, after rising several times in vain,
definitely and completely ceased to react to the new stimu¬
lus, rising only under the influence of all the other stimuli.
Then it was decided to'restore the extinguished reflex to the
new stimulus, abolishing all other stimuli and reinforcing
the new stimulus eight times in succession in the course of
the experiment. The rehabilitation of the reflex proceeded
very slowly. The new stimulus was reinforced in the course
of two days, that is, sixteen times, but despite the fact that
the experimenter entered the chamber more than once and
during the action of the new stimulus showed the food to the
dog (only after which it rose to its feet and began to eat)
it never stood up by itself under the action of the new stim¬
ulus. At first the same thing was observed on the third
day; only during the nineteenth application of the new stim¬
ulus, when it was prolonged after the expiration of the
usual thirty seconds and when new food receptacles were
placed at intervals of ten seconds, did the dog, at the fourth
presentation of a food receptacle, rise and eat the food. And
only later, at first with considerable omissions on the part
of the animal, a motor alimentary reflex formed; for the pur-

324
 pose of accelerating its full restoration the dog was more
than once left without food for a space of twenty-four hours.
Afterwards, on the fifteenth day, there finally developed a
full reflex accompanied by a preliminary secretion of saliva,
but, inconstant, as usual. On the twentieth day, in order to
obtain a constant salivary reflex, the dog was given only
half the usual portion of food and this reduced ration was
offered for a period of ten days. But the aim was not
achieved—the salivary reaction remained inconstant, and
even the motor reaction manifested itself either at the end
of the action of the conditioned stimulus or only after the
presentation of the food receptacle. What striking inertness
of the inhibitory process! After this, for a period of fourteen
days, the dog was given only a quarter of the normal quan¬
tity of food, but this, too, hardly changed the picture as far
as the reflexes were concerned.
Against this background we began once again to elabo¬
rate a new and extremely simplified differentiation; in strict
alternation the new stimulus was now reinforced, now not;
it was necessary to elaborate reflexes to a single rhythm. In
a period of eight days we failed to observe even the slightest
trace of a reflex. What striking inertness of the excitatory
process! Thinking that this phenomenon was partly due to
excessive alimentary excitability we increased the quantity
of food to half the usual ration. As a result, the difference
in the extent of the salivary reaction under reinforced and
non-reinforced stimuli now began gradually to manifest it¬
self, and finally a stage was reached when, in the case of
reinforced stimuli, the reaction became very considerable,
while in the case of non-reinforced stimuli it fell to zero.
However, the motor reaction persisted in all oases, although
under positive stimuli it appeared quicker. When the experi¬
ments were prolonged in order to obtain a complete differ¬
entiation also of the motor reaction, the dog began to whine,
at first before the experiment and then in the course of it,
and tried all the time to escape from the stand. The motor
reaction under a non-reinforced stimulus was fully diffcr-

325
entiated in some experiments only when it came first in the
experiment. The more time passed, the more difficult be¬
came the state of the dog; it no longer entered the exper¬
imental chamber of its own accord and when taken forcibly
would turn back and run away. While in the chamber it kept
on howling and barking. Under the action of stimuli the
howling and barking became louder. This general behav¬
iour was in striking contrast with the previous behaviour of
the animal over a period of three years. In order to help the
dog to attain complete differentiation, it was given a full
daily ration of food; it gradually calmed down, went to the
stand willingly, stopped howling and barking. At the same
time a secretion of saliva was observed also under the ac¬
tion of a non-reinforced stimulus; then the salivary secre¬
tion induced by the action of the two kinds of stimuli began
steadily to diminish until it reached zero. Finally, the motor
reaction to a repeated stimulus also fully disappeared. The
dog refused to perform its task and lay quietly throughout
the experiment, searching for fleas or licking its body. After
the experiment it devoured its food with avidity.
Thus, during the long period of the elaboration of a differ¬
entiation (the latter being at first difficult, and then quite
simple) we observed the extreme inertness both of the ex¬
citatory and inhibitory processes. Particularly interesting
and clear as to its’mechanism was the last period—when a
simple differentiation was being elaborated. Owing to a
considerably heightened alimentary excitability this differ¬
entiation was at last almost completely worked out, but it
was accompanied by extreme excitement on the part of the
animal; this testified to the difficult state of its nervous sys¬
tem. But when the alimentary excitability declined to the
level usually displayed by all the dogs during the experi¬
ments, our previous success in keeping the opposite nervous
processes within the time limits required by the external
conditions was reduced to naught. It proved more difficult
for the dog to interchange the excitatory and inhibitory proc¬
esses at intervals of five minutes, i.e., to maintain the al-

326
 most elaborated procedure, the already formed nervous ste¬
reotype, than to repress the rather strong alimentary excita¬
tion, under which all our dogs worked quite satisfactorily
during the experiments; this excitation was also in evidence
in our dog, as proved by the fact that it eagerly devoured
the food placed before it after the experiments. This fact
strikingly testifies to the great importance of the normal
mobility of the nervous processes, as well as to its obvious
and considerable insufficiency in our dog, whose nervous
processes, however, possessed great strength.
It is now possible clearly to see how the Greek genius,
personified (individually or collectively) by Hippocrates,
succeeded in discerning the fundamental features in the
multitudinous variations of human behaviour. The singling
out of melancholics from the mass of people signified the
division of the entire mass of human beings in two groups
—the strong and the weak, since the complexity of life must,
naturally, tell with particular force on individuals with weak
nervous processes and darken their existence. Thus, the par¬
amount principle of strength was clearly stressed. In the
group of strong individuals the choleric is distinguished by
his impetuousness, i.e., inability to repress his temper, to
keep it within the proper limits; in other words, he is distin¬
guished by a predominance of the excitatory process over
the inhibitory. This, consequently, established the principle
of equilibrium between opposite processes. Finally, by
means of a comparison between phlegmatic and sanguine
types the principle of the mobility of the nervous processes
was established.
There remains the question whether the number of basic
variations of human and animal behaviour is confined to the
classical figure “four.” After years of observations, and as a
lesult of numerous investigations on dogs, we acknowledge
at any rate, for the time being, that this number conforms
to reality; at the same time we admit that there are minor
variations in the basic types of nervous system, especially
in the weak type. In the strong unequilibrated type, for ex-

327
ample, the animals with a particularly weak inhibitory proc¬
ess and, at the same time, quite a strong excitatory process,
stand out. In the weak type the variations are, above all,
based on the same properties which underlie the subdivision
of the strong type into equilibrated and unequilibrated, ac¬
tive and inert animals. But in the weak type the feebleness
of the excitatory process, so to speak, depreciates the signif¬
icance of these other properties and actually makes this
type, to a greater or lesser degree, an invalid one.
Now I shall dwell in more detail on the methods, on the
more or less definite forms of experimentation already men¬
tioned and which clearly disclose the basic properties of the
types; I shall also touch on other, less manifest, forms,
which are capable of demonstrating the same properties,
though not so distinctly, and at the same time reveal to a
greater degree the complexity of the type, even its entire
outline. It should be added, however, that many forms of
our experiments have not yet assumed definite importance
in the solution of the problem of types. Of course, were our
knowledge of the subject complete, everything observed by
us in our animals, everything recorded by us, would find its
proper place in this problem. But this is still far from being
the case.
We have already mentioned a definite method of ascer¬
taining the strength of the excitatory process, believing that
this strength is most inherent in the strong type. It is a phys¬
ically most powerful external agent which the animal is
able to endure and to turn, along with other less powerful
stimuli, into a certain signal, a conditioned stimulus, which
remains active for a long period. For this purpose we
usually apply very strong sounds, produced by a special
rattle which our ear endures with difficulty. In some dogs
this stimulus, when reinforced, could be developed, equally
with all others, into a real conditioned stimulus, and even
take first place among them by virtue of the law of pro¬
portionality between the extent of the effect and the intensity
of the external stimulus. In other dogs, in accordance with

328
the law of maximum, its effect declined compared with the
other strong conditioned stimuli, however, without interfer¬
ing with the action of the other stimuli. In still other dogs,
when applied, it led to the inhibition of the entire condi¬
tioned reflex activity, without becoming a conditioned stim¬
ulus. And finally, there were dogs in which one or two
applications of this stimulus immediately evoked a chronic
nervous disorder—a neurosis which did not disappear of it¬
self and had to be treated.
The second method employed in the case of conditioned
alimentary reflexes consists in augmenting alimentary ex¬
citability by means of a more or less protracted state of hun¬
ger. As a result, in dogs with a strong excitatory process the
effects of the strong stimuli, in some cases, are increased;
however, there also takes place a relatively greater increase
of the effects of weak stimuli, so that they fully or almost
fully approximate to the effects of the strong stimuli. In other
cases the effects of the strong stimuli remain unchanged,
since they have reached their limit and have even somewhat
overstepped it; and only the effects of weak stimuli increase,
to the degree that they may even exceed the effects of strong
stimuli. But in dogs with a weak excitatory process, a
heightened alimentary excitability usually leads to a decline
in the effects of all stimuli.
The two methods make it possible to determine directly
the maximum possible tension of the nerve cell, the limit of
working capacity, either directly by the application of ex¬
tremely strong external stimuli or through the action of stim¬
uli of average strength, provided there is heightened reac¬
tivity of the cell, that its state is labile, which is essentially
the same thing.
The third method consists in administration of caffeine. In
the strong type a definite dose of caffeine increases the effect
of the excitatory process; in the weak type it diminishes this
effect, causing the cell to overstep the limits of its working
capacity.

329
 The weakness of the excitatory process is manifested with
particular distinctness, perhaps, in the following experi¬
ment; it relates to the course of the excitatory process
during the period of the isolated action of the conditioned
stimulus; the ascertainment of the effect is facilitated by di¬
viding this period into smaller time units. Three cases are
possible; the effect of stimulation may increase regularly
and progressively until it is joined by the unconditioned stim¬
ulus; it may, on the contrary, be considerable at the be¬
ginning and then gradually diminish; and finally, fluctua¬
tions of the effect may be observed—now increasing and
now declining during the above-indicated period. This fact
can be interpreted in the following way. The first case
might indicate the presence of a strong excitatory process
developing irresistibly under the unceasing action of the ex¬
ternal stimulus. The second case, on the contrary, can be
interpreted as the manifestation of a weak process for the
following reason. In particular cases, for example, after lo¬
cal extirpations of the cerebral cortex, when under usual
conditions the effect of the corresponding stimulus disap¬
pears, it is still possible to re-establish it in a very weak
form in the course of the following experiment. At first the
corresponding stimulus is applied several times, being rein¬
forced each time almost immediately after the beginning of
its action (in one or two seconds); then, when there is a con¬
siderable delay (twenty to thirty seconds), a positive effect
is observed immediately after the beginning of the stimula¬
tion, which, however, declines rapidly, falling even to zero
by the end of the isolated action of the stimulus. This is an
obvious manifestation of the weakness of the excitatory proc¬
ess. Finally, the third case which is simply a struggle of
opposite processes; the isolated action of the conditioned
stimuli leads first to the development of inhibition, since
each of our conditioned reflexes is a delayed reflex, i.e., one
in which the excitatory process, being premature, must, for
a longer or shorter period, be preceded by an inhibitory proc¬
ess and temporarily eliminated.

330
 An absolute, and not relative, determination of the
strength of the inhibitory process can be effected, above, all,
by testing its duration, i.e., by finding out how long the
nerve cell can endure a state of continuous inhibition. As
mentioned above, the main principle underlying this distinc¬
tion is as follows. The strong, but unequilibrated, animals,
as well as the weak ones, cannot endure a protracted in¬
hibition, with the result that the entire system of conditioned
reflexes is temporarily disturbed, or a chronic nervous dis¬
order—neurosis—sets in. The strong animals cannot endure
this, since they possess a very strong excitatory process to
which the inhibitory process, being sufficient in itself, does
not correspond as far as intensity is concerned; this is a
case of relative weakness of the inhibitory process. In weak
animals both the excitatory and inhibitory processes may
be weak—this would be a case of absolute weakness. When
the inhibitory process is strong (specially differentiated)
its Instantaneous or chronic prolongation to a period of
five to ten minutes may not evoke any disturbance at all,
or cause only a very slight one. But when the inhibitory
process is weak, its chronic prolongation, for example, to
thirty seconds instead of fifteen, often cannot be effected
without causing serious consequences; a prolongation to
five minutes, even if effected once, is sufficient to cause a
failure of the entire conditioned reflex activity in the form of
a persistent neurosis.
The second essential index of the strength of the inhibitory
process is its ability rapidly and exactly to concentrate.
Usually when an inhibitory process begins to develop at a
definite point, it invariably first irradiates and produces a
prolonged, successive inhibition. But as soon as the animal
possesses a strong inhibition, the latter inevitably begins
to concentrate to an ever-increasing degree and, finally, the
successive inhibition wholly or almost wholly disappears.
When the inhibition is weak, it may remain forever in a
more or less pronounced form. The concentration of a
strong inhibition entails an acute positive induction, i.e.,

331
one which appears immediately or after a short period of
time; it is manifested in heightened excitability both
in relation to the stimulus closest in time, and to the
positive stimulus at the point of inhibition (on its ter¬
mination).
Another index of the strength or weakness of the inhibit¬
ory process is the duration of the development of the
inhibitory conditioned reflexes; the delay in elaborating an
inhibitory reflex may be due to the very great strength of
the excitatory process and, consequently, to the relative
weakness of the inhibitory process, as well as to an abso¬
lute weakness of inhibition. But the end of the elaboration
is still more instructive. No matter how long the elabora¬
tion of an inhibitory process may last, it remains incom¬
plete forever; more often this takes place when the excita¬
tory process is strong, when there is a relative weakness
of the inhibitory process. In some cases the inhibitory proc¬
ess is obviously insufficient and reveals constant fluctua¬
tions, even to the extent of complete disappearance; this
usually occurs in weak animals with an absolutely weak
inhibitory process.
The weakness of the inhibitory process is also expressed
in the fact that an almost complete inhibitory conditioned
reflex can be obtained only when in the course of the experi¬
ment it is evoked first, before any of the positive conditioned
reflexes; but if it is evoked in between the latter, it becomes
considerably or almost completely disinhibited.
Finally, the absolute weakness of the inhibitory process
may also be seen from the animal’s attitude towards bro¬
mide. In weak dogs only very small daily doses of bromide,
not more than a few centigrammes, or even milligrammes,
and at most amounting to several decigrammes, prove to
be efficient and useful, i.e., maintain a considerable condi¬
tioned reflex activity. This fact is explained as follows:
since bromide undoubtedly bears a relation to the inhibit¬
ory process, in the sense that it strengthens it, only a
slight intensification of this process under the influence of

332
bromide can be endured when there is an inborn weakness
of the inhibitory process.
Probably the following phenomenon, too, should .be taken
into consideration when determining the strength or weak¬
ness of the inhibitory process. When a differentiation is
elaborated along with a positive stimulus, two contrary
consequences are usually observed: either the effect of the
positive stimulus increases, or, on the contrary, there is a
decline of the effect compared with the level before the dif¬
ferentiation. What do these facts signify with regard to the
strength of the nervous processes? It can be assumed that
here it is a question of the strength or weakness precisely
of the inhibitory process. In the first case a strong inhibitory
process concentrates and causes a positive induction; in the
second case, being weak, it irradiates and continuously
reduces the effect of its positive stimulus. A comparison
with other more precise indicators of the strength of the
nervous processes may help to establish exactly the
mechanism of this phenomenon.
As regards determining the mobility of the nervous
processes, until recently we, as mentioned above, did not
pay special attention to this particular property of the nerv¬
ous processes: hence, we do not possess, or to be more
exact, have not contemplated any special methods for deter¬
mining it. Consequently, the job of elaborating them still
remains, or the corresponding experimental forms must be
selected from among those already at our disposal.
Perhaps a special and most precise method could be elab¬
orated by means of trace conditioned reflexes. By changing,
on the one hand, the duration of the indifferent stimulus,
which must be turned into a special trace conditioned stim¬
ulus, and, on the other hand, the interval between the end
of the indifferent agent and the beginning of the uncondi¬
tioned stimulus that reinforces it, we shall be able directly
to measure the degree of inertness or lability of the given
nervous system. It can be anticipated, for instance, that,
depending on the time needed for the disappearance of the

333
trace of the stimulus which has ceased to act, the above
indicated interval will be of essential importance for a
quicker or slower elaboration of a trace conditioned reflex,
or even for the possibility of its elaboration in general. The
duration of the indifferent stimulus will likewise make itself
felt. It is conceivable that in a particularly inert nervous
system there will be specially and rapidly revealed for this
stimulus the minimum duration under which it is still pos¬
sible to elaborate a trace reflex.
Next come the methods already tried on two of our dop
which exhibited a striking contrast with regard to the mobil¬
ity of their nervous processes and which have been cited
above as examples. We shall now dwell on them in more
detail, partly for the purpose of their further methodi¬
cal examination and possible perfection, and partly,
with the object of elucidating the mechanism of their
action.
It might seem that the last method, applied to the inert
dog and consisting in a regular rhythmic reinforcement or
non-reinforcement of one and the same stimulus, which
determined the elaboration of the respectively interchang¬
ing excitatory and inhibitory processes, is specially designed
to reveal the mobility of these processes. However, this
must be proved in a more precise way. By varying system¬
atically in one and the same dog, as well as in dogs belong¬
ing to different types of nervous system, the duration of
the interval between the reinforced and non-reinforced
stimuli and by comparing the results, one can become fully
convinced of the essential role played in this respect pre¬
cisely by the mobility of the nervous processes. This has been
just tested on the dog in question. After the summer recess
last year the dog finally coped with the required rhythm at
usual intervals of five minutes between the stimuli. When
the intervals were reduced to three minutes, the rhythm
became markedly disturbed. Consequently, the successful
elaboration of a rhythm in different animals depends on
the intervals, that is, on the degree of mobility of the

334
nervous processes. The longer the required interval, the
lower the mobility, and vice versa.
In order to elucidate the mechanism, I must speak in
more detail about the complicated experiment (unsuccess¬
fully performed on the same dog) consisting in an unusual
elaboration of a conditioned stimulus from an external
agent; this stimulus repeated several times in the course
of the experiment among other elaborated conditioned stim¬
uli was reinforced only when applied the fourth time.
Successful solution of the problem could be attained sub¬
ject to complete exclusion of the action of all other reflexes
on the repeatedly applied agent. Only on this condition
was it possible to establish a differentiation between the
first repetitions of the agent and its last application. This
probably occurs in the same way as the elaboration of a
differentiation between different moments of a protractedly
acting stimulus in the case of a considerably delayed con¬
ditioned reflex, when to the initial phases of the action of
one and the same prolonged stimulus there develops an
inhibitory reflex, and to the later phases—a positive reflex.
Otherwise, i.e., under the action of other stimuli, the excita¬
tory process evoked by the repeatedly applied agent would
not show regular fluctuations depending exclusively on the
repetition of the agent, but would fluctuate accidentally and
irregularly, depending in each case on the diverse influences
of previously applied changing stimuli; hence, no differen¬
tiation between different applications of the repeated agent
could be elaborated. Consequently, only a high mobility of
the nervous processes, i.e., a rapid development and discon¬
tinuance of the processes caused by all the other stimuli
applied in the experiment, including, of course, the process
of eating, could ensure the successful solution of the prob¬
lem. It should be added that this difficult problem was,
nevertheless, solved by another dog, although after a long¬
er period of time and with much greater and more painful
strain (experiments of Virzhikovsky). The effect produced
by the first three applications of one and the same new

335
external agent, varying its place in the system of other posi¬
tive and negative conditioned stimuli, was inhibited, only
the last, fourth, application became a constant, durable con¬
ditioned stimulus. Since in this dog the conditioned salivary
reaction always preceded the addition of the unconditioned
stimulus, our inert dog naturally could not make use of
any extraneous signals, and consequently, the differentia¬
tion between separate applications of one and the same
agent could take place only due to the distinction made by
the peripheral receptor and the corresponding nerve cell
between the last and the first three applications.
Hardly anything can be added to what has already been
said about the methods and experimental forms testifying
to the lability of the nervous processes in our first dog. The
transformation of contrary conditioned stimuli into stimuli
of opposite action is obviously determined, above all, by the
mobility of the nervous processes which rapidly adapt them¬
selves to the requirements of the new external conditions.
This is generally proved by the greater or lesser difficulty
with which this procedure is endured even by many strong
equilibrated animals, to say nothing of weak and almost
all castrated animals, which, as a rule, fall into a chronic
morbid state. Similarly the other experimental form_ applied
to this dog, namely, the rapid elaboration of a considerably
delayed conditioned reflex among other short-delayed con¬
ditioned reflexes applied much earlier, of course, directly
testifies to the high mobility of its nervous processes. The
new excitatory process, despite the firmly established stere¬
otype in the action of other stimuli, rapidly adapted itself
to the requirements of the new condition, at first being
replaced by a durable inhibitory process and then just as
quickly reappearing after slight modification in the course
of its development, a modification which more closely coin¬
cided with the application of the unconditioned stimulus.
Experiments with a direct transition from an inhibitory
to an excitatory process and vice versa should likewise be
included in the category of experimental forms ascertain-

336
ing the mobility of the nervous processes. We know that
in certain dogs this transition is accomplished easily and
with exactitude. Sometimes, in particularly perfect types,
the direct precedence of the inhibitory process, owing to its
positive induction, determines even an increased effect of
the positive stimulus; but in weak types this is usually
accompanied by a breakdown, i.e., by a more or less seri¬
ous nervous disorder.
The so-called reshaping of the stereotype,®^ that is, a cer¬
tain change in the sequence of a repeatedly applied system
of the same conditioned reflexes (for example, a fully
inverted sequence) must also be related to this category of
experimental forms. In some dogs this change does not
exert even the slightest influence on the effects of the dif¬
ferent stimuli; in others it is sometimes accompanied by
complete disappearance of the conditioned salivary reaction
for days (in the case of alimentary conditioned reflexes).
In old age it often happens that the systems of conai-
tioned reflexes, previously reproduced in a regular^ and
stereotype way, i.e., with precise effects of the stimuli,
become irregular and chaotic; the precision and constancy
of the effect can be re-established only by a simplification of
the system—either by the exclusion of negative reflexes,
or by a simultaneous reduction of the number of positive
reflexes. It would be most natural to explain the mechan¬
ism of these facts by a decline, above all, in the mobility
of the nervous processes, brought about by old age, as a
result of which the inertness and duration of the processes,
at previously established intervals, lead to a confusion and
collision of the effects produced by the different stimuli.
Certain morbid disturbances observed in our dogs when
they have to solve difficult nervous tasks, expressed in
pathological states of definite cortical points, should be
also ascribed to pathological changes in the mobility of
the nervous processes; such are the inertness and explosive¬
ness of the excitatory process. On the one hand, it was
frequently observed that the excitatory process of an isor

22—773 357
lated point of the cortex became abnormally tenacious: the
effect of the conditioned stimulus connected with it was
not susceptible to inhibition by preceding inhibitory reflexes
to such a degree as the effects of other stimuli; its extinc¬
tion proceeded much more leisurely, and this stimulus did
not lose its positive action, in spite of the fact that it was
not reinforced systematically for weeks and months (Fila-
retov, Petrova).’On the other hand, the previous stimulus,
which had acted normally and whose moderate effect
appeared after a certain delay, increasing after the addition
of natural alimentary stimuli and ending in the normal act
of eating upon presentation of food, now, under a patho¬
logical state of the corresponding point of the cortex, began
to produce a tremendous (secretory and motor) effect, aris¬
ing and ending abruptly. When food was offered, the dog
violently and obstinately rejected it (experiments of
Petrova). It is clear that an extreme lability of the excita¬
tory process was in evidence and that the latter, especially
due to its summation with natural alimentary stimuli,
rapidly reached the limit of working capacity of the cortical
cell and evoked a very strong transmarginal inhibition.
Thus, I repeat, the possible variations of the basic prop¬
erties of the nervous system, as well as the possible com¬
binations of these variations, determine the types of nerv¬
ous system; as calculated, their number amounts at least
to twenty-four. But life shows that the actual number is
considerably smaller: we distinguish four types which
are particularly distinct and strongly pronounced, and,
what is most important, differ in their adaptability to the
external environment and their resistibility to morbific
agents.
We must admit a type of weak animals, characterized by
a manifest weakness both of the excitatory and inhibitory
processes; they never fully adapt themselves to the condi¬
tions of life, are easily broken, often and quickly become
ill and neurotic as a result of difficult life situations, or,
what is the same thing, of the difficult nervous tasks which

338
we place before them. But of still greater importance is ttih
fact that this type, as a rule, cannot be improved to
any considerable degree by training and discipline; it
becomes fit only under particularly favourable, deliberately
created, conditions, or, as we usually say, in hot-house
conditions.
The type is in contrast to the types of strong animals
which in their turn markedly differ.
Among the latter, in the first place, is the strong, but
unequilibrated type with a strong excitatory process, but
with a weaker, and sometimes even a considerably weaker,
inhibitory process, in view of which this type is also easily
subject to pathological disturbances when inhibition is
required. This, predominantly, is a fighting type, but not
adapted to everyday life with all its fortuities and exigen¬
cies. Nevertheless, being strong, it is capable of disciplin¬
ing itself to a considerable degree, improving thereby the
originally insufficient inhibition. We term it the excitable
type, but to avoid misunderstanding and confusion it would
be better to use the adjective impetuous, which directly
stresses its defect and at the same time obliges us to
regard it as a strong type.
From this strong type one must single out the strong and
equilibrated animals.
But these animals, in their turn, differ greatly, first of
all in external behaviour, and this, as we already know,
is precisely due to the mobility of the nervous processes.
In order to designate these strong and equilibrated types
we can correctly accord them the attributes calm and
lively, in conformity with their mobility.
Such are the principal types which exactly correspond to
the ancient classification of the so-called human tempera¬
ments—melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic and sanguine.
As for the less significant variations, they are most fre¬
quently met with, as already mentioned, in the weak type,
but they have not yet been fully investigated and sys¬
tematized by us.

22* 339
 In conclusion I wish to say a few words about the fre¬
quency of these types among the multitude of. dogs of vari¬
ous breeds that have passed through our laboratories dur¬
ing our study of the conditioned reflexes. The weak type in
all its variations and the lively, sanguine type are the most
frequent; then comes the impetuous, choleric type; rarest
is the calm, phlegmatic type.
Basing ourselves on the elementary physiological prin¬
ciples underlying the classification of the types of nervous
system in animals, we must admit the same types in the
mass of human beings—a classification already made by
Greek classical thought. Thus, Kretschmer’s®* classification
of nervous types, which has obtained almost universal
recognition, especially among psychiatrists, must be re¬
garded as mistaken or inadequate. Kretschmer found his
types in the clinic, among the ill. But are there not abso¬
lutely healthy individuals? And why must all human beings
indispensably carry nervous and mental disorders in
embryo?
Kretschmer’s types represent only a part of all human
types. His cyclothymics®^ are closest to our excitable,
impetuous type, or to Hippocrates’ cholerics, and his
schizothymics®®—to our weak type, or to Hippocrates’
melancholics.
Since the first type lacks a proper abating and restora¬
tive process—the process of inhibition—its excitatory proc¬
ess often considerably exceeds the working capacity of the
cortical cells. This causes a derangement of the proper
interchange of normal work and rest, which manifests
itself in extreme morbid phases of the excitatory and inhib¬
itory states, both with regard to intensity and duration.
Hence, the eventual development of a manic-depres¬
sive psychoses®® under particularly difficult circumstances
of life, or under certain unfavourable conditions of the
organism.
In the second type both processes are weak, and because
of this it cannot endure individual and social life with its

340
severe crises, which mostly fall on a still young, not suf¬
ficiently adjusted and hardened organism. This may lead,
and often does lead, to a complete destruction of the higher
part of the central nervous system, unless some lucky
chance in life, or, more often, the protective function of the
inhibitory process, does not save it from disastrous over¬
strain during this difficult period. It can be rightfully
assumed that for those representatives of the weak type
who end up with schizophrenia®^ there are certain specific
conditions, such as a particularly irregular course of devel¬
opment, or permanent auto-intoxication, causing extreme
fragility of the nervous apparatus. Aloofness or reticence
which, according to Kretschmer, is the main feature of
schizothymics from childhood, does not present anything
specific; in the case of a weak nervous system it is merely
a general indication of the extreme complexity of the social
environment; hence the natural withdrawal from it. Is it not
a widely recognized and current fact that the mere transfer
of a nervous person to a clinic or sanatorium, that is, the
simple act of removing the patient from his everyday
surroundings, affords relief and is even of curative impor¬
tance?
It should be added that reticence or aloofness from society
is by no means an exceptional feature of schizothymics, i.e.,
of weak individuals. Even strong persons may be reserved,
but for quite different reasons. This type of person leads
a strenuous but at the same time one-sided subjective life;
he early becomes possessed by a certain inclination, con¬
centrates on a single aim and is dominated and carried
away by a single idea. Other people are not only undesir¬
able; they even disturb him and distract him from the prin¬
cipal object of life.
Niaturally, there are many great men also among cyclo-
thymics (the strong type). But it is understandable, that,
being unequilibrated, they possess a particularly fragile
nervous system. Hence, the widespread and vividly di?'
cussed problem: genius or insanity?
 And then comes, of course, the multitude of human beings
more or less strong and even exceedingly so, and at the
same time equilibrated, the phlegmatics and the sanguines,
the people who make the history of mankind either by their
systematic mundane but indispensable labour in all
branches of life, or by the exploits of their mind, lofty emo¬
tions and iron will. Of course, as far as great men are
concerned, no matter how strong they may be, they are
also subject to breakdowns, since the scale of their activity
is extraordinary, and there is a limit to any strength.
PROBLEMS OF SLEEP
AND HYPNOSIS
 SOME FACTS ABOUT THE PHYSIOLOGY
OF SLEEP88

(jointly with dr. l. n. Voskresensky)

In our study of the so-called conditioned reflexes we

often had to deal with the phenomena of sleep. Since these
phenomena greatly complicated our experiments, disturb¬
ing them and- deflecting them from their normal course, we
were, naturally, compelled to devote special attention to
them. In addition to accumulating isolated facts, two of
our colleagues—N. A. Rozhansky and M. K. Petrova—
elaborated this problem most systematically. N. A. Rozhan¬
sky investigated that form of sleep, or somnolent state
which apparently results from the influence of monotonous,
indifferent stimuli, for example, the isolated environment in
which the experimental animal is placed. When the animal
is enclosed in an isolated chamber and placed in the stand,
it gradually becomes drowsy, and then goes into deep
sleep. Sleep also occurs under the influence of definite,
active stimuli from which strong conditioned stimuli have
been elaborated. Under the influence of these stimuli there
arises a sleeping hypnotic state in all dogs, and in some
of them with particular ease. Recently Dr. L. N. Voskresen¬
sky had a case of this somnolent state which for us was
somewhat unexpected, since numerous experiments had
already been performed on this dog by Dr. A. M. Pavlova
and no marked signs of sleep had been observed during
those experiments. But now in the course of our research,
sleep unexpectedly intervened and constantly disturbed our
experiments with conditioned reflexes; as a result, the usual
phenomena were sometimes entirely absent and sometimes
distorted. How did this come about? At first we were not
quite sure whether this state was really sleep, and attrib¬
uted the disturbances to other causes. But thorough obser¬
vation and various tests excluded all other suppositions.
All that remained was to admit the development of a state
of sleep in the dog. But what caused it? When we closely
considered all the details of the recent experiments per¬
formed on the dog, it appeared that the sleep was due to
the following reasons. Prior to this peculiar period the
experiment was usually begun the moment the dog was
placed in the stand—it was subjected to the action of spe¬
cial conditioned stimuli and food was given as an uncon¬
ditioned stimulus. These conditions did not produce a
sleeping state. Now, however, due to certain circumstances,
the dog was left in the stand for a relatively long time,
waiting for the beginning of the experiment. And it was
the continuously acting, monotonous surroundings which
caused the gradual onset of a state of sleep. This inter¬
pretation proved to be perfectly reasonable. As the partic¬
ulars relating to the development of a state of sleep were
of great interest to us, we decided to investigate the ques¬
tion with the utmost thoroughness.
First of all it appeared that from the quantitative point
of view the environment acts with surprising precision, i.e.,
if immediately after the necessary preparations (fixing the
different funnels, fastening the apparatus, etc.) you begin
the experiment, the usual stimulations of the animal, there
are no signs of the phenomena of sleep at all. But should
a minute pass between the completion of the preparations
and the beginning of the stimulation the first phase of
sleep becomes manifest. If ten minutes pass you observe
the next stage of sleep and so forth. Thus the sleep-produc¬
ing influence of the environment can be truly dosed. This
made possible an easy study of the course of sleep, of the
somnolent state which develops under these conditions.
And here are the results of our observations. During the
experiments we usually had before our eyes two reactions
of the animal; on the one hand, there was a secretory reac¬
tion, a flow of saliva: on the other-—a motor reaction—the
dog seized the food offered to it. In other words, these were
the motor and secretory reflexes. It turned out that the
strictly law-governed development of the observed phe¬
nomena depends on the quantitative influence of the soporific
environment; this is shown in the following table:

Phases R eflexes*
State of the dog Remarks
of sleep Secretory Motor

Awake .... -f -f
I — +
] II -h Deep
Asleep . . . . 1 III — sleep
II + —
)
I — -h
AwaKe .... + +

In the wakeful state both the secretory and the motor

reflexes are present. Immediately after the conditioned stim¬
ulus begins to act a secretion of saliva appears, and the
dog takes the food as soon as it is offered. Thus both reflexes
are effective. Now we keep the dog under the influence of
the surroundings at least for two minutes, i.e., when the
preparations for the experiment are finished, we let two
minutes pass, and then apply the conditioned stimulus. The
first phase of the state of sleep is then observed. It is mani¬
fested thus; the secretory reflex disappears; the conditioned
stimulus no longer acts; but when the dog is offered food
it immediately seizes it, which shows that the motor reflex
persists. Now you augment the influence of the surround¬
ings, i.e., for example, you keep the dog waiting ten min-

* The sign + signifies the presence and the sign the absence of
a reflex.

S47
utes before the experiment begins. Then its sleep deepens,
and another kind of reaction is observed, which, strange
as it may seem, is of a reverse nature and represents the
second phase of the state of sleep-, the dog exhibits a secre¬
tion of saliva, but does not take the food, and even turns
away from it. Thus the salivary reaction which is absent
during the first phase of sleep, rea.ppears in the second,
while the motor reaction disappears or even passes into a
negative reaction; the dog not only refuses food but even
turns away from it. If the dog is left in the soporific sur¬
roundings for a period lasting from half an hour to one
hour before the beginning of the experiment, a complete,
deep sleep sets in, and both reflexes vanish. Now let us
wake the dog from its deep sleep. This can be done at
once, and the simplest method is to apply a strong sound
stimulus. In our laboratory we use a very loud rattle, which
wakens the dog instantaneously. The animal immediately
returns to a normal alert state. However, a more delicate
stimulus may be used.
One of the customary methods of gradually dispelling
sleep is to feed the dog at definite intervals; feeding may
be even begun with the forcible introduction of food into
the mouth. Then you can observe the phases described
above but in reverse order. After the deep sleep the secre¬
tory reflex is present but the dog does not take the food.
Later on, the secretory reflex fails to appear; however, the
dog eats. And finally, after frequent repetitions of the feed¬
ing, both reflexes reappear. Now I shall call your attention
to some authentic figures. Take, for example, a dog that
has just been fastened in the stand; we begin to apply cer¬
tain conditioned stimuli and a secretion of saliva appears.
Our scale shows 37 divisions, which indicates a normal
salivary reaction. It should be added that the following pre¬
caution was observed by us in order to ensure strict preci¬
sion in our investigation. The chamber itself had a hypno¬
tizing effect on the dog; the moment the lively, mobile and
responsive animal was brought into the experimental room,

m
it changed entirely. It goes without saying that the state
of sleep deepened when the dog was placed in the stand
and prepared for the experiment. In order to determine
exactly the moment of the passage from the wakeful to
the sleeping state, we did everything to prevent sleep while
the dog was being fastened and the apparatus attached to
it; we called it by name, stroked it and patted it. When
everything was ready, we would quickly leave the chamber
and begin the experiment immediately. In this way we
obtained the above-mentioned normal secretory reaction,
equalling thirty-seven divisions of our scale; the motor
reflex was also present. In the next experiment we allowed
the surroundings to act on the animal for a space of two
minutes, and the following was observed; the secretory
reflex failed to appear at all, not a drop of saliva was secreted
in response to our conditioned stimulus, but the dog took
the food at once. Next time we let the surroundings act for
four minutes; we obtained twenty divisions of saliva but the
dog took the food only in forty-five seconds, and even then
only w'hen the food was brought into contact with its mouth.
Finally, when we allowed the surroundings to act for half
an hour to an hour, all the reflexes disappeared.
The procedures were, of course, varied by us, so that we
were able to obtain both phases of sleep in one and the
same experiment. For example, the dog remained in the
chamber for seventy-five seconds; as a result, the secretory
reflex was zero, but the food was taken at once. Then we
let an hour pass, leaving the dog alone. The excitation
produced by a single meal neutralized to some extent the
soporific influence of the surroundings, and only the second
phase was observed: the secretion of saliva equalled twenty-
two divisions, and the dog ate the food only for about half a
minute after the food had been brought into contact with
the mouth. Here is another concrete instance of how sleep
is dispelled. The dog is in a deep sleep and in order
to arouse it we apply, among others, a weak stim¬
ulus: someone enters the chamber where the dog is

349
kept in the stand. The noise produced by the person entef-
ing the chamber, and perhaps his odour, slightly disturb
the animal’s sleeping state. If we now apply the conditioned
stimulus we obtain twenty-four divisions of saliva, but the
dog takes the food fifty seconds later, not of its own accord,
however, but only when it is put into its mouth. We then
feed the dog once or twice, thereby stimulating it; we dis¬
pel the state of sleep and observe a transition to the follow¬
ing phase: the secretory effect is diminished, there are only
ten divisions of saliva and the food is taken by the dog
after twenty seconds. Whereas in the preceding case the
dog ate the food after fifty seconds and from the exper¬
imenter’s hand, now it takes the food of its own accord and
only after twenty seconds. With a fresh stimulus applied
after twenty minutes, the secretory reflex is zero, and the
dog eats the food almost immediately. Finally, when the
next conditioned stimulus is applied, thirty-five divisions
of saliva are secreted, and the dog takes the food right
away. This signifies the presence of a perfectly alert state.
Hence, we must recognize as a thoroughly established fact
that the processes of falling asleep and of awakening
influence our two reflexes in a strictly definite way. We wit¬
nessed a very interesting fact which is, above all, of prac¬
tical importance, since it enabled us to control the animal
and to remove the influences which interfered with the
experiment. It sufficed to feed the dog two or three times,
or to prevent the surroundings from acting on it at the
beginning, to make us masters of the situation; sleep did
not disturb our experiments with the conditioned reflexes.
Now the question arose; How to interpret this phenomenon?
Certainly it is a complicated question and for the time being
only an approximate answer can be given. Our colleagues
N. A. Rozhansky and M. K. Petrova, on the basis of their
experimental data, have come to the conclusion that both
states of sleep observed by them represent an inhibitory
process and that in one case it spread from several points
of the cerebral hemispheres (case of Rozhansky), and in

350
another case—from one definite point (Petrova). Our fact,
it would seem, confirms this conclusion, since in our experi¬
ments there was actually in evidence a localization and
even a movement of the somnolent state in the cerebral
hemispheres. How can this movement of sleep inhibition be
better traced in the cerebrum? A similar question arose and
was successfully investigated in connection with another
kind of inhibition, the so-called internal inhibition. A few
months ago one of us addressed you here on this subject.
This investigation gives us reason to hope that we may
achieve the same with regard to sleep inhibition. The sim¬
plest way would be to trace the movement of this sleep inhi¬
bition in a definite part of the cerebral hemispheres, since,
as shown by our experiments concerning the irradiation of,
say, internal inhibition over the entire hemisphere, certain
circumstances greatly complicating the picture are met with
in this case (probably, the border-line layers between dif¬
ferent parts of the hemispheres, various degrees of energy
of stimulation, etc.). Experiments in this direction are now
performed in our laboratory. It is more convenient to trace
the movement of sleep inhibition in that part of the cerebral
hemispheres which relates to the skin, being, as it were,
its projection in the brain. Moreover, the conditioned stim¬
ulation of the skin provokes a sleeping state quite easily.
If we assume that this sleeping state arises precisely at
the point of stimulation, we see how this inhibitory move¬
ment spreads from this point over the entire cutaneous area
of the brain; it will then be possible to determine how far
and how quickly this process spreads. But, for the time
being, this is only a hope.
 CONCERNING THE SO-CALLED HYPNOTISM
IN ANIMALS®'

The so-called hypnotism of animals (the experimentum

mirabile of Kircher'^o) consists in the fact that by means of
energetic action, overcoming all resistance, the animal is
brought to an unnatural posture (laid on its back) and kept
thus for a brief space of time. Afterwards, when the hands
are removed from the animal, the latter remains motionless
for many minutes and even hours. Different authors, noting
one or other detail of this phenomenon, have explained it in
various ways. At present, thanks to the systematic study of
the normal activity of the brain, I am in a position to in¬
dicate the biological significance of this phenomenon and to
give an exact and full explanation of its physiological mech¬
anism; thus I am able to combine all the separate facts
of the different authors. The phenomenon represents a self-
protecting reflex of an inhibitory character. Faced with an
overwhelming power, from which there is no escape in
struggle or in flight, the animal’s only chance of salvation
is to remain immobile in order not to be noticed, since
moving objects attract particular attention, or not to pro¬
voke by fussy, restless movements an aggressive reaction on
the part of this overwhelming force. Immobility is brought
about in the following manner. Extraordinary external stim¬
uli highly intense or very unusual in form, first of all
cause a rapid reflex inhibition of the motor region of the
cerebral cortex which controls the so-called voluntary move¬
ments. Depending on the intensity and duration of the stim-

352
ulus, this inhibition is either confined to the motor region
and does not pass to other regions of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres and to the mid-brain, or it irradiates oyer all these
parts. In the first case there are present reflexes of the eye
muscles (the animal follows the experimenter with its eyes),
of the glands (when food is offered, there begins a secretion
of saliva, although no skeletal movements in the direction
of food are observed), and finally tonic reflexes from the
mid-brain to the skeletal muscles in order to retain the po¬
sition into which the animal has been brought (catalepsy).
In the second case all the above-mentioned reflexes grad¬
ually disappear, and the animal passes into an absolutely
passive, sleeping state accompanied by a general relaxation
of the musculature. This course of the phenomena is further
confirmation of the conclusion which I reached at a previ¬
ous meeting of our section, namely, that the so-called inhibi¬
tion is nothing more than sleep, but partial and localized.
It is clear that the rigidity and stupor which seize us in
cases of great fear is nothing else but the above-described
reflex.
P.S. It should be added that during the period when I did
not have physiological literature at hand, which I managed
to get only in the spring of 1922 in Helsingfors, a number
of other authors came to this same conclusion concerning
hypnosis in animals.

23—773
 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HYPNOTIC STATE
OF THE DOG91

(jointly with dr. m. k. petrova)

Besides the usual classical method of hypnotizing animals

(laying the animal on its back and keeping it for some time
in this unnatural position), which results in a hypnotic state
manifesting itself in catalepsy,"' our laboratories were able,
in the course of their research into the normal activity of the
higher parts of the brain, to study in more detail the diverse
and very delicate manifestations of the hypnotic state. As
already established by us, the basic condition required for
the development of this state is a prolonged action of monot¬
onous stimuli, which finally bring the corresponding cor¬
tical cells to a state of inhibition. This inhibition, on the
one hand, is of different degrees of intensity, and on the
other hand, spreads to a greater or lesser extent over the
cerebral cortex and further down the brain. Corresponding
facts were cited in a book published by one of us (I. P. Pav¬
lov, Lectures on the Work of the Cerebral Hemispheres).
But subsequent observations revealed a greater variety
of symptoms of the hypnotic state, its more and more deli¬
cate gradations, which hardly differ from the wakeful state,
and its ever-increasing mobility depending on the slightest
changes in the surroundings, on insignificant modifications
in the external stimuli acting upon the animal.
In the present article we shall deal with the phenomena
observed by us in two dogs. Previously they were used by

354
 one of us (M. K. Petrova) for studying the various condi¬
tioned reflexes, but now they constantly fall into a hypnotic
state the moment they are placed in our usual experimental
conditions and respectively equipped.
Long ago in the works which originated in our labora¬
tories it was repeatedly pointed out that in the case of con¬
ditioned alimentary reflexes there takes place a dissociation
of the salivary secretion and the alimentary motor reaction
when the dog falls into a sleeping state. It usually happened
that our artificial conditioned stimuli or more often the nat¬
ural stimulation (which, as has been proved, is also con¬
ditioned) produced by the sight and odour of food, evoked a
profuse secretion of saliva, although the animal did not take
the food. It was in this state of the animal that very diverse
and highly interesting variations of the alimentary motor
reaction were manifested in the course of our observations.
These variations, which apparently represent different de¬
grees of intensity of hypnosis, were now predominantly ob¬
served in one animal, now in another. One of the dogs,
which was usually in a less profound hypnotic state,
distinctly exhibited what in mental diseases is called neg¬
ativism."® After a conditioned stimulation applied during
a certain period of time we put food before the dog; the lat¬
ter turns away from the food receptacle. But when we begin
to move the receptacle away, the dog makes a movement
in its direction. We present the receptacle anew; the dog
again turns away from it. We move it away, and the dog
turns towards it once more. We have termed the reaction
of turning away from the food receptacle negative, or the
first phase of negativism, and the movement towards the
food receptacle—positive, or the second phase. This nega¬
tivism may recur many times until the animal at last par¬
takes of the food, which happens in most cases. The degree
of hypnosis is expressed precisely by the number of repeti¬
tions of this procedure. At the beginning of the hypnotic
state the food is taken and eaten by the dog after the second
offering. When the hypnotic state becomes more profound.

23* 355
both phases of negativism recur more and more often. When
hypnosis reaches the highest degree, the dog rejects the
food, no matter how many times it is offered. But as soon as
the hypnotic state is dissipated in this or that way—for
example, by removing the apparatus attached to the dog for
the purpose of collecting the saliva, or by loosening the
chain which is attached to the dog and which during the
experiment is fastened to the upper cross-bar of the stand,
or by some other means—the dog immediately begins to de¬
vour the food.
In the other dog the alimientary motor reaction during
hypnosis assumed an even more complicated form. In one
of the more pronounced cases the phenomena developed in
the following sequence. Under the action of our conditioned
stimuli (usually to the end of their isolated action) the dog,
if it was in a sitting posture, rose to its feet, if standing, it
turned its body in the direction whence the food was usually
presented to it. But when food was offered, it turned its head
away from it, thus exhibiting the first phase of negativism.
Then the food receptacle was moved away, and the animal,
on the contrary, turned the head towards it and followed it
with its eyes; thus the second phase appeared. After some
manifestations of this negativism the dog at last brought
its mouth close to the food, but v/as unable to take it. As if
with great difficulty it began, little by little and repeatedly,
to open and to close its mouth, but to no purpose—it did not
take the food (abortive movements). Afterwards, it began
to move its jaws with greater ease, took the food, at first
in small portions, finally opening its mouth wide and swal¬
lowing rapidly without interruption. Thus, in this hypnotic
phase we must distinguish three different states in three
parts of the skeletal musculature relating to the process of
eating: strong inhibition, immobility of the muscles directly
participating in the process of eating (the masticatory and
lingual muscles); considerable mobility, but of a periodic
character, in the form of a negativism of the cervical mus¬
culature; and finally, normal activity of the remaining mus-

3)(5
culature of the body. The more profound the hypnotic state,
the more immobile and inhibited is the direct musculature;
the tongue is put out as if paralyzed, the jaws are abso¬
lutely motionless. In the cervical muscles only the first phase
of negativism is manifested. Then the movements of the
head cease completely, and only the trunk still turns under
the influence of conditioned stimuli. Finally, when the hyp¬
notic state becomes still more profound, this last motor
reaction to the conditioned stimuli, as well as to food, also
disappears. All these phenomena can be dissipated, abol¬
ished instantaneously by the same methods which have been
described in the case of the first dog.
Concerning the alimentary motor reaction in our cases,
the following should be added. Any slight change in the
usual appearance of the food, and even in the manner of
presentation leads to conversion of the negative motor reac¬
tion into a positive one; in other words, the dog eats the
food which it has just rejected. For example, we offer the
dog in an ordinary cup slightly damped and evenly spread
powder of dried meat and bread. The dog refuses it. But if
the same powder is presented partly in the form of a lump
protruding from the cup, the'dog seizes it greedily and then
begins to eat the rest of the powder. A positive reaction can
be also obtained if the powder is offered to the dog on a
small plate or on a piece of paper. It takes the food also
from the experimenter’s hand instead of from the cup. Fi¬
nally, sometimes, after the conditioned stimulation, it begins
to lick up the powder spilled on the floor, although when
offered in the cup, it refused it.
Along with these motor phenomena relating to the pro¬
cess of eating there were manifested in the course of our
observations on the hypnotic state other specific motor reac¬
tions worth noting. Many dogs, after partaking of their
small portion of food and being in an alert state, for a time
lick their forepaws and breast. In the hypnotic state the lick¬
ing usually assumes a protracted character; in the case of
one of our dogs in question it soon passes into a peculiar

357
form The dog licks the forepaw and wets it with saliva,
especially the flesh of the toes; then it brings the forepaw
close to the apparatus attached to the salivary fistula and
passes the toes over it—a gesture it repeats many ti^mes if
not stopped. In the alert state the same dog did not do this.
Some dogs in the alert state struggle against the apparatus
only when it is first attached to them, afterwards they get
used and pay no attention to it. We can rightfully suppose
that our dog exhibited in the hypnotic state one of the spe¬
cific defensive reflexes. When a dog has a wound on a part
of the skin within reach of its tongue, it repeatedly cleans
it with saliva, or, as We say, licks it (the auto-curative
reflex). Apparently in this particular case the irritation
evoked by the hardened cement, by means of which the ap¬
paratus is attached to the skin, is responsible for the mani¬
festation of the reflex; and since the point of irritation is
not accessible to the tongue, the latter is replaced by the
toes of the forepaw.
Many of the above-described variations of the alimentary
motor reaction usuallv take place during one and the same
experiment and rapidly supersede one another. This varia¬
bility, this mobilitv of the hypnotic state is also^ seen in
other phenomena. We shall cite a few more cases illustrat¬
ing the fluctuation of the hypnotic state arid the modifica¬
tion of the effect of the conditioned stimulus, already de¬
scribed and reproduced by us, or noted for the first time in
the course of our observations and experiments on dogs.
These fluctuations and modifications are either due to
causes still unknown or are related to definite condi¬
tions.
I repeat that, if the dog is susceptible to hypnotization
under experimental conditions, the hypnotic state usually
develops immediately after the dog is placed in the stand,
and sometimes the very moment it crosses the threshold of
the experimental chamber. With the progress of the experi¬
ment this state grows continuously and gradually, provided
it is not dissipated by certain new conditions.

358
 Let us consider first of all the dissociation of the secre¬
tory and motor reactions of the alimentary reflex. This disso¬
ciation often assumes the form of, so to speak,, reciprocal
antagonism. In some cases the stimulation evokes a secre¬
tion of saliva in the absence of any motor reaction, i.e., the
dog, as mentioned above, does not take the food. In o’ther
cases, on the contrary, the dog rapidly seizes the food and
eats it with avidity, but there is no salivary secretion in
response to well-elaborated conditioned stimuli.
Here is the example of one of our dogs—“Bek.” The ex¬
periment took the following course during two days in suc-

April 17, 1930

Secretion
Conditioned of saliva Alimentary motor
stimulus in drops reaction
during 30 secs.

Rattle-box 15 Negativism, then takes food

Bell 15 Abortive movements; rejects

food for a long time

April 18, 1930

Secretion
Conditioned of saliva Alimentary motor
stimulus in drops reaction
during 30 secs.

Rattle-box 1 Takes food at once, but eats

inertly
Bell 0 Takes food at once and eats
with relish

Sometimes these, as it were, antagonistic relations be¬

tween the secretory and motor alimentary reactions rapidly
interchange in the course of the experiment.

359
 This can be illustrated by an experiment perlormed on
another dog “John :

April 12, 1930

Beginning of the Experiment

Secretion
of saliva Alimentary motor
Conditioned reaction
stimulus in drops
dur ing 30 secs

Negativism
Rattle-box 5

0 Takes food at once

Bell

In the early works that originated in our laboratories it

was frequently stated that a well-elaborated inhibitory stim¬
ulus, usually a differential one, can modify the hypnotic
state in two opposite directions—either intensifying,
pr weakening it. The same thing was often observed
by us in the above-mentioned animals in their state ot

^Finally, it 'should be pointed out that among our usual

conditioned strong stimuli a particularly powerful condi¬
tioned stimulus often eliminates or weakens the hypnotic
state whereas stimuli of usual strength either leave it un¬
changed or even reinforce it.
Here is an example connected with- the experiment per¬
formed on the above-mentioned “Bek,” the beginning of
which has been described above. When the experiment was
continued and a differentiation applied, the conditioned stim¬
uli of medium strength—the rattle-box, the gurgle o
water and the bell—did not produce any secretory effect, and
the dog, while making abortive masticatory movements, did
not take food for a long time. A strong crackling sound
which is a very powerful conditioned stimulus, evoked, a

360
secretion of saliva, and after a short period of negativism
the dog took the food.

April 17, 1930

Secretion Alimentary motor
Condit ioned of saliva
stimulus reaction
in drops

Rattle-box 0 Does not take food for a long

time

Gurgling sound 0 Same

Strong crackling 5 Negativism of short duration

sound
0 Does not take food for a long
Bell time

How should the physiological mechanism of the above-

mentioned phenomena be interpreted and understood? It is
evident that at the present level of our knowledge in the
field of the physiology of the higher parts of the brain it
would be an extreme pretension, incompatible with the real
state of affairs, to try to give a well-g!-ounded and clear an¬
swer to all questions which may arise in this connection.
However, we must constantly attempt to explain particular
phenomena by the more general properties of the activity of
the higher parts of the brain, to effect new variations of ex¬
periments that would ensure a closer approach to the com¬
prehension of the extremely complex relations of reality
which exist in the given case.
The difficulty which we meet when attempting to eluci¬
date the mechanism of the above-mentioned phenomena ob¬
served in the hypnotic state, is that under stimulations,
undoubtedly reaching the cerebral cells, we often do not
know what in the ensuing nervous activity should be attri¬
buted to the cerebral hemispheres and what to the lower
levels, the lower parts of the brain and even the spinal cord.
In the course of the philogenic development of the central

36}
nervous system the nervous combinative systems, in the
form of definite, so-called reflex centres, becoming more and
more complex, steadily moved closer to the brain end; they
effected an increasing analysis and synthesis of the stimu¬
lating agents due to the augmenting complexity of the or¬
ganism and the growth of its relations with the external en¬
vironment in ever-widening areas. Thus^ along with a more
or less stereotype nervous activity, and with ready com¬
plexes of physiological functions, called forth by a limited
number of elementary stimulations, there gradually de¬
veloped the higher nervous activity dealing with an ever-in-
creasing number of conditions, of complex, and besides, va¬
riable, stimulations. Then a very complicated problem arises
before the investigator, the problem of the connection and of
the forms of this connection between different levels of the
nervous system. As to our first problem concerning the dis¬
sociation of the secretory and motor reactions of our condi¬
tioned alimentary reflex, it is necessary to establish what in
this reflex should be ascribed to the cortex and what to the
adjacent subcortex, or, in ordinary terminology, what in this
process is of a voluntary and what is of a reflex character.
To be still more exact, it is necessary to know whether in the
conditioned alimentary reflex the secretory and motor com¬
ponents equally depend on the cortex, or whether there is a
difference between them in this respect. Does not the mo¬
tor component predominantly depend on the cortex, and the
secretory component on the subcortex?
Let us turn to the well-known facts.
Proceeding from the phenomena of human hypnosis we
must admit that in the cerebral cortex along with a gran¬
diose representation of the external world effected through
the afferent fibres (an indispensable condition for the high¬
est regulation of functions) there is also a vast representa¬
tion of the organism’s internal world, i.e., of the states and
functioning of numerous organs, tissues and internal or¬
ganic processes. In this respect particularly convincing are
the facts pertaining to the so-called imaginary, self-sug-

362
gested pregnancy. Numerous processes relating to the ac¬
tivity of passive tissues, such as the adipose one, arise and
become intensified under the influence of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres. But it is clear that these two kinds of representa¬
tion differ greatly in degree. Whereas the representation of
the skeletal musculature is highly delicate and detailed, per¬
haps being equal in these respects to the representation of
such external energies as sound and light, the representa¬
tion of other internal processes lags considerably.®^ This is
probably due to the slight practical significance of the repre¬
sentation. In any case, it is a constant physiological fact.
And this, apparently, makes it possible to distinguish be¬
tween the voluntary and involuntary functions of the organ¬
ism, the former including only the activity of the skeletal
musculature. This voluntariness signifies that the work of
the skeletal musculature is, above all, determined by its cor¬
tical representation, by the motor region of the cortex (the
motor analyser, in our terminology) which is directly con¬
nected with all the external analysers; in other words, in its
orientations it is always determined by the analytical and
synthetical work of these analysers.
Proceeding from these facts, we can present the mechan¬
ism responsible for the elaboration of our conditional ali¬
mentary reflex in the following way. On the one hand, this
is a union between the cortical points of application of the
conditioned stimuli and the reflex alimentary centre of the
adjacent subcortex with all its particular functions; on the
other hand, it is a closer connection of the same points with
the corresponding parts of the motor analyser, i.e., those
which participate in the process of eating. Then the disso¬
ciation of the secretory and motor components of the ali¬
mentary process taking place in the course of hypnotization
might be interpreted as follows. The hypnotization evokes a
state of the cortex when the motor analyser is inhibited,
while all the other analysers are free. The latter evoke a
reflex on the alimentary centre of the subcortex with all its
functions, while the inhibition of the motor analyser, so to

■m
say, by dire'ct communication, excludes the motor compo¬
nent from this reflex, thereby bringing the terminal points of
movement, the cells of the anterior horns,®® to a state of in¬
activity. Thus, in the alimentary process only the secretory
reaction remains manifest.
Here is the reverse case. An artificial conditioned stimu¬
lus does not produce a secretion of saliva, but a motor reac¬
tion is in evidence—the dog takes the food at once. Now this
can be easily explained. This must be a weak inhibition of
the entire cortex, and an artificial stimulation alone is not
sufficient to dissipate it; only with the presentation of food,
when the artificial conditioned stimulus is supplemented by
natural stimuli (the sight and odour of food, which in them¬
selves are even stronger than artificial stimuli), does there
arise a complete reflex with both components.
But there is one more phenomenon which was observed
by us in the course of other experiments in our laboratories
and which manifested itself outside the hypnotic state; it
would be opportune to analyse this phenomenon in the light
of our present explanations. The dog eats the food, but no
secretion of saliva is observed for ten or twenty seconds.
This is undoubtedly due to the development of inhibition
deliberately induced in the cortex by means of artificial con¬
ditioned stimuli for definite periods of time. How is this
phenomenon to be interpreted? What mechanism is respon¬
sible for it? It must be assumed that an intense inhibition
develops from the points of application of the artificial con¬
ditioned stimuli and spreads over the entire subcortical
alimentary centre with both of its principal components—
secretory and motor—as well as over the corresponding part
of the cortical motor analyser.The moment food is presented,
there arises at the points of application of the strongest nat¬
ural conditioned stimuli, which have not participated in
developing inhibition, an excitation rapidly affecting the ali¬
mentary region of the motor analyser; the latter is more la¬
bile in comparison with the subcortical centre, where the in¬
hibition dissipates only if the motor effect of the uncondi-

364
tioned stimulus is more pronounced. One might draw a cer¬
tain analogy between this phenomenon and the deliberate,
volitional introduction of food into the mouth, its mastica¬
tion and ingestion, in the absence of any trace of appetite.
However, it can, of course, be assumed (there are suf¬
ficient grounds for this) that the conditioned connection
with the salivary secretion is likewise effected in the cortex
through the cortical representation of the salivary glands,
and if so, all the cases of dissociation of the secretory and
motor reactions can be attributed to a different localization
of inhibition at the onset of the hypnotic state and in the
course of its development.
Another hypnotic phenomenon whose physiological mech¬
anism must be elucidated by us is negativism. This, obvi¬
ously, is a manifestation of inhibition, since it is a phasic
phenomenon which gradually ends in sleep. Likewise, there
is no doubt that it is a cortical localized inhibition because
the salivary reaction accompanying it reveals a condi¬
tioned, i.e., cortical character. Consequently, it is natural to
conclude that this is a motor inhibition related to the motor
region of the cortex, to the motor analyser. But how is this
form of inhibition to be explained? Why does the negative
phase of the motor action appear first and the positive one
next? What causes the change? It seems to us that this can
be easily explained by more general, already known facts.
When the hypnotic, inhibitory state sets in, the .cortical cells
become, as it were, weaker and less efficient—the maximum
limit of their possible excitability diminishes. This is the so-
called paradoxical phase, when a strong stimulus usually
turns into a super-powerful one and may evoke not excita¬
tion, but inhibition, or it may strengthen the latter. We must
also assume that a movement proceeding from the motor
analyser, as is generally the case, consists of two opposite
innervations—positive and negative, a movement towards
the object and a movement from the object, which is similar
to the relations of the flexors and extensors in the limbs.
The negativism may be then explained in the following way.

365
A conditioned stimulus, slightly inhibited or not inhibited at
all, directs a stimulation from the cortex to a corresponding
positive innervating point of the motor region wihich is in a
paradoxical state due to a certain degree of hypnotization.
That is why the stimulation does not excite the above-men¬
tioned point, but intensifies its inhibition. Then this extra¬
ordinary local inhibition, in accordance with the law of recip¬
rocal induction, excites the negative point which is closely
associated with the positive one. Hence the first negative
phase of negativism. When the stimulus is removed, the ex¬
traordinarily inhibited positive point, by virtue of internal
reciprocal induction, immediately becomes excited itself; at
the same time the negative point, excited by the induction,
at once passes into a state of extraordinary inhibition and
in its turn positively induces the positive point. Thus, ^after
its first extraordinary inhibition the positive point under¬
goes, so to speak, a double excitation. In accordance with
this, if the hypnotic state does not deepen, the positive phase
usually takes the upper hand after a single or repeated pres¬
entation and removal of the food—the dog begins to take
it. We observe, then, a highly labile state of the cellular ac¬
tivity which is one of the properties of the transitional phase.
This is proved by the further course of developments. If the
hypnotic state deepens, there remains only the negative
phase; reverse induction becomes impossible, and no excita¬
tion of the motor innervating apparatus is observed at all.
Approximately in this period of the conditioned alimen¬
tary reaction under hypnosis there is manifested one of the
conditions for a fragmentary localization of hypnogenous
inhibition in the cortex. One of our dogs, as shown in the
descriptive part of this article, exhibited a very interesting
and peculiar’phenomenon (already mentioned by one of us
in a previous article®®). This relates to a definite sequence
of inhibition in the adjacent zones of the motor region. The
sequence can be explained by the fact that the inhibition
embraces first of all those regions whose activity was most
intense before the onset of the hypnotic state. Since in the

365
 repeated process of eating the masticatory and lingual
muscles worked most of all, then the cervical muscles, and
finally the muscles of the trunk, the inhibition manifested it¬
self in the same sequence.
The interesting phenomenon of a positive excitatory in¬
fluence exerted in the course of hypnotization by the slight¬
est change in the appearance of the food qnd in the manner
of its presentation, is likewise accounted for by the general
property of the cortical activity already known to us. It
was established in our laboratory long ago (by Dr. Y. V.
Volborth) that there is a conditioned inhibition of the sec¬
ond order, just as there is a conditioned excitation of the
second order. The phenomenon is as follows. If an indif¬
ferent stimulus repeatedly coincides in time with an elab¬
orated inhibitory process (for example, in the course of a
differentiation), then it soon becomes an inhibitory agent
itself. It is then easily understood why everything acting
on the cerebral hemispheres during the state of hypnosis
(which in itself is a certain degree of inhibition) acquires an
inhibitory character. Hence, it is sometimes sufficient to
bring the dog into the experimental chamber to evoke in it
a hypnotic state. Any new stimuli, even very insignificant
ones, naturaUy do not produce this inhibitory effect, and
consequently, evoke positive cortical activity.
The auto-curative reflex mentioned in the descriptive part
of this article is simply one of the subcortical reflexes mani¬
fested in the state of hypnosis after short feeding. The proc¬
ess of eating with all its exciting components, acts on the
more or less hypnotized cortex as a strong stimulus and en¬
tails an intensification of cortical inhibition. A positive in¬
duction then proceeds from the cortex to the subcortical cen¬
tres, which are now under the action of the ultra-weak stim¬
uli or traces of former strong stimuli. The animal begins
to sneeze, to scratch itself, etc., which was not observed in
the alert state. Of a similar nature was the experimental
case with a dog whose state resembled a war-time neurosis;

•?57
this case is described and analysed in the present volume
of Collected Papers.^'' ^
As to the effect of differentiations, i.e., of conditioned in¬
hibitory stimuli, we have long known that their influence on
diffused inhibition is of a two-fold, contrasting character. In
the case of a very feeble, diffused cortical inhibition, of a
weak hypnotic intensity, the well-elaborated inhibitory stim¬
ulus concentrates the diffused inhibition to a greater or
lesser degree and in doing so either fully abolishes the hyp¬
notic state or weakens it. On the contrary, in the case of a
strong inhibitory tonus of the cortex, the same stimulus in¬
tensifies the inhibition, as it were, by its summation with
the existing inhibition. Consequently, the result is deter¬
mined by the relations of intensity.
Let us, finally, consider the last experiment cited by us in
the descriptive part of this article, when an extremely strong
stimulus, contrary to stimuli of moderate strength and to
weak stimuli, instead of intensifying the inhibition, often
produced a positive action. The latter can be explained by
the direct influence of the extremely strong stimulus on the
subcortex; the intense subcortical excitation is communi¬
cated to the cortex, thus dissipating or weakening the inhib¬
itory process in it. A special experimental method applied
by us proves the correctness of this interpretation. When
the monotonous experimental surroundings begin to have a
hypnotizing effect on some of our animals, we, incidentally,
counteract it by increasing their alimentary excitability by
means of a certain diminution of their daily food ration.
And naturally this increase of alimentary excitability must
be located in the subcortical alimentary centre.
 THE PROBLEM OF SLEEPas

Dear Comrades,
Although something extraordinary, one might say, even
distressing, befell me yesterday, with the result that I am
now, so to speak, not quite myself, I thought it necessary,
nevertheless, to be present at the conference. Why? Because
I believe that in a discussion of a scientific matter such as
sleep, which is essential both from the practical and clin¬
ical points of view, my judgement will be not without
interest, especially since I, jointly with my colleagues, have
been studying the phenomena of sleep for thirty-five years
in the course of our research into the higher nervous ac¬
tivity of dogs.
We came up against the phenomena of sleep at an early
stage in our research; we were obliged to consider it, to
subject it to special investigation, which now gives me
the right to speak on this subject. That is why, despite my
somewhat disturbed state, I decided to come here and to
say a few words.

I should like first of all to make a general remark. The

more perfect the nervous system of the animal organism,
the more centralized it is’ the more its higher part controls
and regulates the entire activity of the organism, even
though this is not clearly manifest. It might seem to us that

?4—773 369
in higher animals many functions are effected independ¬
ently of the influence of the cerebral hemispheres, but this
is not so in reality. The higher part controls all the phe¬
nomena which develop in the organism. This was estab¬
lished long ago in the phenomena of hypnotic suggestion
and auto-suggestion. It is well known that during hypnot¬
ic sleep it is possible to influence many vegetative processes
by means of suggestion. On the other hand, we know of
cases of auto-suggestion, such as symptoms of imaginary
pregnancy, accompanied by an active state of the lacteal
glands and the accumulation of fat in the abdominal walls,
simulating the pregnancy. All this originates from the head,
from thoughts and words, from the cerebral hemispheres in
order to influence such a peaceful and genuinely vegetative
process as the growth of the adipose tissue.
If the cerebral hemispheres, as everybody knows, are
concerned with the slightest details of our movements,
bringing some into action and suppressing others, just as
it takes place, for example, when one plays the piano, one
can easily imagine the minuteness of the degree of inhibi¬
tion: one movement of a certain intensity is effected, while
another, neighbouring movement, even the smallest one, is
suppressed and retained. Or take, for example, our speech
movements. What a multitude of words we have for express¬
ing our thoughts! Nevertheless, we are precise in convey¬
ing the sense; we never use unnecessary words, employing
only those which are most suitable in the given case, etc.
Consequently, if the cerebral hemispheres constantly inter¬
fere even with these minute everyday activities and regu¬
late them, it would be strange to suppose that the division
of our activity into wakeful and sleeping states does not
depend on the cerebral hemispheres. It is clear that here,
too, supreme power belongs to the cerebral hemispheres and
all of us are well aware of this.
Now, at a certain time of the day we become drowsy,
and, since we are tired, sleep sets in. But we can do with¬
out sleep a whole night, and even for two or three nights

BIO
in succession. And it is our head, our cerebral hemispheres
which, of course, control this phenomenon.
I shall now turn to the details.
It is clear, and everybody is aware of this now, since
it has become a widespread and established physiological
truth—that our entire nervous activity consists of two proc¬
esses—excitatory and inhibitory—and that our whole life
is a continuous interaction of these two processes.
When we began our objective study of the higher nerv¬
ous activity by the method of conditioned reflexes, and be¬
gan to elucidate the laws of the particular functions and
tasks accomplished by the cerebral hemispheres, we, of
course, immediately encountered the two processes. Every
physiologist knows that these processes are inseparable,
that they are always present not only in the nerve cell,
but in each nerve fibre.
(I must make a certain reservation. If I begin to speak
about conditioned reflexes this would take a lot of time,
and I do not know when I would end. Since we have been
working on conditioned reflexes for thirty-five years and
have published the results of our work in special papers
and books, allow me to assume that knowledge of condi¬
tioned reflexes is widespread and consequently, there is no
need to treat this subject in an elementary way, i.e., to be¬
gin all over again.)
When we applied our conditioned stimuli and then car¬
ried out a detailed investigation of the activity evoked by
them at every given moment, we constantly observed a
spontaneous development of inhibition side by side with
excitation. In other cases we produced the inhibition our¬
selves when we wanted to separate different phenomena.
Since you are acquainted to a degree with the condi¬
tioned reflexes, you undoubtedly know that we have, on
the one hand, external stimuli which produce an excitatory
process in the central nervous system, and, on the other
hand, stimuli which produce an inhibitory process in .the
cerebral hemispheres. Right at the beginning of our research

24* ^7/
we observed that as soon as we applied the inhibitory stirn-
ulus, a somnolent state of the animal, in the form of drowsi¬
ness’or sleep, immediately intervened. This was of a con¬
stant character. We had to conclude, therefore, that these
phenomena are closely interconnected and that certain
efforts and resources are necessary to get rid of this
drowsiness or sleep in the course of experimentation. Thus,
when an inhibitory process arises in the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, establishing in them a certain differentiation either
between the stimuli or between different moments of stimu
lation, etc., a state of drowsiness inevitably develops.
You can see, as we have seen during the past thirty-five
years, that every time a cortical inhibition sets in which
analytically assigns its proper place to everything, giving
free rein to one process and suppressing the other, a state
of drowsiness or in its ultimate stage of development—a
state of sleep—simultaneously and invariably appears. The
view that drowsiness and sleep are phenomena related to
the cerebral hemispheres and that they are ihe result of the
action of definite stimuli, is strictly obligatory for us. Surely
a phenomenon observed every day is beyond any doubt.
That, of course, leads to the next question. How does this
come about? What has this to do with sleep when it is
simply a matter of differentiation between stimuli? They
appear to be different things having nothing in common.
But the matter is quite simple. If We admit that every¬
thing can be explained by a constant interaction between
the excitatory and inhibitory processes, then we shall have
no difficulty in understanding the phenomeria. Every time
you produce an inhibition, a physiological inhibition, i.e.,
when you want to separate the active state from the in¬
active, drowsiness, as I have already said, immediately
begins to manifest itself. But you can always eliminate this
drowsiness, suppress it, and, on the contrary, ensure the
predominance of the excitatory process. This is within your
power, within your experimental pCssibilities, and it is what
we do. The moment a state of drowsiness develops in the

m
dog during an experiment, i.e., the moment inhibition takes
the upper hand, we apply a stimulation, thereby eliminating
the drowsiness, limiting the Inhibition and confining it
within definite bounds.
How, then, is this matter to be further interpreted? It
must be admitted that both excitation and inhibition are
dynamic processes, which, on the one hand, may irradiate
and spread, and, on the other, may be driven into definite
narrow confines and concentrated there. This is the main
point, the whole secret, and it is this that we use in all
our physiological activity.
The basic property of both processes consists in the fact
that on the one hand, when they arise, they tend to spread,
to occupy an undue area; on the other hand, they can, given
the corresponding conditions, concentrate in definite regions
and remain there. When the inhibition is irradiated, dif¬
fused, you have the phenomenon of drowsiness or sleep.
Everybody knows, of course, that sleep does not set in
instantaneously, that it is a gradual process. Similarly one
does not awake all of a sudden; certain time is required be¬
fore one gradually becomes active and, so to speak, com¬
pletely fhrows off the fetters of sleep.
I advise everybody who values scientific truth, who does
not want to reconcile himself to superficial knowledge, who
is tormented by the thought “is this right or not?”, to make
a thorough study of two articles in my book Twenty Years
of Objective Study which is the result of thirty-five years
of intense refiections. One of the articles is entitled “Inhibi¬
tion and Sleep” and the other, written jointly with
M. K. Petrova,—“The Physiology of the Hypnotic State.”
In any case, in order to give you a more or less clear
illustration of this phenomenon, I shall cite one of our ex¬
periments.
I must tell you that when you observe the genesis of
drowsiness and its first manifestations, you become con¬
vinced, and unshakably so, that hypnosis and sleep are, of
course, one and the same process. In essence, hypnosis does

573
not differ from sleep; it differs only in certain peculiari¬
ties. Hypnosis, for example, is sleep which develops very
slowly, i.e., it is at first confined to a very small and re¬
stricted area and then begins to spread farther and farther
until it finally descends from the cerebral hemispheres to
the subcortex, leaving untouched only the centres of respi¬
ration, of the heart-beat, etc., though somewhat weakening
these too.
I shall now submit to you one of the numerous cases
investigated by us in the course of thirty-five years. Let
us take a dog which is falling into a state of drowsiness,
sleep or hypnosis. What do we observe in this animal?
Our experiments with conditioned alimentary reflexes show
the following: at first the dog works and eats quite nor¬
mally: then its tongue comes out of the mouth in a strange
manner, and gradually begins to fall down. This is the first
manifestation of a certain functional paralysis, of a dimi¬
nution of activity, of inhibition of the minute centre in the
motor region of the cortex which controls the movement
of the tongue. This centre becomes inactive, as a result
of which the tongue is paralyzed and falls out of the
mouth.
A certain period of time passes, and you give the dog
food. You see that its 'tongue functions very slowly and
awkwardly; later, you also observe—not at once, but per¬
haps after the second or third offering of food—that the
dog uses its jaws with difficulty, that its mastication is ut¬
terly impeded, since the mouth opens and closes very slow¬
ly. Thus you witness a weakening of the activity of the
masticating musculature, its inhibition'or sleep.
At the same time, however, you notice that when food
is offered to the dog, which until then was standing with
its head turned away or with its eyes fixed on the ceiling,
it easily and quickly turns its head towards .you and falls
upon the food.
But as time goes on, you observe in the course of the
experiment that although the dog turns towards you, it

374
brings its head to the food with great difficulty. Conse¬
quently, the inhibition or’ sleep has already seized other
points of the skeletal movement, namely, those which con¬
trol the movement of the neck.
You then see that the dog is unable even to turn towards
the food, that it does not move the neck and does not take
the food. And finally, you observe the onset of a general
passivity of the skeletal musculature: the dog hangs limply
in the loops, it is in a state of sleep. Thus, inhibition grad¬
ually develops before your eyes in a very obvious and
concrete manner; at first it affects the tongue, then it
spreads to the cervical muscles, from there to the general
skeletal musculature until, finally, sleep sets in.
When you observe this development you can hardly
doubt that inhibition and sleep are one and the same
process.
The articles to which I have just referred contain nu¬
merous similar facts. And anyone that makes a thorough
study of them will be convinced that inhibition and sleep
are one and the same phenomenon. The only difference is
that when the most minute points of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres are inactive, it is inhibition and, at the same time,
sleep of an isolated cell; but when this inhibition, duly or
unduly, spreads under the -influence of certain conditions,
it embraces more and more new areas of cells and is mani¬
fested in a passive, inactive state of the numerous organs
dependent on these regions.
It is a pity that cinematography appeared too late and
could not be utilized by us and our physiological laborato¬
ries. Had it been as accessible then as it is now, all these
phenomena could have been very easily comprehended. We
could now demonstrate them to you in the space of fifteen
minutes, and you would leave us with the deep conviction
that inhibition and sleep are one and the same process. But
while inhibition is a concentrated process, hypnosis and
sleep represent an inhibition which spreads over more or
less vast areas.

57.5
 This displacement of inhibition is of great importance for
the comprehension of numerous nerVous phenomena
The British mind, as far as I have been able to follow it,
has fully realized and caught up this idea. Thus, Wilson, one
of the outstanding British neurologists, now considers all
cases of narcoleps/^ and cataplexy'““ precisely from this
point of view. And we, who have observed all these phenom¬
ena in dogs, fully agree with him. In our opinion, Wilson
is undoubtedly on the right trail. , .
Such, in general outline, of course, is our understanding
of the phenomena relating to alternating sleep in the cere¬
bral hemispheres, as well as to the sleep of the entire brain,
following the mobile inhibition.

I shall pass now to other facts which to a certain degree

compete with the concept just developed by me.
First of all I draw your attention to an extremely impor¬
tant fact recently obtained in the Soviet Union by Prof. Gal¬
kin, in A. D. Speransky’s laboratory. It should be pointed
out’that this fact had been observed long ago in the clinic,
but only once. Of course, much consideration was given to
it at the time, and it was even properly understood by some
researchers; but a single fact is not sufficiently convincing.
This fact concerns an observation made long ago by Strum-
pel on a patient, in whom most of the sense organs were
damaged and who could communicate with the external
world only through two openings which remained intact-
one eye and one ear. When he covered these openings with
his hands he inevitably fell asleep.
This phenomenon is now being reproduced in the labora¬
tory, and in the following way. We destroy three distant
receptors in the dog, namely, smell, hearing and sight; this
means that we section the fili olfactorii,^®^ sever the n. op-
tici or extirpate the eyes and damage both cochleae. After

376
this operation the dog sleeps twenty-three and a half hours
a day. It wakens only when the elementary functions of the
organism begin to annoy it—the necessity to eat, to evac¬
uate the urinary bladder or the bowels, etc. But it is ex¬
tremely difficult to awake the animal in the middle of the
day. For this purpose it is not sufficient to stroke the dog, it
is absolutely necessary to shake it; and then, before your
eyes, it slowly awakens, stretches itself, yawns, and finally
stands up. Such is the fact, and it is an exact fact. We re¬
peated the experiment several times and the result was al¬
ways the same.
The character of the operation performed on the dog ex¬
cludes any supposition that its nervous system has been
damaged. If the operation is done thoroughly, the dog comes
through it more or less easily; the fact that two days after
the operation -it is able to eat shows best the ease with which
it endures the loss of the above-mentioned receptors.
However, I must direct your attention to a minor detail.
If you destroy the receptors gradually, i.e., at first one
of them, the second two or three months later, and in an¬
other period of three months the third, then sleep does not
set in. The dog, of course, is not as active as the animal
which sees and hears normally; indeed, if it has lost the
sense of smell and is unable to see, what can make it move?
And it is perfectly understandable that for the most part it
lies rolled up. But the moment you touch the intact receptor,
for example, by stroking the dog, it immediately rises and
begins to act.
When, however, you deprive the cerebral hemispheres of a
large quantity of stimulations at once, the dog falls into a
state of deep sleep. This indubitable fact, which must be
reckoned with, naturally gives rise to the following ques¬
tion; how is this phenomenon to be interpreted? And in this
connection there arises the problem of two kinds of sleep
the passive sleep caused by the abolition of a large quantity
of stimulations usually reaching the cerebral hemispheres,
and the active sleep which, in my understanding, is an in-

,377
hibitory process, since the latter must be undoubtedly re¬
garded as an active process and not as a state of inactivity.
Then the following question of principle arises: Does not
the nervous system experience three different states—excita¬
tion, inhibition, and a certain indifferent state, when the first
two are absent?
But proceeding from the general biological data we have
grounds for doubting the existence of a neutral state. Life is
a continuous interchange of destruction and restoration, in
view of which a neutral state is simply inconceivable. On
the whole, the problem can be reduced to the following: is
not the passive sleep, which differs from the usual sleep
developing under the above-mentioned conditions, also a re¬
sult of active inhibition?
I think that certain considerations can be submitted which
make it clear that the cases of sleep observed in dogs, oper¬
ated upon in accordance with the method of Speransky and
Galkin, could be also accounted for by inhibition; it is an
active inhibition greatly favoured by the circumstances,
since now there is no need for the inhibition to struggle
against an extensive excitatory process and train itself, and
as a result the stimulations falling upon the dog extremely
facilitate the sleep. Why is this so? Because when the dog
is mostly in a lying posture, certain points of its skin are
continuously stimulated both mechanically.and thermally.
It is, therefore, conceivable that the passive sleep is evoked
by a continuous and monotonous stimulation of the remain¬
ing receptors. And we know the fundamental rule according
to which each cell, under the influence of continuous and
monotonous stimulations, inevitably becomes inhibited.
Consequently, it is possible to interpret this sleep as
a result of inhibition proceeding from the remaining recep¬
tors subjected to a prolonged monotonous stimulation.
This is partially confirmed also by the following fact.
When these dogs are transferred to new surroundings, they
at first become more active, are wakened more easily, etc.;
in other words, for a time they appear to be more lively.

378
 It can 'be assumed, therefore, that here, too, due to a
decline of the tonus, to the weakening of the excitatory proc¬
ess, the inhibition easily takes possession of the cerebral
hemispheres and that weak, monotonous stimulations arise
provoking an inhibitory process.
Then comes the following question: what happens to the
dogs in which the cerebral hemispheres are extirpated? As
a matter of fact, they, too, fall into a state of sleep. And
this circumstance is often used as a serious objection to
what I have just said, namely, to the statement that nor¬
mally sleep originates in the cerebral hemispheres.
But I do not regard this objection as being physiologically
grounded. It is clear that since sleep is a diffused inhibi¬
tion, and the latter spreads over the nervous system up to
the lower limit of the spinal cord, and since there is a cen¬
tral system and a nerve fibre, inhibition must indispensably
take place. In cases when the cerebral hemispheres are ab¬
sent, why should the inhibition not develop in the lower
parts of the central nervous system, now in a concentrated,
now in an irradiated form? This is all the more likely since
dogs possess lower levels of distant receptors—corpora ge-
niculata'”® (one relating to the ear, and the other—to the
eye), and we know that a dog deprived of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres reacts to acoustic and visual stimuli. Consequently,
the conditions remain the same as when the cerebral hemi¬
spheres are intact, and sleep in this case is not excluded—
it must inevitably manifest itself. So long as there exists
inhibition and there is a cell which, as a result of excitation,
is bound to become fatigued and fall into a state of inhibi¬
tion, all the conditions for the development of inhibition are
present. But in the absence of the cortex sleep begins from
the subcortical formations. Hence, there is no contradiction
here as far as the fundamental facts are concerned, that is,
the interchange of excitation and inhibition, their concen¬
tration and irradiation. If all these phenomena take place
also in the lower part of the central nervous system, then
why should sleep not develop there as well? Therefore, I

379
regard these objections as being physiologically groundless;
they cannot refute our statement about the initiative of the
cerebral hemispheres in the development of sleep in normal
conditions.
Next come more important facts. On the one hand, a clin¬
ical fact—the encephalitic sleep^®” or somnolence, and on
the other, the physiological apparatus advanced by the Swiss
physiologist Hess, which, as it were, rivals my concept
about sleep originating in the cerebral hemispheres.
As for clinical sleep, the clinical concept of the centre of
sleep is well known to clinicians; it is based on the fact that
after an infection of the brain, the so-called encephalitis,
which is accompanied by somnolence, considerable changes
take place in the hypothalamus.''^ On the basis of this fact
the simple conclusion is made that the centre of sleep must
be located there.
However, I make bold to say that this reasoning, which is
based on the fact that there is, on the one hand, sleep, and
on the other, la destruction of the hypothalamus, is over¬
simplified. The above conclusion is, therefore, too hasty.
Firstly, all that we know about the work of the cerebral
hemisphetes makes the concept of the hypothalamus as the
actual centre of sleep doubtful and incomprehensible. It is
difficult to assume that an infectious process arising in the
brain should in no way tell upon its most reactive part—the
cerebral hemispheres. It is likewise difficult to assume that
the toxins should remain exclusively in the subcortex, with¬
out spreading to the cerebral hemispheres. I fully realize,
of course, that bacteria favour definite chemical media, and
that there must be a very delicate difference between the
above-mentioned parts of the brain in respect of their chem¬
ical composition. It is quite conceivable that this is true,
that the process in question concentrates mainly in the hy¬
pothalamus and produces in the nerve cells changes which
can be afterwards revealed microscopically. But it may be
that in the cerebral hemispheres these Changes have only a
functional character and manifest themselves in the weak-
ening of the excitability of the hemispheres; at the same
time they may be inaccessible to microscopic investigation.
It can be supposed that there is a certain gradation of the
patho-anatomical changes—from visible phenomena to
purely functional, and, finally, invisible ones.
On the basis of what we observe in the hypothalamus it
is difficult to assert with confidence that these infections do
not exert any influence on the cerebral hemispheres. I would
regard such a conclusion as being too hasty.
Secondly, I do not contest the fact that encephalitis is ac¬
companied by sleep, and that this phenomenon is related to
the hypothalamus and complies with it. However, I am in¬
clined to interpret this fact in the same way as I have done
with regard to the fact established by Speransky and
Galkin. Here is what I have to say in this connection. There
is no doubt that the hypothalamus is a wide route with def¬
inite centres where the stimulations coming from the inter¬
nal world, i.e., from all the internal organs, are accumu¬
lated; its destruction leads to the isolation of the cerebral
hemispheres from the entire internal world, from the entire
activity of the organs; in other words, it provokes a state
analogous to that which arises when all three receptors are
destroyed, i.e., when the cerebral hemispheres are deprived
of external stimulations. The stimulations proceeding from
the internal organs, although we are not conscious of
them, constantly maintain a heightened tonus of the cerebral
hemispheres. This is proved in the first place by the fact that,
as I have already mentioned, dogs with extirpated cerebral
hemispheres are in a continuous state of sleep. Further
proof is provided by a pigeon deprived of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres and remaining constantly immobile and somnolent.
But the moment there arises the necessity to eat or to eva¬
cuate the excretory organs, the pigeon awakes. Conse¬
quently, there is no doubt that these stimulations act
on the cerebral hemispheres and bring it to a state of wake¬
fulness.
On the other hand, we know very well that in certain.

381
particular cases, we feel the heart-beat, the movements of the
intestines, etc.
Another long-established fact shows that internal stimu¬
lations contribute to the maintenance of the cortex in an
alert state, to its tonus. This fact was recently confirmed in
America, in laboratory conditions, on a person in whom the
ability to resist sleep for a long time was investigated. The
following phenomenon was observed. A person who like
yourself is interested in this particular investigation and
who tries hard to keep awake as long as possible, despite a
strong desire for sleep, successfully resists the state of som¬
nolence only when he walks or when he is in sitting posture.
The moment he lies down, i.e., relaxes the musculature, he
immediately falls asleep.
Thus you clearly see that our internal stimulations greatly
contribute to the maintenance of a certain tonus in the
cortex.
In my view, encephalitic sleep is caused by the separa¬
tion of all internal stimulations from the cerebral hemi¬
spheres due to an affection of the hypothalamus; it is, con¬
sequently, the same drastic decline of the tonus that is ob¬
served when the external receptors are destroyed.
There remains one more important fact which supports
the reasoning of the clinicians concerning the centre of
sleep. I have in mind the experiments of Hess, in the course
of which sleep was evoked by electric stimulation of defi¬
nite parts of the brain. I am not going to contest this fact
either. I fully admit it and believe that it will be reproduced
by other investigators; but I consider it necessary to say a
few words about its proper interpretation and the objections
which can be raised to the conclusion drawn by Hess.
The first thing which attracts attention is that the above
fact does not fully accord with the clinical fact, since the
points in the latter case do not coincide with those stimu¬
lated by Hess.
Hess himself emphasized this circumstance and stated
that his experiments would disappoint the clinicians, since

382
anatomically the points which produced sleep did not
coincide.
Whereas the lesions caused by encephalitis are located
in the region of the third ventricle, in its lateral walls, etc.,
Hess subjected to stimulation the lowest part of the brain,
almost reaching the brain stem.
How is this fact to be interpreted? It must be pointed out
that a phenomenon observed in the given organism under
normal conditions, as in our case, is one thing, and a phe¬
nomenon observed under pathological conditions, especially
when they are artificially produced in the laboratory, as
for example, the stimulation of the brain, is another thing.
They are, of course, absolutely different phenomena. While
in ihe latter case maximum simplicity can be attained, in
the normal state the phenomena become complicated. But in
the given case even Hess, who obtained a definite state in
dogs by stimulating certain points in the brain, stated that
this could be an excitation not only of the cells of an imag¬
inary, fantastic “centre of sleep,” but of centrifugal or cen¬
tripetal fibres; at the same time he drew attention to the
fact that the points used by him for producing a state of
sleep had been very limited.
Then I am fully entitled to ask the following question: is
not this simply a reflex sleep originating from the same
cerebral hemispheres? Indeed, we know very well that a
monotonous irritation of the skin, both in our laboratory
experiments on dogs and in our experiments on human
beings, produces a hypnotic state, a state of sleep. There
is nothing surprising in the fact that certain stimulations
of the nerve paths may provoke sleep. Consequently, these
experiments do not prove that sleep is a stimulation of a
definite centre. Along with hypnotization by means of
passes, which, undoubtedly, is a reflex inhibition caused
by monotonous stimulations, a hypnotic state can also be
evoked with the help of the verbal method. The latter is
addressed to the cerebral hemispheres. In our laboratory we
produce a state of sleep in dogs by means of a weak electric
stimulation of the skin; this sleep is so persistent that after
several experiments the place where the electrodes were
fixed becomes a conditioned hypnogenous stimulus: it suf¬
fices to touch this place or to cut the hair on it, and the dog
immediately subsides into deep sleep. Such is the effect of
peripheral stimulations.
What, then, is the value of Hess’s proof, especially since
he himself states that his sleep is produced with the help
of a weak electric current, and besides, a special (faradic,
and not direct) one? Consequently, this could be a very
weak stimulation corresponding to that which we obtain
in the laboratory by means of a weak electric current.
I find, therefore, that the Hess experiment, which was so
highly convincing in the eyes of the author himself, and
even more so in the eyes of the clinicians, can be rightfully
contested and reduced to what I have already said, the
existence of a special centre of sleep being out of the ques¬
tion. In my opinion, the crude idea that there is a special
group of nerve cells which produce sleep, while another
group produces the state of wakefulness, is, from the phys¬
iological point of view, contradictory. We observe the
phenomenon of sleep in every cell; what reason have we,
then, for asserting that there is a special .group of hyp¬
nogenous cells? If a cell exists, it inevitably produces a
state of inhibition, which irradiates and renders all the
neighbouring cells inactive; and when the inhibition con¬
tinues to spread, it produces sleep.
Such is my firm conviction.

DISCUSSION

Question: What is responsible for the absence of sleep in

dogs whose distant receptors were extirpated at different
times?
Answer: As you know, the inaction of one receptor always
leads to an intense training of all others. It is a well-known

384
fact, for example, that blind people have a highly sensitive
touch. The same thing occurs in the given case with the
reception of the external world when the olfactory receptor
is removed; the activity of the latter is made up by the rein¬
forced activity of the ear or the eye. It is, therefore, obvious
that successive extirpation of the receptors makes pos¬
sible such a training, while simultaneous extirpation
excludes it.
It should be pointed out that there are indications which
show that with the lapse of time, in the course of years,
the dogs to a certain extent train themselves with the help
of the remaining receptors (that is, of the oral and cutane¬
ous receptors) and in the end become more active. In any
case this fact was manifested in dogs which have been
used for these operations.
Question: From the point of view of inhibition how do
you explain a sleep accompanied by abundant dreams?
Answer: As I have already said, sleep is an inhibition
which gradually and steadily spreads to the lower levels
of the brain. It is clear, therefore, that when sleep and fa¬
tigue begin to set in, the highest part of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, which controls verbal activity (I call it the second
signalling system of reality), becomes inhibited first, since
we constantly operate with words.
I can add now—for the sake of brevity I omitted it in
my talk—that this inhibitory process has its external and
internal stimuli.
Among the internal stimuli of inhibition is the humoral
element, or consequently, certain cellular metabolites, which
evoke this inhibition. On the other hand, the external
inhibitory stimuli, as I have already mentioned, are monot¬
onous and weak. Naturally, it is the highest part of our
brain, the verbal part of our higher cortical activity which
functions in the daytime. Fatigue calls forth inhibition, and
this part becomes inactive. But along with the verbal func¬
tion of the cerebral hemispheres there is a function which

25—773 385
 we share with animals and which is termed by me the first
signalling system, i.e., the reception of impressions pro¬
duced by all the stimuli acting on us.
It is quite clear that when we are in an alert state, the
part of the cortex controlling our speech, inhibits the first
signalling system; that is why in the alert state we (ex¬
cept the artistic type of man whose constitution is of a
, peculiar character), when speaking, never imagine the
object which we designate by words. I close my eyes and
think of the person sitting in front of me, but I do not see
him in my thoughts. Why? Because the excitation of the
higher part inhibits the lower part. That is why when sleep
begins and embraces only the higher part of the hemi¬
spheres, the adjacent lower part bearing a direct relation
to impressions prevails and is manifested in dreams. When
there is no pressure from above, a certain degree of
freedom sets in. And even here a new fact must be added,
a fact encountered in physiology, namely, positive induc¬
tion. When one point becomes inhibited, the other, on the
contrary, becomes excited. And if we grant this, i.e., if we
assume positive induction, the phenomenon of sleep becomes
particularly clear.
Question: Judging by what you have said, there is no
centre of sleep. How, then, are we to explain the fact that
for such an important function as sleep there is no centre,
while there are centres for other, even less important
functions of metabolism, for example, a sugar centre, a
water centre, etc.?
Answer: The explanation is quite simple. Inhibition and
sleep exist for each cell. Consequently, they do not need any
special cellular groups.

Question: How should the problem of fatigue be con¬

sidered from this point of view?

Answer: I have already said that fatigue is one of the

automatic internal stimuli of the inhibitory process.

386
 Question'. How do you explain the occurrence of fits dur¬
ing sleep?
Answer. There is nothing special in this, because we are
aware of the resources of our nervous system, the cere¬
bral hemispheres. The following phenomenon is often
observed: inhibition spreads over the cerebral hemispheres
and sleep sets in; nevertheless, certain points, which I call
points on duty or on guard, may remain active. This is
observed, for example, in the sleep of the miller who wakes
up when the noise of the mill ceases, or in the sleep of the
mother who wakes up at the faintest sound coming from
her child, but who is not disturbed by much louder sounds.
So that when the conditions for the excitation of a certain
part arise, sleep does not prevent the development of the
process.

Question: How can all the complicated reactions of a

hypnotized person be explained, if we admit that in the
state of hypnosis his entire nervous system is inhibited
with the exception of the one point by means of which he
communicates with the hypnotist?

Answer: I have pointed out that hypnosis is a kind of

sleep which gradually spreads from a basic point.
Here is a fact which was observed in our laboratory.
You have a dog which long ago was deprived of three recep¬
tors and which is in a constant state of sleep. Nevertheless,
you can awaken it with the help of the remaining cutaneous
receptors, bring it to the laboratory, place it in the stand
and perform experiments on it. Then the following, ex¬
tremely interesting phenomenon is observed, a phenomenon
analogous to the hypnotic state: you oan elaborate only
one reflex in a dog of this kind; it is impossible to form in
it, as can be done in a normal animal, two, three, or four
reflexes simultaneously. This is explained by the fact that
the cortical tonus, i.e., the excitatory process in the entire
cortex, is very weak; hence, when it concentrates on one

25* 387
stimulus, there is nothing left for other stimuli and they
remain inactive.
In this way I explain also hypnosis and rapport.*”® The
cerebral hemispheres are not wholly embraced by inhibi¬
tion, since certain points of excitation may be formed in
them. Through such an excited point you evoke a response
and suggest. And then the hypnotized person inevitably
executes your order, for when you give it you have every¬
thing extremely restricted. Consequently, all the influence
of the other parts of the cerebral hemispheres on that which
is suggested by your words, on the stimulations which you
produce, is fully isolated from all others. And when the
hypnotized person wakes up after such suggestion, he is
powerless to do anything with this isolated excitation, since
it is detached from all others. Therefore, in hypnosis it is
a question not of complete, but of partial sleep. That is the
difference between hypnotic and natural sleep. Whereas
natural sleep represents a general inhibition of the cerebral
hemispheres, however, with the above-mentioned exception
of the so-called points on duty and points on guard, hyp¬
nosis is a partial inhibition affecting only a definite point,
all others remaining in an active state.

Question-. How do you explain the regular interchange

of sleep and wakefulness?
Answer. It is clear that our daytime activity is the sum
total of the excitations which cause a certain amount of
exhaustion; when this exhaustion reaches peak, it evokes
automatically, in an internal humoral way, a state of inhibi¬
tion accompanied by sleep.
PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
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 PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE STUDY
OF THE HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY
OF ANIMALS106

First of all, I consider it my duty to thank the Philosoph¬

ical Society for expressing readiness, through its chairman,
to listen to what I have to say. I do not know to what extent
my subject will be of interest to the members. As for myself,
however, I have a special purpose which will be revealed
at the end of my address.
I wish to inform you of the results of very extensive
research carried out by me in the course of many years
jointly with a dozen or so colleagues who constantly par¬
ticipated in it both with their heads and with their hands.
Without their co-operation, this wbrk would have been only
one-tenth of what it is. So that when I use the word “I,” you
should take it not in the narrow sense of an author, but,
so to speak, in the sense of a conductor. In the main I
guided and co-ordinated the work.
Now for the essence of my subject.
Let us take any higher animal, for example, the dog.
Although it is not at the top of the zoological ladder (the
monkey occupies a higher place), it is closer to man than
any other animal and has been his companion since pre¬
historic times. I heard the late zoologist Modest Bog-
danov^®^ state the following when reviewing prehistoric man
and his companions, especially the dog: “Justice compels
us to say that it is the dog that helped man to become what
he is.” Such is his appreciation of the dog. Consequently,

391
the dog is not just an ordinary animal. Indeed, consider a
watch-dog, a hunter, a domestic pet, etc.; before your eyes
is their entire activity in all its higher manifestations, or,
as the Americans are inclined to call it, their entire behav¬
iour. If I wished to study this higher activity of the dog, that
is, to systematize the phenomena of its lire and to dis¬
close the laws and rules which govern them, the following
question would inevitably confront me: how shall I act
and which way shall I choose? Generally speaking, there
are two ways. One is the ordinary way taken by everybody.
It consists in attributing the human inner world to the
animal, that is, in assuming that the animal thinks, feels,
desires, etc., in much the same way as we do. Consequently,
this means guessing what takes place within the animal and
interpreting its behaviour on the basis of these suppositions.
The other way is entirely different; this is the way of natural
science which considers the phenomena, the facts, from a
purely external aspect, and which in the given case would
concentrate only on the agents of the external world that
act on the dog, as well as on the visible reactions of the
dog to these agents.
The question, therefore.,is this: which way is preferable,
more expedient, the best way to tackle the problem? Allow
me to answer this question, which is of great importance,
by presenting the facts in chronological order. Several
decades ago my laboratory made a study of the digestive
process, and specially investigated the activity of the diges¬
tive glands producing the digestive juices by means of
which the food is transformed, assimilated by the organ¬
ism and enters into the vital chemical processes. Our job
was to study all the conditions which determined the work
of these glands. Much of our investigation was devoted to
the first of these glands, the salivary gland. A detailed and
systematic study of the latter demonstrated that its work is
extremely delicate and highly adaptable to whatever sub¬
stance enters the mouth, and that the quantity and quality
of saliva show corresponding considerable fluctuations.

392
When the ingested food is dry, there is an abundant secre¬
tion of saliva, since the food must be moistened; when the
food is moist, the amount of saliva is smaller. If it is a
matter of food which must pass into the stomach, the saliva
is rich in mucus; it lubricates the mass of food and thereby
facilitates its ingestion. But when there is a substance
which must be ejected from the mouth, the saliva is watery
and helps to rinse the mouth.
Thus, we see a series of delicate co-ordinations between
the work of the salivary gland and the kind of substance
upon which the saliva is secreted. Next comes the question:
what underlies this delicate co-ordination, what is its
mechanism? The physiologist—and that is my speciality—
has a ready answer to this question. The properties of the
food act on the nerve endings and stimulate them. These
nervous impulses proceed to definite points of the central
nervous system and thence to the nerves leading to the
salivary gland. In this way there arises an obvious
connection between the substance which enters the mouth
and the work of the gland. The particulars of this
connection are explained by the fact that the nerves from
the oral cavity, where the substances act, are separately
excited by acid, sweet, rough, soft, hard, hot, cold, etc.; thus
the impulses are conducted now by one nerve, now by
another. In the central nervous system these impulses are
transmitted to the salivary gland along different nerves.
Some of them evoke one kind of activity, the others—activity
of a different kind. Consequently, the different properties
of the food stimulate different nerves, and in the central
nervous system there takes place a transfer of the impulses
to corresponding nerves which evoke one or another activity.
Since we aimed at a complete investigation we had to
consider all the concomitant conditions, apart from those I
have just mentioned. The substances introduced into the
mouth act on the salivary gland. But does the same thing
occur when food is placed in front of the dog, i.e., is it
effective at a distance? We know very well that when we

393
are hungry, the sight of food evokes in us a flow of saliva.
Hence, the expression “the mouth waters.” It was, there¬
fore, necessary to investigate this phenomenon as well.
What does it mean, especially since in this case there is
no contact with food substances lat all? Concerning these
facts physiology used to say that in addition to ordinary
stimulation, there is psychical stimulation of the salivary
gland. Very well. But what does this imply, how is it to be
interpreted, how must we, physiologists, tackle the ques¬
tion? We could not ignore it, because it played a certain
part. On what grounds could we discard it? Let us, first of
all, consider the bare fact of psychical excitation. It turned
out that psychical excitation, i.e., the action of a substance
at a distance, is exactly the same as when it is in the mouth.
It is absolutely the same in all respects. Depending on the
kind of food shown to the dog, whether dry or liquid, edible
or absolutely inedible, the salivary gland functions in
exactly the same way as when these substances are intro¬
duced into the mouth. The psychical excitation reveals exactly
the same relations, but on a somewhat smaller scale. How,
then, is this to be studied? Naturally, when we see la dog
eat rapidly, snatch the food land chew it for a long time,
we think, willy-nilly, that the animal strongly desires to
eat, and that it is this that makes it rush to the food and
swallow it. It longs to eat. Another time the dog’s move¬
ments are slow and languid, and so we say that it has no
great desire to eat. When it eats, you see the work of the
muscles alone, which is fully aimed at introducing the food
into the mouth, at chewing and swallowing it. Judging by
all this, one would say that the dog experiences pleasure in
eating. On the contrary, when an inedible substance gets
into the mouth, and the dog ejects it, forces it out with the
help of the tongue and by shaking its head, we involuntarily
say that this is unpleasant for the animal. Now, when we
decided to elucidate and analyse this phenomenon, we at
first adopted this trite point of view. We took into account
the feelings, desires, imagination, etc., of our animal. And

B94
this resulted in a quite unexpected and extraordinary fact:
one of my colleagues and I irreconcilably differed in opin¬
ion. We could not come to agreement, could not convince
each other as to who was right; for decades prior to this,
as well as afterwards, we always reached agreement on all
questions, one way or another, but the given case ended in
complete discord. This made us meditate on the matter. It
seemed probable that we were not on the right track. And
the more we thought about the matter, the more convinced
we became that another course of investigation should be
followed. Overcoming the difficulties which I experienced
in the beginning, and taking the way of persistent thought
and concentrated attention, I finally reached the ground of
true objectivity. Such psychological expressions, as the dog
guessed, wished, desired, etc., were wholly withdrawn from
our use (in our laboratory a fine was even imposed on
their use). Finally, all the phenomena with which we were
concerned appeared to us in la new light. So what, then, is
the point? What is that which the physiologists term psy¬
chical stimulation of the salivary gland? We, naturally, put
ourselves the question: is it not a form of nervous activity,
long ago established by physiology and well known to
physiologists? Is it not a reflex? And what does this reflex
of the physiologist represent? It consists of three chief ele¬
ments. In the first place, there is an indispensable external
agent producing the stimulation. In the second place, there
is a definite nervous path by means of which the external
impulse makes itself felt in the effector organ. This is the
so-called reflex arc, a chain composed of an afferent nerve,
a central part and a centrifugal or efferent nerve. And final¬
ly, in the third place, the law-governed, but not accidental
or capricious, nature of the reaction. Given certain condi¬
tions the reaction always and invariably arises. Of course,
this must not be understood in the sense of absolute con¬
stancy, in other words, as meaning that circumstances may
never occur in which the agent does not act. It is obvious
that there can be conditions in which the action remains

395
disguised. According to the law of gravity all things must
fall to the earth, but once you support them this does
not occur.
Now let us return to our subject. What, then, is the psychi¬
cal stimulation of the salivary gland? When food is placed
in front of the animal, before its eyes, it certainly acts on
the animal, on its eye, ear, nose. No essential difference
between this action and that in the mouth is observed. Tnere
are reflexes from the eye and from the ear. Upon hearing a
loud sound we start—a reflex action. Under the action of
a strong light the pupils of our eyes contract. Hence, this
does not interfere with our concept that what we call psy¬
chical stimulation is a reflex. The second element, the nervous
path, is, obviously, also present here; for when the dog sees
the food, the nervous path originates not from the nerves
of the, mouth, but from those of the eye, then proceeds to
the central nervous system and from there puts the salivary
gland into action. Again there is no essential difference
here, and there is nothing to prevent us from representing
this as a reflex. Let us now examine the third element—
the law-governed nature of the reaction. In this respect the
following must be pointed out: the given stimulation cts
less regularly, less often than when the stimulant is in the
mouth. However, it is possible to acquire such a degree of
knowledge and mastery of the subject that all the condi¬
tions on which the action of the substance at a distance
depends will be under our control. If this has been attained
(which is now the case), then the law-governed nature of
the reaction is in evidence.
But the “psychical” excitation has an additional feature.
When we examine these phenomena more closely, it appears
that among the agents acting at a distance there may be
some which did not exist previously. Here is an example.
Let us suppose that the attendant enters for the first time
the chamber in which the dog is kept and brings in the food.
The food begins to act the moment it is shown to the dog.
And if the same attendant brings in the food several days

d96
in succession the upshot will ibe that the moment he opens
the door and puts his head in, the action begins. Thus, a
new stimulating agent has appeared. If this is continued
long enough, then the sound of the attendant’s steps alone
is sufficient to evoke a secretion of saliva. Consequently,
stimuli that did not exist before have now developed. The
difference appears to be considerable and essential: while
in the physiological stimulation the stimuli are constant,
here they are variable. However, this point can be inter¬
preted in the following way: should the new stimulus
become effective under strictly definite conditions, which
also can be determined by the experimenter, i.e., if the
entire phenomenon obeys certain laws as well, then this
cannot serve as an objection. Although the stimuli are new,
they inevitably arise under definite conditions. Accident is
ruled out. Here, too, the phenomena are related to definite
laws. I can say that just as the first reflex was character¬
ized by the presence of a stimulus which travelled along
a definite path and, in certain circumstances, evoked our
phenomenon, here, too, the phenomenon arises under strictly
definite conditions. The essence, the composition of the con¬
cept of reflex has not changed in the least.
It has been proved that any agent of the external world
can be made a stimulus of the salivary gland Any sound,
odour, etc., may become a stimulus that will excite the sali¬
vary gland exactly in the same way as it is excited by food
at a distance. As to the precision of the fact, there is no dif¬
ference whatever; it is only necessary to take into account
the conditions in which the fact exists. What, then, are .he
conditions which can become stimuli of the salivary gland?
The chief condition is coincidence in time. The experiment
is performed as follows. We take, for example, a certain
sound which has no relation to the salivary gland. This
sound acts on the dog. Then we feed the dog or introduce
acid into its mouth. After several repetitions of this the
sound itself, without the addition of food or acid, begins to
excite the salivary gland. There are altogether four or five,

397
at most six conditions under which any stimulant, any agent
of the external world, becomes a stimulus of the salivary
gland in the dog. Once this is so, once it has become a stim¬
ulus under a definite series of conditions, it will always
act with the same precision as food or as any rejected sub¬
stance introduced into the mouth. If any external agent
invariably becomes a stimulus of the salivary gland under
definite conditions, and having become such, inevitably
produces its action, then what grounds are there for saying
that in essence this is anything other than a reflex? Actu¬
ally this is a law-governed reaction of the organism to an
external agent effected through the medium of a definite part
of the nervous system.
As I have said, the ordinary reflex is formed like this;
there is a definite nervous path along which the stimulation
proceeding from the peripheral part is conducted to the
effector organ, in the given case, the salivary gland. This
conducting path is, so to speak, a live wire. But what hap¬
pens in this case? Here it should be added that the nervous
system is not only a conducting apparatus, as is generally
regarded, but also a connecting one. And there is nothing
paradoxical in this supposition. If in everyday life we widely
use contactors, for example, in electric lighting, telephone
communication, etc., then it would be strange indeed if in
the most perfect machine on earth, there were no applica¬
tion of the principle of connection, but only of conduction.
Hence, it is quite natural that along with conducting proper¬
ties the nervous system should also possess a connecting
apparatus. Analysis has shown that the constant form of
stimulation of the salivary gland by food at a distance,
which is an ordinary case known to everybody, is a similar
formation of a new nervous path by means of connection.
While working in Prof. Vartanov’s laboratory. Dr. I. S. Tsi-
tovich performed the following interesting experiment. He
took a new-born puppy and fed it exclusively on milk for
several months; the puppy had known no other food. Then
he subjected it to an operation so that the work of the sali-

398
 vary gland could be observed; afterwards he showed the
puppy foods other than milk. But not one of them, shown
at a distance, produced any effect on the salivary gland.
Consequently, when different foods act from a distance, this
is a reflex newly formed as a result of individual life expe¬
rience. The matter can be described thus: when a piece of
meat is first placed before a puppy several months old
neither its appearance nor its odour produce any action on
the salivary gland. It is necessary that the food be taken
into the puppy’s mouth at least once, to evoke a simple,
purely conducting reflex, and only then there develops a
new reflex to the appearance and odour of the meat. And
so, gentlemen, you see that we have to recognize the exist¬
ence of two kinds of reflexes: one is ready from the time of
birth, and is of a purely conducting character, and the other
is continuously, incessantly being formed in the course of
individual life, obeys exactly the same laws, but rests on
the basis of another property of our nervous system—on
connection. The first reflex can be termed inborn, and the
other—acquired, or respectively—generic and individual.
The inborn, generic, constant and stereotyped reflex we
termed unconditioned; the other, which depends on a multi¬
tude of conditions and constantly fluctuates in conformity
with the circumstances, we called conditioned; in this way
we characterized the reflexes from the standpoint of prac¬
tice, from the point of view of laboratory investigation. The
conditioned reflex is also indispensable, and thus, like the
unconditioned reflex, belongs entirely to the domain of phys¬
iology. With this formulation physiology, of course, comes
into possession of an enormous mass of new material, since
there is an infinite number of these conditioned reflexes. Our
life consists of a multitude of inborn reflexes. When one says
that there are three kinds of these reflexes, namely, the self¬
defensive, the alimentary and the sexual, this is undoubtedly
only an academic scheme; actually, they are numerous, and
they must be divided and subdivided. Consequently, there
is a multitude even of these simple, inborn reflexes; as for

399
conditioned reflexes their number is endless. And so, with
the establishment of this new concept of conditioned reflex,
physiology acquires a vast domain for investigation. This
is the domain of higher activity connected with the higher
centres of the nervous system, while the inborn reflexes are
related to the lower part of the central nervous system. If
you extirpate the cerebral hemispheres of an animal, the
simple reflexes remain, but the new, connecting reflexes dis¬
appear. It is understandable that innumerable questions will
arise in connection with these conditioned reflexes, if you
constantly consider all the conditions under which they
originate, exist, are disguised, temporarily weakened, etc.
This is one half of the higher nervous activity, as the modern
physiologist sees it. Now for the other half.
It is quite obvious that the nervous system of an animal
consists of a set of analysers which decompose nature into
its separate elements. We are familiar with physical analys¬
ers, for example, the prism which decomposes white light
into its elementary colours, or resonators which split com¬
plex sounds into their component elements. The nervous sys¬
tem is a true collection of such analysers. The retina,‘®® for
instance, discerns in nature the oscillations of light; the
acoustic part of the ear detects the oscillations of air, etc.
Each of the analysers, in its turn, continues this endless
division into separate elements. By means of our ear ana¬
lysers we divide tones according to their wave lengths, wave
amplitudes and forms. Thus the second function of the
nervous system consists in analysing the external environ¬
ment, in decomposing the different complexities of the world
into their separate elements. This analysis is also effected
by the lower parts of the central nervous system. If we decap¬
itate an animal, with the result that its organism possesses
only the spinal cord, the analysing function still remains.
The moment you act mechanically, thermally or chemically
upon such an animal, it reacts with a special movement to
each stimulation. The most delicate analysis, of which
both animal and man are capable, takes place in the higher

400
 parts of the nervous system, in the cerebral hemispheres.
And this is also a purely physiological subject. As a physiol*
ogist, there is no need for me, when studying this subject,
to resort to any notions and concepts alien to physiology.
Investigation of the analysers which are situated in the
cerebral hemispheres discloses very important facts. For
example, when a new reflex is formed from a certain sound
for the first time, the new stimulus usually appears in a gen¬
eral form, i.e., if you have elaborated a conditioned reflex
from a definite tone, say of 1,000 oscillations, and then try
for the first time some other tones, for example, of 5,000, 500
or 50 oscillations, you will obtain an action from each of
them as well. In the beginning the analyser always enters
into the reflex with its more general function. Only later,
with the repetition of the reflex, specialization gradually
takes place. This is a very important law. It is clear that we
can investigate this fact, too, without having recourse to
concepts alien to physiology. The limit of the analysing
capacity is likewise accessible to investigation. It has been
pfoved, for example, that the analyser of the dog can discern
one-eighth of a tone. The sensitiveness of the auditory appara¬
tus of the dog for tones is much greater than that of man.
While we are able to distinguish a miaximum of 50,000 oscil¬
lations per second, the auditory apparatus of the dog is
excited by a frequency of even 100,000 oscillations. In this
connection I wish to remind you of the following interest¬
ing fact. If we damage the cerebral hemispheres, where the
corresponding ends of the visual, auditory land other analys¬
ers are situated, there take place, of course, definite dis¬
orders. For example, when the terminals of the eye analyser
of a dog :are damaged, the animal does not recognize its
m;aster, but at the same time it does not blunder into a
chair, or run into its master. That is why it has been said
that the dog sees, but does not understand. It must be admit¬
ted, however, that this phrase, when analysed, is in itself
difficult to understand.
When, in the given case, it is said that the dog sees but

26—773 401
fails to understand, this simply means that the analysing
apparatus is damaged to a degree that reduces the analysing
capacity to the minimum. The eye merely distinguishes light
from shadow, and a space occupied by a body from a free
space, but it is no longer able to distinguish the forms and
colours of objects.
Thus, we recognize two aspects of the higher nervous
activity in the higher animals: on the one hand, the forma¬
tion of new connections with the external world, and on the
other, the higher analysis of phenomena.
If you grant these two kinds of activity, you will see that
they embrace a good deal, and it is difficult to assume that
some things remain outside of them. Only a detailed study
can establish this. All kinds of training, education, devel¬
opment of habits, orientation in the surrounding world, with
its events, natural phenomena and people, represent either
a formation of new connections, or the most delicate
analysis. At least, very many manifestations are related to
these two activities, and in any case limitless work awaits
us in this field; but we, physiologists, in performing this
work, do not make use of any alien concepts.
The study of the above-mentioned activities revealed that
the first important property of the higher cerebral mass is
a peculiar movement of’the nervous processes in this mass.
I shall not dwell on this now, since it will be the object of
a separate experiment, of which I shall speak later and
which I will describe in detail. Another extremely important
property is that if in the higher part of the brain, in the
cerebral hemispheres there is a certain functionally iso¬
lated element and if the latter is subjected to a constantly
repeated stimulation proceeding from a definite agent, then,
sooner or later, it inevitably falls into a state of inaction,
a state of sleep or of hypnosis. The fundamental property
of the higher nervous element is its extremely high reactiv¬
ity; however, when it is temporarily isolated in such a way
that the excitation does not spread, but concentrates in it
for some time, i.e., if the excitation invariably acts on one

402
point, then this element always passes over into a state of
sleep. This relation of the higher nervous cells to the stimuli
explains many things. It can be interpreted either as a
protection of the precious substance- of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, a substance which must constantly respond to all
the influences of the external world; or it may be under¬
stood in the biological sense, i.e., when it is variable, the
stimulus determines a reaction in the form of a definite
activity, and when it becomes monotonous and remains
without further consequences, it ensures rest and the pos¬
sibility of preparing for a new expenditure. I shall not go
into the details.
I am coming to the end of my talk. I shall describe an
experiment which partly illustrates the data I have men¬
tioned. I am most anxious to have your views about this
fact, about this experiment. If some of my descriptions are
not clear, interrupt me right away and ask for additional
explanations in order to understand the entire experiment
as clearly as if you had been present yourselves.
Here is a diagram illustrating the animal used for the
experiment. For the present you see two black spots, one
on the foreleg and the other on the thigh. These are the
places to which we attached our apparatus for mechanical
stimulation of the skin. We used the apparatus in the fol¬
lowing way. When we put it into action and the mechanical
stimulation of the above-indicated places began, we intro¬
duced acid into the dog’s mouth. The acid, of course, evoked
the secretion of saliva through a simple inborn reflex. This
was repeated several times in succession, from day to day.
After some repetitions the flow of saliva could be obtained
merely by mechanical stimulation of the skin, just as if the
acid had been introduced into the dog’s mouth, although no
acid was used.
Now I pass to the discussion of this fact, physiologically
and, at the same time, as far as I can, psychologically, from
the standpoint of the zoopsychologists. I cannot guarantee
that I shall reproduce their phraseology, since I have lost

26* 403
 the habit of using their language, but I shall try to approx¬
imate to their expressions. The fact consists in the follow¬
ing. I apply a slight mechanical stimulation of the skin and
then immediately pour acid into the dog’s mouth. A simple
reflex evokes the secretion of saliva. After this procedure
has been repeated several times, a flow of saliva could be
obtained by mechanical stimulation of the skin alone. Our
interpretation of this phenomenon was that a new reflex had
been formed, that a new nervous path between the skin
and the salivary gland had been established. The zoopsy¬
chologist, who endeavours to penetrate into the dog’s soul,
says that the dog notices this and remembers that the
moment the irritation of a certain place of the skin begins,
acid is introduced into its mouth. Consequently, when only
a stimulation of the skin is applied, it imagines that the
acid is entering its mouth and reacts to it by a flow of
saliva, etc. Let it be so. I proceed now to another experi¬
ment. A reflex elaborated by us, repeated itself every time
with absolute precision. I put now into action the mechan¬
ical apparatus and obtain as usual a complete motor and
secretory reaction; however, this time I do not introduce
the acid. After an interval of one or two minutes, I repeat
the experiment. Now the action is already less; the motor
reaction is not so pronounced and the salivation not so
abundant. Again I refrain from introducing the acid, and
after two or three minutes repeat the mechanical stimula¬
tion. The reaction is now still less. After four or five repeti¬
tions there is no reaction at all; nor is there any movement
or salivary secretion. This is a clear and absolutely exact
fact. And here is how it is interpreted by the physiologist
and the zoopsychologist. I say that the phenomenon of
inhibition, already well known to us, sets in. I base this
affirmation on the fact that if I interrupted the experiment
and made an interval of, say, two hours, the mechanical
stimulation would again produce its action on the salivary
gland. As a physiologist I understand this quite clearly.
It is an established fact that with the lapse of time all

404
processes in the nervous system become effaced, if the cause
which provokes them ceases to act. The zoopsychologist, in
his turn, has no difficulty in providing an explanation; the
dog, he says, notices that now, upon mechanical stimula¬
tion, no acid is introduced into its mouth, and therefore
after four or five of these skin stimulations it ceases to
react. There is no difference so far: you can agree with one
as well as with the other. But let us introduce a new com.-
plioation into our experiment. When the zoopsychologist
land the physiologist contend with each other for the appro¬
priateness, correctness of their explanations, it is necessary
to formulate the requirements with which the explanations
must comply. These requirements are well known. One of
them is that each explanation must cover all that occurs
physically. The facts must be explained from a single point
of view. That is the first requirement, and the second is
even more obligatory; it consists in being able, on the basis
of the given interpretation, to predict the explained phe¬
nomena. He who is able to do so, is right compared with
the one who cannot. And inability to predict signifies the
bankruptcy of the latter.
I complicate my experiment in this way. Our reflex has
been elaborated at several points on the dog’s skin, let us
suppose, at three points. The mechanical stimulation of
each of these places produces the same acid reaction meas¬
ured by a definite amount of saliva. This measurement is
the simplest, since measurement of the motor reaction would
be more difficult. The motor and salivary reactions go
together and are parallel. They lare the components of a
single complex reflex. So, we have formed a number of
cutaneous reflexes. They are all equal, act with absolute
precision and give the same number of divisions of the
graduated tube used in measuring the secretion of saliva,
for example, thirty divisions for one half-minute stimula¬
tion. I stimulate the point on the foreleg in the way I have
just mentioned, i.e., without accompanying it by the intro¬
duction of acid, so that after the fifth or sixth application

405
 the mechanical stimulation does not produce any effect
whatever. Thus, in the terminology of the physiologists, a
complete Inhibition of the reflex has taken place. When this
has been obtained on the foreleg, I bring another mechanical
apparatus into action and begin to stimulate a spot on the
hind-leg. The following phenomena are then observed. If,
immediately after discontinuing the foreleg stimulation
which produced a zero effect, I bring the mechanical appa¬
ratus on the thigh into action, so that there is no interval
between the end of the first stimulation and the beginning
of the second, I obtain a complete effect at the new place
equalling thirty divisions, and the dog behaves as if the
stimulation were applied for the first time. The flow of
saliva is abundant and there is a motor reaction—the dog
tries to eject the non-existent acid from its mouth with the
help of the tongue, in short, it acts accordingly. Then, when
I bring the effect of stimulation on the foreleg again to zero
(by repeating the mechanical stimulation without the acid),
and when I stimulate the point on the hind-leg not after
a zero interval but after five seconds, I obtain not thirty
divisions from the new place, but only twenty. Thus the
reflex has diminished. I then prolong the interval to fifteen
seconds and obtain a slight effect from the new place,
equalling only five divisions. Finally, if I stimulate after
twenty seconds, there is no effect at all. Continuing, I
extend the interval to thirty seconds; the effect at the new
point reappears. With an interval of fifty seconds the effect
becomes greater, reaching twenty-five divisions, and after
an interval of sixty seconds it is again complete. If, after
obtaining the zero result, we repeat the stimulation at the
same point, on the shoulder, with intervals of five, ten,
fifteen minutes, the effect will always be zero. I am not
sure whether I have made this quite clear to you. What
does this signify?
I invite the zoopsychologists to give their explanation of
these facts. I must tell you that on more than one occasion
I have gathered intelligent people, men with profound

406
knowledge in the domain of natural sciences, doctors, etc.,
placed before them the facts to which I have just called
your attention, and requested an explanation of the phe¬
nomena. Most of the naive zoopsychologists attempted to
give their explanations, each in his own way but at vari¬
ance with alkothers. In general, the result was deplorable.
All possible and extremely diverse interpretations were
examined, but they could in no way be reconciled. Why is
it that on the shoulder, when a zero effect has been obtained,
the stimulating apparatus no longer produces any action,
while at the other point, we obtain now a complete effect,
and now no effect at all, strictly depending on the intervals
between the stimulations.
And I have come here in the hope of getting an answer
to this question from the point of view of the zoopsycholo¬
gist. I shall now tell you about our viewpoint. Our explana¬
tion is of a purely physiological, purely material and spa¬
tial character. It is obvious that in our case the skin rep¬
resents a projection of the cerebral mass, and that different
points of the skin, are a projection of corresponding points
of the brain. When at a definite point of the brain we evoke
a certain nervous process by stimulating the corresponding
part of the skin on the shoulder, this process does not
remain in the same place, but shows a certain movement.
First it irradiates over the cerebral mass, and then returns
to the point of origin and concentrates there. Naturally,
each movement requires a certain amount of time. When,
after elaborating an inhibition at the point of the brain cor¬
responding to the shoulder, I immediately try to stimulate
another place (the thigh), the inhibition has not yet spread
to that place. It takes twenty seconds to get there; that is
why in twenty seconds, and not earlier, the thigh also
becomes fully inhibited. The concentration requires forty
seconds, and therefore one minute after the end of the zero
stimulation on the shoulder, we already have a complete
restoration of the reflex at the second place (the thigh); but
in the initial place (the shoulder) the reflex is absent even

407
 after five, ten or fifteen minutes. Such is my interpretation,
the interpretation of a physiologist. I have not had any dif¬
ficulty in explaining this phenomenon. For me it fully coin¬
cides with other facts in the physiology of the movements
of a nervous process. Now, gentlemen, let us verify the cor¬
rectness of this explanation. I have the means for doing so.
If we actually have a movement, then we can predict the
intensity of the effect at all the intermediate points, on the
basis of the fact that this movement occurs in two opposite
directions. I shall take only one intermediate point. What
is to be expected there? Being nearer to the point where I
produce the inhibition, it will become inhibited earlier than
the other points. Consequently, the zero effect will appear
at this point sooner and persist longer, until the inhibition
spreads and then returns. At this point the return to normal
excitability will require more time. Precisely this occurred
in the actual experiment. At the given intermediate point
after a zero interval there were not thirty but twenty divi¬
sions. Then the zero effect appeared after ten seconds, when
the complete inhibition reached this place; it persisted for
a long time, while the inhibition was irradiating and then
returning to the initial point. It is understandable that while
the normal excitability on the thigh was re-established after
one minute, here it reappeared only after two minutes. This
is one of the most striking phenomena ever observed by
me in the laboratory. A definite process is taking place in
the depth of the cerebral mass, and its movement can be
predicted with mathematical precision. So there you have,
gentlemen, our complication of the experiment, and our
attitude, the attitude of physiologists, in relation to it. I
do not know what answer I shall get from the zoopsycholo¬
gists, what attitude they will take in regard to these facts,
but answer they must. If, however, they refuse an explana¬
tion, I shall be justified in saying that their point of view
is in general unscientific and of no use for creative research.
 m><xm

REPLY OF A PHYSIOLOGIST
TO PSYCHOLOGISTS109

The article by Edwin R. Guthrie “Conditioning as a Prin¬

ciple of Learning,”* it seems to me, is of special interest
because of its fundamental tendency—in my opinion fully
justified—of basing the phenomena of psychical activity on
physiological facts, i.e., of uniting, identifying the physio¬
logical with the psychological, the subjective with the objec¬
tive, which, I am convinced, is the most important scien¬
tific task of our time. The author analyses the problem of
learning from the general aspect and characterizes this
process by enumerating its fundamental features; in this
he utilizes without distinction both the material of psychol¬
ogists and the physiological facts obtained by us on animals
by the method of conditioned reflexes. Thus the psychologist
and the physiologist marched side by side. But beyond this
point profound differences arose between them. The psychol¬
ogist regards conditioning as the principle of learning; he
considers that this principle is not subject to any further
decomposition, i.e., does not require further investigation,
and he endeavours, therefore, to base everything on it, to
represent all the separate sides of learning as one and the
same process. For this purpose he takes a physiological fact
and in a definite way attaches to it certain significance in

* Psychological Review, Vol. 37, No. 5, 1930. {Note by I. P. Pavlov )

409
 interpreting particular facts relating to the process of
learning, without seeking actual confirmation of this sig¬
nificance. Hence, the physiologist tends, willy-nilly, to think
that the psychologist, who only recently departed from the
philosopher, has not yet fully renounced his inclination for
the philosophical method of deduction, for pure logical
activity which does not verify every step of thought by
agreement with reality. The way of the physiologist is the
reverse of this. At every moment of his investigation he
endeavours to analyse the phenomena separately and con¬
cretely, to determine as much as possible the conditions for
their existence, without relying on mere deductions or mere
hypotheses. This I shall try to prove on the basis of certain
points in which the author opposes me.
Although conditioning, association by simultaneity, con¬
ditioned reflexes serve as the factual point of departure in
our research, they are, nevertheless, subjected to further
analysis by us. We have before us the following important
question: what elementary properties of the brain mass
underlie this fact? This question has not yet been finally
solved by us, but certain data for its solution are afforded
by the following experiments. With our experimental animal
(the dog) it was observed that when the external agent,
which we wish to use as a conditioned stimulus, is applied
after the beginning of the unconditioned stimulus, we get a
conditioned reflex (according to the latest and most precise
experiments carried out by Dr. N. V. Vinogradov), but it
is insignificant and temporary, and invariably disappears
if the same procedure is prolonged. A stable and durable
conditioned reflex, as we have long known, can be obtained
only when the external agent constantly precedes the uncon¬
ditioned stimulus. Thus the first procedure has a double
effect: at first it contributes temporarily to the formation of
the conditioned reflex, and then abolishes it. This latter
effect of the unconditioned stimulus is clearly manifest in
the following experiment. A conditioned stimulus, well
elaborated by means of the second, usual procedure—if

410
afterwards it is systematically applied following the onset
of the unconditioned stimulus, or is covered by it, in our
laboratory terminology—gradually loses its positive action
(especially when it belongs to the category of weak, con¬
ditioned stimuli) and finally is even transformed into an
inhibitory stimulus. Obviously in this case the mechanism
of negative induction (according to our old terminology,
the mechanism of external inhibition) gradually prevails,
i.e., the corresponding cell of the conditioned stimulus is
inhibited, reaches a state of inhibition under the influence
of repeated concentration on the part of the unconditioned
stimulus—and the conditioned stimulus thus meets in its
cell a constant state of inhibition. And it is this which
makes the conditioned agent inhibitory, i.e., when applied
alone it now evokes in its cortical cell not an excitatory but
an inhibitory process. Consequently, during the usual
procedure of elaboration of a stable conditioned reflex, the
passage of a wave of excitation from the corresponding cort¬
ical cell to the centre of concentration of the unconditioned
stimulus represents precisely the principal condition for the
fixation of the path from one point to another, for a more
or less constant union of the two nervous centres.
Let us pass now to other particularities of the conditioned
activity where the author proposes his own uniform inter¬
pretation of the phenomena instead of our diversified
analysis of concrete facts. The delayed, retarded conditioned
effect, according to our experiments, is based on special
inhibition of early phases of the conditioned stimulus, which
do not coincide closely with the time of the appearance of
the unconditioned stimulus. The author alleges for some
reason that we attribute this to “mysterious latencies” in
the nervous system, and gives his own interpretation of the
facts. He admits that when, for example, the sound of a bell
plays the role of a conditioned stimulus, the animal res¬
ponds with a reaction of strenuous listening, with a com¬
plex motor act, and the centripetal impulses of this act are,
strictly speaking, the real stimulators of the conditioned

411
 effect, in our case of the conditioned alimentary reflex—the
salivary secretion.
According to the author, “when the salivary glands begin
to secrete, the accompanying stimuli are not furnished by
the bell, but by these responses to the bell. The direct res¬
ponse to the bell is probably over in a small fraction of a
second.” And further he states: “The apparent separation
in time of a conditioning stimulus and its response is then
quite possibly an illusion.” The author even says that
“Pavlov tends to forget in his explanation of the delay” the
existence of the above-mentioned centripetal impulses from
the motor apparatus. On page 312 of my “Lectures on the
Work of the Cerebral Hemispheres”* one can see that not
only do I take into account the centripetal impulses for the
skeletal musculature, but I regard it as being more than
probable that they exist even for all the tissues, to say
nothing of the separate organs. In my view, the entire
organism with all of its components are able to report about
themselves to the cerebral hemispheres.^'® Consequently, this
is not the matter of an omission on my part; the miatter
is that actually we have not the slightest grounds for inter¬
preting the fact in the way the author does.
First of all, if we agree with him that it is not the bell, but
the centripetal impulses from the motor act of strenuous
listening that is the actual stimulus for the conditioned
effect, then why does the effect not manifest itself at once,
but is retarded (in the case of a delayed reflex) and, besides,
in accordance with the length of the interval between the
beginning of the stimulus and the beginning of the uncon¬
ditioned reflex? For, when the unconditioned stimulus is
delayed for a shorter time—only a few seconds—after the
beginning of the conditioned stimulus, the effect, which,
according to the author is caused by the centripetal impulses
from the motor act of listening, also manifests itself very
quickly, namely, in two or three seconds. How, then, does

♦ Second edition. {Note by I. P. Pavlcv.)

412
he explain the duration of the delay? And why, when the
unconditioned stimulus is separated from the beginning of
the conditioned by an interval of a few minutes, do the
stimuli admitted by the author (namely, the centripetal
impulses of movement) act after a lapse of minutes?
Besides, there are no grounds whatever for admitting a
constant action of the stimuli of which the author speaks.
The listening reaction, like the general orienting or inves¬
tigatory reflex, as I have termed it, evoked by any new fluc¬
tuation in the habitual surroundings of the animal, usually
exists only during the first brief period of application of
the new recurring stimuli; when a conditioned reflex is
formed, with a more or less short interval between the con¬
ditioned and unconditioned stimuli, it is quickly superseded
by a special motor reaction peculiar to the given uncondi¬
tioned stimulus. Subsequently, only the conditioned motor
effect is permanently manifest, and there is no trace of an
orienting reaction. The conditioned stimulus now becomes
a pure substitute for the unconditioned stimulus. In the case
of a conditioned alimentary reflex the animal may lick the
flashing electric bulb, or attempt to take the air into its
mouth, or try to eat the sound itself; in doing this the
animal licks its lips and grinds its teeth, as if dealing with
real food. The same thing takes place in the case of an
elaborated delayed reflex. The animal remains wholly indif¬
ferent and quiet during the first period of action of the
conditioned stimulus; not infrequently, immediately after
the beginning of the stimulus, it even falls into a state of
drowsiness and sometimes into a state of profound sleep
(accompanied by relaxation of the musculature and snor¬
ing). With the beginning of the second period of the con¬
ditioned stimulation, just a little before the addition of the
unconditioned stimulus, this state is replaced, sometimes
impetuously, by a clearly pronounced corresponding condi¬
tioned motor reaction. In both cases‘it is only during the
general somnolence of the animal in the course of the
experiment that the orienting reaction now and then

413
 reappears at the first moment of the action of the stim¬
ulus.
And finally, the retardation in question is actually not
the result of a “mysterious latency,” but of the interference
of a special, induced inhibition, which is well known to us
and has been studied in detail in its various manifestations.
The matter is quite ciear. Although the considerably pro¬
longed conditioned external stimulus remains one and the
same, for the central nervous system and especially, one
must suppose, for the cerebral hemispheres, it is obviously
different at different periods of its course. This is particu¬
larly manifest with olfactory stimuli, which are sensed by
us at first keenly and then rapidly become weaker and
weaker, although objectively they remain constant. Appar¬
ently the state of the stimulated cortical cell under the
influence of an external stimulus undergoes successive
changes, and in the case of a delayed reflex only that state
of the cell which closely precedes the addition of the uncon¬
ditioned reflex plays the role of a signal conditioned stim¬
ulus. Exactly the same thing occurs when from different
intensities of one and the same external stimulus we elab¬
orate different conditioned stimuli, now positive, now nega¬
tive, and now related to different unconditioned stimuli.
The fact of delay under consideration represents an obvi¬
ously interesting case of special adaptation, to ensure that
the conditioned reflex does not appear too early, and that
energy should not be expended beyond the necessary meas¬
ure. That this explanation conforms to reality is proved by
facts. Above all, this is clear from the procedure of forma¬
tion of a delayed reflex. If the conditioned reflex is first
elaborated with an interval of a few seconds between the
beginning of the conditioned and of the unconditioned
stimuli and the interval is then suddenly increased to a few
minutes, the conditioned effect, which earlier manifested
itself rapidly, gradually diminishes and soon fully disap¬
pears. And then, when the experiment is considerably pro¬
longed, there comes a period of absence of any conditioned

414
effect. Only afterwards does the conditioned effect reappear,
at first just before the moment of the addition of the uncon¬
ditioned stimulus; then it grows gradually and begins to
manifest itself somewhat earlier.
That the first period of the delayed reflex is actually a
period of inhibition, is proved by a number of facts. In the
first place, the inhibition of the delayed reflex can easily
be summated. In the second place, a successive inhibition
can be observed from this reflex. And finally, the drowsy and
sleeping state which arises in some animals in the first part
of the delayed reflex, is a striking manifestation of the
inhibitory state.
The next phenomenon—the extinction of the conditioned
reflex—is also discussed by the author without any con¬
sideration of the factual details of our investigation; he has
in view again the factor which he himself conjectured but
did not define more precisely, and at the same time he
attributes to me, in addition to the previously m.entioned
“inclination to forget,’’ also a tendency “to conceal some¬
thing from myself.”
First of all the author, contrary to our affirmation,
assumes that it is not the short duration of the interval
between repetitions of the non-reinforced conditioned stimuli
that contributes to the extinction of the conditioned reflexes,
but the number of these repetitions. However, this is abso¬
lutely wrong. A non-reinforced conditioned stimulus without
any repetitions, but merely prolonged for a period of three
to six minutes, invariably ends in extinction to absolute zero,
or as we term it, continuous extinction, in contrast to an
intermittent one. Further, the author with the same arbi¬
trariness supposes that extinction is not a constant fact,
but an exception to the rule of frequency. And here, too, he
is wrong. Extinction is one of the most constant facts of
the physiology of conditioned reflexes. Having made both
these conclusions contrary to reality, the author, so to
speak, clears the field for himself and imagines the existence
of other agents, which he does not define more precisely

415
 and which, together with the basic unconditioned stimulus,
take part in the formation of the conditioned effect. It is
probable that here, too, movements of the animal are implied,
since mention is made of continuous and diverse movements
of the animal in the course of the experiment. Thus, accord¬
ing to the author, the sum of the agents which determine
the conditioned reflex constantly fluctuates, now increasing,
now diminishing. When the number of these agents
decreases and the conditioned reflex is absent or becomes
weakened, then other, also unknown, agents become inhibi¬
tory, or what is actually the same, they become stimulators
of other responses.
The author explains the interference of extraneous stimuli
with extinction by asserting that these stimuli “disorganize
posture and orientation,” which appeared as inhibitors of
the conditioned reflex at the stage of extinction and thus
temporarily restore the reflex that is becoming extinguished.
The author does not consider it necessary to point out,
even hypothetically, precisely which stimuli, along with the
unconditioned one, support the conditioned reflex and which
other stimuli that are also present inhibit this effect. When
the author explains in his own way the interference of
extraneous stimuli with the extinction, why does he not
show how the extraneous stimuli, which remove the action
of the agents inhibiting the conditioned effect, do not remove
also the action of those stimuli supporting the conditioned
response? After all, these are quite different stimuli.
Thus, the author has introduced, without any factual
confirmation of their real value, a multitude of undefined,
unknown stimulating agents.
It is to be assumed that the author has in mind just the
same kinesthetic stimuli, but originating in different mus¬
cles. Of course, there are many skeletal muscles, and their
movements form an almost infinite number of combinations,
constantly sending special centripetal impulses to the cen¬
tral nervous system. But, in the first place, most of them
proceed to the lower parts of the brain, and, in the second

416
 place, under usual conditioris they in no way make them¬
selves known to the cerebral hemispheres, serving only for
the auto-regulation and greater precision of movements, for
example, such as the continuous cardiac and respiratory
movements. In our experiments only those movements,
which form special motor reflexes, are effective in influenc¬
ing our conditioned reflexes; chief and almost exclusive
among these is the orienting reflex to the fluctuations of
the surrounding medium, and sometimes also the defensive
reflex arising in response to an accidental nocuous action
on the animal during its movements in the experimental
stand (a blow, some kind of pinch, etc.).
If, as the author assumes, the centripetal impulses from
all the movements which we effect really reached the cere¬
bral hemispheres to any considerable degree, then, by their
very quantity alone, they would be a tremendous obstacle
to the relations of the cortex with the external world and
would render almost impossible this most important cor¬
tical function. Do the movements which indispensably arise
when we talk, read, write, and in general when we think,
disturb us to any extent? Are these actions ideally per¬
formed only when we are in a state of absolute immobility?
The constant fact of extinction is not the result of chance
movements of the animal which are reflected in the work
of the cerebral hemispheres; it is a law-governed manifesta¬
tion of the fune mental properties of the cortical cells, as
the most reactive cells in the organism, when they work
for a more or less considerable length of time—even gen¬
erally for a short period of time—without being accom¬
panied by the fundamental inborn reflexes. The chief phys¬
iological function of the excitation of these cells is to serve
as signals, to replace the special stimuli of the latter
reflexes. Being the most reactive cells, they rapidly become
exhausted, and from an active state pass into a state of
inhibition, which, in all probability, not merely contributes
to their rest, but accelerates their recovery. But when the
activity of these cells is accompanied by unconditioned

27—773 417
stimuli, the latter, as noted at the beginning of the article,
immediately and, so to speak, in a preventive way inhibit
them and thereby assist in the recovery.
That extinction is actually inhibition is proved both by
its successive inhibitory action upon other positive condi¬
tioned reflexes and by the transition to a drowsy and sleep¬
ing state which, undoubtedly, is inhibition.
As for the remaining two points, where the author, instead
of our explanation, offers a similar interpretation of his
own, I can be more brief. With regard to the fact of the
gradual intensification of the conditioned effect in the course
of its formation, it must be pointed out that in this case it
is the gradual elimination of extraneous stimuli that hinders
the formation of the reflex, and not, as the author assumes,
their ever-increasing participation in . the creation of the
effect. During our first experiments often from fifty to one
hundred or more repetitions were needed to elaborate a
complete conditioned reflex, while now from ten to twenty
repetitions suffice, and often considerably fewer. In our
present experimental conditions the first application of a
new indifferent agent, which must later serve as a con¬
ditioned stimulus, results only in an orienting reflex, the
motor component of which in the overwhelming majority
of cases steadily and rapidly diminishes all the way to
complete disappearance; thus, absolutely nothing remains
of the constantly-growing sum of factors determining the
conditioned effect, of which the author speaks. It is clear
that the whole process consists in an ever-increasing con¬
centration of excitation, and then probably in gradually
beating a path between the points of the central nervous
system which are to be connected.
Finally, as regards the independent acquisition of a con¬
ditioned effect from neighbouring stimuli, or near that to
which the conditioned reflex was specially elaborated, the
author again differs from us. In our view, this is nothing
but an irradiation of excitation over a definite part of the
cortex. The author, however, assuming that not a specific

418
agent appears here as a conditioned stimulus, but an
orienting reflex accompanying it, again gives his inter¬
pretation of the matter alleging that all the neighbouring
agents become effective thanks to one and the same orient¬
ing reflex. But this completely contradicts the real facts.
The neighbouring agents in most cases produce the con¬
ditioned effect directly, without any trace of the orienting
reflex. On the contrary, when the latter is present, the con¬
ditioned effect is either fully absent, or considerably weak¬
ened; it manifests itself and grows only in proportion to
the disappearance of the orienting reflex.
Thus, throughout the article, the author remains true to
himself and to his habit of deduction.Making erroneous
use of a single physiological fact, he constantly and im¬
mediately derives from the principle of conditioning all the
particulars of conditioned nervous activity which he utilizes
for his subject of learning, while the factual aspect of these
particulars are completely disregarded by him.

It seems to me that the second article, “Basic Neural

Mechanisms in Behaviour,”* to which I pass now, in large
measure treats the subject in the same way as the first.
This article, by K. S. Lashley, was submitted in the form
of a paper to the last International Congress of Psychology
held in the United States (1929). Even though its material
is almost exclusively physiological, the author s approach
is exactly the same as in the preceding article. The material
is sacrificed to the principal preconceived tendency to prove
that “the reflex theory is now becoming an obstacle rather
than a help to progress” in studying the cerebral functions;
according to the author, of greater force and significance
in this respect is, for example, the statements of C. Spear-

* Ibid., No. 1. {Note by 1. P. Pavlov.)

27* 419
 that “intelligence is a function of some undifferen¬
tiated nervous activity,” or the analogy with the tissue of
sponges and hydroids, which, being crushed and sifted
through bolting cloth, subsequently, when settled or centri¬
fuged down, again assumes the shape of a mature speci¬
men with a characteristic structure.
First of all I must say in a general way, without going
into detail for the time being, that this merciless judgement
against the theory of reflexes is divorced from reality, an
adamant and, one may even say, incomprehensible, refusal
to take reality into consideration. Does the author really
venture to affirm that all my thirty years’ work, fruitfully
carried on together with numerous colleagues, under the
guiding influence of the idea of reflexes, is nothing but a
hindrance to the study of the cerebral functions? No. No one
has the right to say that. We have established a series of
important rules relating to the normal activity of the higher
part of the brain; defined a certain number of conditions of
its wakeful and sleeping states; elucidated the mechanism
of normal sleep and hypnosis; experimentally produced
pathological states in this part of the brain, and found
the means with which to restore it to normalcy. The
activity of this part, as already studied by us, found and
continues to find many analogies with the phenomena of
our subjective world, as is evident from acknowledgements
not infrequently made by neuropathologists, educators, psy-
chologists-empiricists, as well as from the statements of
academic psychologists.
Now before the physiology of this part of the brain there
arises an infinite number of urgent problems, of strictly
definite tasks in the field of further experimentation, instead
of the almost blind-alley state in which this physiology
undoubtedly found itself in the past decades. And this
is the outcome of the application of the concept of re¬
flexes to the experiments carried out on this part of
the brain.
What, exactly, is the concept of a reflex?

420
 The theory of reflex activity is based on three funda¬
mental principles of exact scientific investigation; in the
first place, the principle of determinism, i.e., an impulse,
an impetus, or a cause for every given action or effect; in
the second place, the principle of analysis and synthesis,
i.e., the initial decomposition of the whole into its parts or
units, and the subsequent gradual re-establishment of the
whole from these units or elements; and finally, the prin¬
ciple of structure, i.e., the disposition of the activity of force
in space, the adjustment of dynamics to structure. Therefore
one cannot but regard the death sentence pronounced on
the theory of reflexes as a misunderstanding or as bias.
You have before you the living organism, all the way to
man, which produces a series of activities, manifestations of
energy. You get a direct impression, difficult to overcome,
of something spontaneous. In the case of man, as an or¬
ganism, this impression is so strong that it is an obvious
truth to almost everyone, and any contrary assertion seems
absurd. Although Leucippus of Miletus* proclaimed that
there is no effect without cause and that everything arises
from necessity, is it not still believed, even leaving man
aside, that there are spontaneously acting forces in the ani¬
mal organism? As for man, do we not still here talk about
free will and is there not a conviction rooted in many minds
that there is something in us which is not subject to de¬
termination? I have always met and still meet not a few
educated and intelligent people who are quite incapable of
conceiving how it is possible to study the whole behaviour,
say, of a dog quite objectively, i.e., solely by comparing the
stimuli acting on the animal with its responses to them,
and, consequently, disregarding the subjective world, which
is presumed to exist in it by analogy with ours. What is
meant, of course, is not the temporary difficulties of research,
immense as they are, but the impossibility in principle of

* I take this indication from Professor Kannabich’s book The His¬

tory of Psychiatry. {Note by /. P. Pavlov.)

421
complete determination. It goes without saying that this
same conviction is far more positive with regard to man.
I should not be committing a great error in assuming that
this conviction persists also among some of the psychol¬
ogists, although masked by references to the peculiar na¬
ture of psychical phenomena, behind which, despite seem¬
ingly scientific arguments, can be detected the dualism and
animism that is still immediately shared by many think¬
ing people, to say nothing of religious believers.
The theory of reflexes is, as it has been doing ever since
its inception, constantly and continuously enlarging the
number of phenomena in the organism connected with the
conditions that determine them, i.e., it is making clearer the
integral activity of the organism. How, then, can it be an
obstacle to the study of the organism in general, and the
cerebral functions in particular?
Further, the organism consists of a mass of separate large
parts and of billions of cellular elements producing cor¬
responding masses of separate phenomena, which, however,
are closely interconnected and ensure the integrated work
of the organism. The theory of reflexes divides this general
function of the organism into particular activities, connect¬
ing them both with internal and external influences, and
then reunites them, one with another, thus making the ac¬
tivity of the organism as a whole and its interaction with
the environment more and more comprehensible. How, then,
has the theory of reflexes proved to be superfluous or inap¬
propriate, or how can it be, if our knowledge of the connec¬
tions between the separate parts of the organism is still
insufficient, to say nothing of our incomplete comprehension
of all the correlations of the organism with the surround¬
ing medium? And all the internal, as well as external, re¬
lations in higher organisms are mostly effected by means
of the nervous system.
Finally, if the chemist, when analysing and synthesizing,
must, for the full Understanding of the work of the molecule,
imagine its invisible structure, and if the physicist, when

422
 analysing and synthesizing, must, for obtaining a clear
idea of the mechanism of the atom, also visualize its struc¬
ture, how is it possible to renounce the structure of visible
masses and admit some kind of contradiction between struc¬
ture and dynamics? The function of connecting both the in¬
ternal and external correlations in the organism is accom¬
plished in the nervous system which represents a visible
apparatus. It is in this apparatus, of course, that the dyna¬
mic phenomena, which must be related to the most deli¬
cate details of its structure, are actually developed.
The theory of reflexes began the investigation of this
apparatus with the definition of special functions, pertain¬
ing naturally to its more simple, grosser parts, and deter¬
mined the general tendency of the dynamic phenomena oc¬
curring in it. Here is the general and fundamental scheme
of the reflex: receptor apparatus,afferent nerve,”* central
station (centres) and efferent nerve”® with its effector tis¬
sue. Then came detailed elaboration of these parts, a proc¬
ess that is still going on. Of course, the most complicated
and extensive work concerned, and still concerns, the cen¬
tral station, and in the parts of the central station—the grey
matter, and in the grey matter—the cerebral cortex”® This
work concerns the visible structure itself, as well as the
dynamic phenomena developing in it, and, of course, does
not lose sight for a single moment of the indispensable con¬
nection between structure and dynamics. In view of the
difference of method in studying structure and dynamics,
the investigation is naturally divided for the most part
between the histologist and physiologist. No histologist-
neurologist would, of course, make bold to state that the
study of the structure of the nervous system, and especially
of the higher part of the central nervous system, has reached
completion; on the contrary, he will admit that the struc¬
ture of this part still remains highly confused and obscure.
Has not the cyto-architectonics”’ of the cerebral cortex re¬
vealed to us quite recently its extreme complexity and di¬
versity? And are not all the numerous variations in the

423
 organization of different parts of the cortex without a defin¬
ite dynamic importance? If the histologist is able to some
extent to analyse them, how can the physiologist fully trace
the movement of the dynamic phenomena along this incon¬
ceivable network? The physiologist, basing himself on the
reflex scheme, never regarded the investigation of the cen¬
tral station as having been elaborated to any considerable
extent, even in the simplest structures of these centres; he
has always adhered to and has always been guided by the
fundamental concept of the passage, the transmission of the
dynamic process from the afferent to the efferent conductor.
As for the higher centres, besides relating the functions to
the details of structure as much as possible, he, of sheer
necessity, concentrates his attention and work for the time
being mainly on the dynamics, on the general functional
properties of the brain mass. This has been done, and was
continued until recent times, mostly by the Sherrington,
Verworn and Magnus schools, as well as by other individ¬
ual authors, on the lower parts of the brain; as for the higher
part, this is being done predominantly and in the most
systematic way by me and my colleagues in applying the con¬
ditioned reflex variation of the general theory of reflexes.
With regard to the cerebral cortex, the first reliable data
relating to the detailed connection between its activity and
structure, were obtained at the beginning of the glorious
epoch of the seventies of the last century. While the exlst-
ence of a special motor region in the cortex was then
established and subsequently confirmed by successive in¬
vestigators, the very exact and restricted localization of the
organs in the cortex, as originally described, met
with objections both on the part of physiologists and neuro¬
pathologists. To some extent these objections shook the
theory of localization in the cortex. For a long time the
situation remained uncertain, because the physiologist did
not have purely physiological knowledge of the normal ac-
tivity of the cortex; the use of psychological concepts, when
p yc 0 ogy has not yet created a natural and generally ac-

424
 cepted system of its phenomena, could not, of course, be
conducive to the further study of the problem of localiza¬
tion. The situation radically changed when, thanks to the
theory of conditioned reflexes, the physiologist was at last
provided with the possibility of seeing the special, and at
the same time purely physiological, activity of the cerebral
hemispheres and thus could clearly distinguish the physio¬
logical activity of the cortex from the activity of the near¬
est subcortex, and the lower parts of the brain in general, in
the shape of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. Then
all the separate facts could be definitely and strictly sys¬
tematized, and the main principle of the structure of the
cerebral hemispheres came clearly to the fore. From the
seventies on, the special regions which had been located in
the cortex as centres for the principal external receptors,
remained the seat of higher synthesis and analysis of cor¬
responding stimuli; however, along with these regions one
had to admit the existence of representatives of the same
receptors, dispersed, perhaps, over the entire cortex or at
least over a considerable part of it, but capable only of
simpler and quite elementary synthesis and analysis. A
dog that had been deprived of the occipital lobes could not
distinguish one object from another, but did distinguish
degrees of light and simplified forms. A dog without tem¬
poral lobes was unable to discriminate complex sounds,
such as its own name, etc., but was still capable of exact
differentiation of separate sounds, for example, of one tone
h-om another. What convincing proof of the fundamental
importance of specialized structure!
Not without interest is the following experiment carried
out by Dr. Elliason, and described in my “Lectures on the
Work of the Cerebral Hemispheres”; it provides more de¬
tailed indications with regard to the functional significance
of the structural properties of the special cortical regions.
An acoustic complex of three tones of a harmonium—two
extreme and one intermediate—covering more than three
and a half octaves, and applied simultaneously, was used

425
 for the elaboration of a complex conditioned alimentary sti¬
mulus which evoked the secretion of a certain amount of
saliva indicating the degree of intensity of the alimentary
reflex. Subsequently, when separate components of the
acoustic complex were tested, they also produced salivation,
but to a lesser extent than the whole complex; the inter¬
mediate tones between these also caused a secretion of
saliva, which was still less abundant. Then a bilateral ex¬
tirpation of the anterior temporal lobes (gg. sylviaticus and
ectosylvius with the anterior part of g. compositus poste¬
rior) was performed. The following was observed. When
all the conditioned reflexes (to stimuli from other analys¬
ers) were restored after the operation, as well as the con¬
ditioned reflex to the chord (the latter reflex even before
some of the others), the reflexes to isolated component tones
of the chord were tested anew. The high tone and the
neighbouring tones lost their effect, while the middle and
low tones, as well as the intermediate tones, retained it;
the effect of the low tone even.increased, becoming equal
to that produced by the whole' chord. But when the high
tone was accompanied separately by feeding, it soon (at the
fourth essay) became again a conditioned alimentary stim¬
ulus and acquired a considerable effect—not a weaker,
but a stronger one than previously. A number of exact con¬
clusions can be drawn from this experiment. In the first
place, that separate elements of the receptor acoustic appa¬
ratus are represented at different points of the special audi¬
tory region of the cortex; in the second place, that the
complex stimuli use precisely this region; and, in the third
•place, that representatives of the same elements of the audi¬
tory apparatus, dispersed over a considerable part of the
cortex, take no positive part in these complex stimuli.
When one sees, as I have seen, with the conditioned re¬
flexes in hand, that a dog, with the posterior, greater part
of both hemispheres removed, can orient itself with extreme
precision by means of its cutaneous and olfactory receptors,
losing only complex visual and auditory relations with the
"t

426
 surrounding world, i.e., becoming unable to distinguish
complex visual and auditory stimuli; that a dog deprived
of the upper halves of both hemispheres, while fully retain¬
ing complex relations (auditory) with the surroundings,
loses—in an astonishingly isolated manner—only the abil¬
ity to orient itself amid the solid bodies met in the sur¬
rounding medium; and that, finally, a dog with extirpated
anterior (minor) halves of both hemispheres, is, to all ap¬
pearances, a fully disabled animal, i.e., deprived chiefly of
proper locomotion, of the normal use of its skeletal move¬
ments, and yet reveals by means of another indicator,
namely, the salivary gland, its complex nervous activity.
When one sees all this how is it possible not to be im¬
pressed first of all with the paramount role played by the
structure of the cerebral hemispheres in the fundamental
task of the organism—to ensure proper orientation in the
environment, proper equilibration with it? How, after this,
is it possible to doubt the further significance of the more
detailed features of the structure?
Were we to adopt the viewpoint of our author, described
below in detail, we should have to advise the brain histo¬
logists to abandon their work as unnecessary and useless.
Who would venture to draw such a conclusion? Otherwise,
all the structural details, which are disclosed, must sooner
or later^find their own functional significance. Therefore,
along with the further and deeper histological study of the
cortical mass, it is necessary to carry on a purely and
strictly physiological investigation of the activity of the
cerebral hemispheres and of the adjacent part of the brain,
so that the two elements—structure and function—could
be gradually connected one with the other.
And this is done by the theory of reflexes.
Physiology long ago firmly established the permanent
connection of definite internal and external stimuli with def¬
inite activities of the organism expressed in the form of
reflexes. The theory of conditioned reflexes undoubtedly
established in physiology the fact of temporary connection

427
between diverse (and not merely definite) external and in¬
ternal stimuli with certain units of activity of the organ¬
ism, i.e., along with conduction of nervous processes in the
higher centres, it also explicitly stated the possibility of
their connection and disconnection. But this addition, of
course, did not lead to any essential changes in the concept
of a reflex. The connection between a definite stimulation
and a certain unit of activity of the organism remains; how¬
ever, it is manifested exclusively in the presence of a def¬
inite condition. That is why we distinguish these reflexes
from inborn reflexes and term them “conditioned,” in con¬
tradistinction to the older ones which have been termed
“unconditioned.” Thanks to this, the investigation of con¬
ditioned reflexes is based on the same three principles of
the reflex theory: determinism, gradual and consecutive
analysis and synthesis, and the structural • principle. For
us, the effect is always connected with the cause, the whole,
in ever-increasing measure, is divided in parts and then
synthesized anew, and the dynamics remain connected with
structure, inasmuch, of course, as this is granted by the
data of present-day anatomical investigation. Thus, one can
say, boundless vistas are opened up for research into the
dynamics of the higher part of the brain, i.e., of the cerebral
hemispheres and of the adjacent subcortex with its most
complex fundamental unconditioned reflexes.
We consecutively study the fundamental properties of the
cortical mass, define the essential activities of the cerebral
hemispheres and elucidate the connections and interrela¬
tions of the cerebral hemispheres and the adjacent sub¬
cortex.
The basic processes of cortical activity are excitation and
inhibition, their movement in the form of irradiation and
concentration, and their reciprocal induction. The special
activity of the cerebral hemispheres is expressed in a con¬
tinuous analysis and synthesis of stimuli coming both from
the external environment (for the most part) and from
within the organism; thereafter the stimuli are directed to

428
the lower centres beginning with the adjacent subcortex and
ending with the cells of the anterior horns of the spinal
cord.
Thus, under the influence of the cortex, the entire activ¬
ity of the organism becomes more and more exactly and
delicately correlated or equilibrated with the environment.
On the other hand, the adjacent subcortex sends a powerful
stream of impulses from its centres to the cortex which
maintains the tonus of the latter. In the final analysis, the
centre of gravity of research into the higher part of the
brain is now being transferred to investigation of the dy¬
namic phenomena taking place in the cerebral hemispheres
and in the adjacent subcortex.
As stated above, the work of the cortex essentially con¬
sists in analysis and synthesis of the stimuli entering it.
The variety and number of these stimuli is truly innumer¬
able, even in an animal like the dog. The best way to ex¬
press the number and variety of stimuli would be to say
that all the stages through which the states of separate cor¬
tical cells and of their diverse combinations pass, represent
individual stimuli. By means of the cortex it is possible to
form special stimuli from all gradations and variations of
the excitatory, as well as of the inhibitory, processes, both
in individual cells and in their various combinations. Stim¬
uli formed from different intensities of one and the same
stimulation, from the relationship of stimulations, etc., may
serve as an example of the first case, and different condi¬
tioned hypnogenous stimuli—as an example of the second.
These countless states of the cells are formed not only
under the influence of existing stimuli and manifest them¬
selves not only during the action of external stimulations,
but remain also in their absence, in the form of a system
of different intermittent, more or less stable degrees of ex¬
citation and inhibition. Here is an illustration. A series of
positive stimuli of different intensities, and of negative stim¬
uli, are applied by us day by day for a certain period, in
one and the same sequence and with the same intervals

429
between them; in this way we obtain a system of corre¬
sponding effects. If in the course of the experiment we re¬
peat only one of the positive stimuli, observing the same
intervals, it will reproduce exactly the same fluctuations of
the effect which were caused by all the successive stimuli
taken together in the previous experiments, i.e., the same
system of states of cortical excitation and inhibition will
recur.
Of course, one cannot claim at the moment the estab¬
lishment of any far-reaching conformity between the dyna¬
mic phenomenia and the details of structure, but this con¬
formity must necessarily be admitted, for the structure of
the cortex is highly variegated throughout, and we are al¬
ready convinced that certain degrees of synthesis and anal¬
ysis of stimuli are accessible only to definite parts of the
cortex, being inaccessible to others. This is also firmly es¬
tablished by the following fact. When a series of different
acoustic stimuli (a tone, noise, beats of the metronome, a
gurgling sound, etc.), or mechanical stimulations at differ¬
ent spots of the skin, are developed into conditioned stim¬
uli, we can render one of the stimulated points patho¬
logical and invalid, while the other will be quite normal.
We obtain this result not in a mechanical, but in a func¬
tional way, by bringing the point of stimulation into a
difficult state either by an excessively intense stimulation or
by a drastic collision at that point of the excitatory and
inhibitory processes. And how can this be explained except
by saying that the excessive work imposed by us on the
given minute detail of structure, resulted in its destruction,
just as rough handling spoils and destroys a very delicate
instrument? How delicate and specialized must these details
be when the points of application of other auditory and
mechanical stimuli remain fully preserved and intact. Such
isolated destruction can hardly ever be obtained mechani¬
cally or chemically. After this there can be no doubt that
if at present, following mechanical destruction of the cortex,
we sometimes do not observe any change in the animal’s

430
behaviour, this is due to the self-evident fact that we have
not yet decomposed the animal’s behaviour into all its ele¬
ments, the number of which must be enormous. And for this
reason, the disappearance of some of them naturally es¬
capes our attention.
I have taken the liberty of dwelling at length on our
data because I wanted, in the first place, to make further
use of them in criticizing the experiments and respective
conclusions of Lashley, and, in the second place, to sho\y
once more how fruitful at the present time is the investiga¬
tion of the cerebral hemispheres based on the theory of
reflexes with all its principles.
What, then, are the objections raised by Lashley against
the theory of reflexes? What are the arguments with which
he tries to smash this theory?* First of all it is abso¬
lutely clear that he conceives it in a peculiar way. Arbitrarily,
disregarding physiology, he approaches it exclusively from
the structural point of view, without a single word about
its other principles. It is generally accepted that the idea
of the reflex dates from Descartes. But what was known in
Descartes’ time about the detailed structure of the central
nervous system, especially in connection with its activity?
Indeed, it was only in the beginning of the 19th century
that a physiologico-anatomical distinction was made between
the sensory and motor nerves. It is obvious that the idea of
determinism formed the essence of Descartes’ notion of a
reflex, and originated his concept of the animal organism as
a machine. All later physiologists interpreted the reflex in a
similar way; they related the individual activities of the or¬
ganism to definite stimuli, gradually specifying the ele¬
ments of nervous structure in the form of different afferent

• Since the monograph by K. S. Lashley entitled “Brain Mechan¬

isms and Intelligence,’’ published simultaneously with the above-
mentioned address, gives a fuller exposition of the author’s experi¬
mental material, I shall, henceforth, refer to the address and mono¬
graph without any distinction, citing facts, conclusions and extracts.
{Note by I. P. Pavlov.)

431
 and efferent nerves and in the form of special paths and
points (centres) of the central nervous system, and finally,
collated the typical features of the dynamics of this system.
The main factual grounds which serve Lashley for his
conclusion concerning the harmfulness of the reflex theory
at the present time, and for recommending a new concept of
cerebral activity, are drawn chiefly from the author’s own
experimental material. This material consists mainly of ex¬
periments carried out on white rats which learn to find
the shortest possible way to a compartment containing food
in a more or less complicated maze. These experiments
showed that the learning became more difficult almost ex¬
actly in proportion to the degree of preliminary destruction
of t! cerebral hemispheres, and, besides, irrespective of
the parts subjected to destruction; in other words, the re¬
sult was determined exclusively by the mass of hemispheres
which remained intact. After additional experimentation the
author reached the conclusion that “specific cortical areas,
and association or projection tracts, seem unessential to the
performance of such functions which rather depend upon the
total mass of normal tissue.” Thus, the author draws an orig¬
inal, but actually quite inconceivable, conclusion that the
most complex activities of the apparatus are effected with¬
out the participation of its special parts and chief connec¬
tions, or, in other words, that the whole apparatus func¬
tions somehow or other independently of its component
p^ ts.
And so the main question is: why is the accomplishment
of the maze task regularly retarded, depending solely on
the degree of destruction of the hemispheres, but irrespec¬
tive of the location of destruction? In this connection it is
to be regretted that the author did not keep in mind the
theory of reflexes with its first principle of determinism.
Otherwise, the first question he would have put to himself,
when analysing his experimental methods, would be the
following: how could the rat solve the maze problem in
general? After all, it could not do it without some kind of

432
 directing impulse, without some kind of signal. Were we to
take the contrary view, no matter how difficult this is, we
would be obliged to show that the task can be actually ac¬
complished without the help of any stimuli, i.e., it would
be necessary first to destroy in the rat all receptors at once
But who has ever done this and how can it be done? If,
however, as may be naturally assumed, signals, or certain
stimuli, are inevitably required for the solution of the task,
then the destruction of individual receptors or of their def¬
inite combinations is obviously insufficient. It is possible
that all or almost all the receptors participate in the re¬
sponse, superseding one another separately or in certain
combinations. And with rats, in view of the well-known con¬
ditions of their life, this invariably is the case. It is not dif¬
ficult to assume that in accomplishing the maze task the rat
makes equal use of olfactory, auditory, visual, cutaneous,
and kinesthetic stimuli. And since special regions of these
receptors are located in different places of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, and individual representatives of their elements are
possibly dispersed throughout the entire mass of the hemi¬
spheres, the possibility of solving the task always remains,
no matter how much of the hemispheres has been extir¬
pated; but, naturally, the less cortical tissue that remains
intact the more difficult is the solution. But if one accepts
the view that in the given case the rat uses only one re¬
ceptor or a few of them simultaneously, then it is neces¬
sary to prove this by special experiments that would leave
no room for doubt, i.e., by allowing each receptor to act sep¬
arately or in certain combinations, and excluding all
others. But, as far as I know, neither the author nor anyone
else has ever performed such experiments.
It is very strange that the author completely disregards
all these possibilities and does not even put the question:
how does the rat overcome the mechanical obstacles, what
stimuli, and what signals serve for the corresponding move¬
ments? He confines himself to experiments which involve
the destruction of individual receptors separately or in cer-

28—773 433
 tain combinations, but do not abolish the habit; he ends his
analysis by stating that “the most important features of
the maze habit are a generalization of direction from the
specific turns of the maze and the development of some cen¬
tral organization by which the sense of general direction
can be maintained in spite of great variations of posture
and of specific direction in running.” Truly, one can say,
some kind of bodiless reaction!
Various incisions in the cerebral hemispheres and in the
spinal cord were applied by the author as additional exper¬
iments in studying the maze reaction; their purpose was to
exclude the association and projection tracts in the hemi¬
spheres and the pathways in the spinal cord. However, it
should be pointed out that all these methods, as physiolog¬
ists well know, are in no way decisive, but rough, ap¬
proximate methods, and the more so the more complicated
the structure. This applies also to the peripheral nervous
system which is much more crude and simple. Physiolog¬
ists know very well how difficult it is fully to isolate the
organs from nervous connections with the whole organism,
and often only complete removal of an organ gives full as¬
surance in this respect. Various crossings, loops, etc., in
the peripheral nervous system are familiar to physiologists.
Let us recall, for example, the case of recurrent sensibility
in the spinal roots and the innervation of a single muscle
by fibres from different roots. How much more diverse and
delicate, then, must this, so to speak, mechanical immunity
be in the central nervous system with its immense connec¬
tions. It seems to me that up to now this highly important
principle has not been sufficiently recognized, particularly
in the physiology of the nervous system, and has not been
clearly and constantly formulated. Indeed, the system of
the organism developed in the midst of all the surrounding
conditions: thermal, electrical, bacterial and others, in¬
cluding mechanical conditions; it had to balance all these
conditions, adapt itself to them, and prevent or limit their
destructive action as much as possible. In the nervous sys-

434
tem, and especially in its most complex central part, which
controls the entire organism and unites all its particular
activities, this principle of mechanical self-protection, the
principle of mechanical immunity, had to attain the highest
degree of perfection, and this, actually, is mostly the case.
Since at present we cannot claim complete knowledge of
all the connections which are formed in the central nervous
system, our experiments with incisions, sections, etc., in
many cases are, in essence, only of a negative character,
i.e., we do not accomplish our aim of disjunction, since the
apparatus proves to be more complicated, so to speak, more
auto-regulatory than we anticipated. It is, therefore, always
risky to draw definite and far-reaching conclusions on the
basis of such experiments.
In connection with our first question I shall touch on the
problem of relative complexity of habits which the author
investigated; I do so mainly for the sake of appraising his
methods. The author finds that the maze habit is more com¬
plicated than the habit of distinguishing between different
intensities of light. But how is this proved? Actually the
reverse is the case: a habit in a highly complicated maze
is formed in the course of nineteen trials, while the habit
of distinguishing the brightness of light is formed in 135
trials, i.e.., the maze habit is elaborated seven times easier.
If a comparison is made with the simplest of the three
mazes used by the author, the difference in the degree of
difficulty amounts almost to thirty times. Despite this, the
author arrives at the conclusion that the maze habit is
more complex. He backs his conclusion with various ex¬
planations; however, in order to be convincing he should
have determined exactly, that is, quantitatively, the value
of the facts suggested in his explanations, so that, taken
together, they should not only cover the actual difference,
but transform the result into its opposite.
In a situation of this kind I would not venture to say
what is complex and what is simple. Let us examine the es¬
sence of the question. In the movements of the animal in

28* 435
 the maze and in the box with different intensities of illu¬
mination account is taken only of its turns to the right
or to the left, but not the whole act of locomotion. In both
cases signals or special stimuli are necessary to effect the
turns. And in both cases they actually exist. But beyond
this there is a difference. There are several turns in the
maze, in the box only one. Consequently, in this respect the
maze is more difficult. But that is not the only difference.
In the maze the signs for the turns differ almost exclu¬
sively in quality; for example, in the act of turning the
animal comes into contact with the openings of the parti¬
tion now at the right side, now at the left side of the body;
in making the turns the muscles of the right and left sides
work alternately. The same is true in respect of the visual
and auditory signals. In the box it is a matter of quantita¬
tive difference. These differences must somehow be equili¬
brated. And besides, of course, the life experience of the
rat is bound to play a part, i.e., its greater or lesser prelim¬
inary acquaintance with one or another task, as the author
rightly points out. But it is also impossible to overlook
the fact that in the most complicated maze the accomplish¬
ment of the task is greatly facilitated by definite rhythm,
by alternation of the turn now to the right, now to the left.
On the other hand, inculcation of ability to distinguish
between different intensities of light is bound to be con¬
siderably influenced by the fact that two impulses con¬
tribute to it: food and nocuous stimulation (pain), whereas
in the maze the habit is determined only by food. This, of
course, complicates the conditions of learning. And still
another question arises: do the two impulses contribute to
the formation of the habit, or, on the contrary, impede it^
Besides, we have stated above that the development of a
system of effect is a very easy and persistent phenomenon
in nervous activity. So that in both methods, in the maze
and in the box, we have different conditions, with the result
that an exact comparison of the difficulty of the task
becomes almost impossible. All this, plus the above-indi-

436
cated vague character of the signals in the maze, makes the
entire method of the author highly problematic.
That our author is more inclined to theorize and to gen¬
eralize than to perfect and vary his experiments (an indis¬
pensable requirement in biological experimentation), can
be seen from the following investigations carried out by
him in relation to the same problem.* In one of these
researches he investigates the visual habit elaborated to
a certain intensity of illumination. Having destroyed the
occipital third of the cerebral hemispheres in a rat, the
author finds that even the speed of forming the visual habit
is not diminished compared with normal animals. If, how¬
ever, the same habit already existed in a normal animal
before removal of the occipital part of the hemispheres, then
the habit disappears and must be formed anew. From this
the author draws the risky and somewhat inconceivable
conclusion that in general the process of learning does not
depend on the site of lesion, whereas the mnemonic trace
or engram has a definite localization. But the matter is
much more simple. As is known, the occipital lobes are the
location of a special visual region, to which the stimuli
from the eyes come first of all and where they enter into
functional connections with one another for the formation
of complex visual stimulations, as well as into direct con¬
ditioned connections with the various activities of the
organism. But since the visual fibres extend much farther
than the occipital lobes, probably over the entire mass of
the hemispheres, beyond these special lobes they serve for
the establishment of conditioned connections with the vari¬
ous activities of the organism, only in the form of more
or less elementary visual stimuli. And should Lashley form
a habit not to the intensity of light but to a certain object.

* K. S. Lashley, “The Relation Between Cerebral Mass, Learning,

and Retention,” Jour. Comp. Near., Vol. 41, No. 1, 1926. “The Reten¬
tion of Motor Habits after Destruction of the So-Called Motor Areas
in Primates,” Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, Vol. i2, 1924.
{Note by I. P. Pavlov.)

437
 this habit would disappear with the extirpation of the occi¬
pital lobes land would not reappear; thus, there would be
no difference between the site of formation of the habit and
the place of the mnemonic trace.
In the other research Lashley carried out experiments on
the cortical motor region of monkeys. The motor habit does
not disappear with the removal of this region. From this
he draws the conclusion that the region has no relation to
the given habit. But, first of all, in his three experiments
he does not extirpate the motor region fully, and probably
the remaining parts are still sufficient for a mechanical
habit of the given complexity. He excludes this probability
not by experiment, but by reasoning. Then, it is possible
that in addition to the highly specialized motor region,
ascertained by electrical stimulation, there is a less special¬
ized and more extended region. These two considerations
necessitate a considerable complication of the mechanical
tasks. Finally, why did the author not blind his animals?
For there is no doubt that vision also played a part in the
formation of the habit, and stimulation of the motor appa¬
ratus located below might occur through the visual cortical
fibres as well. We have a striking example of this in ataxic
patients"® in cases of tabes dorsalis. The ataxic patient can
stand on one leg with his eyes open, but falls when his
eyes are closed. Consequently, in the first case he replaces
the kinesthetic fibres by the visual ones.
And here again, under the influence of the favourite nega¬
tive attitude towards detailed localization, there is discon¬
tinuation of further necessary experimentation.
Let us now turn to the other experiments and arguments
of the author aimed directly against the theory of reflexes.
Analysing various adequate stimuli, the author states that
most likely one and the same receptor cells do not take part
in forming and reproducing a habit, and that this is most
obvious in pattern vision. But, in the first place, we see ob¬
jects, i.e., we receive certain combined visual stimulations
with the help of each part of the retina, and not of the whole

438
 retina at once. The same applies to the projection of the re¬
tina in the cortex. Consequently, this is the reason why there
is no definite connection between the given receptor cells and
a definite reaction. Only when we study an object in detail,
. do we make temporary use of the fovea centralis,and
usually each part of the retina serves for a corresponding
reaction to the given object. This principle is likewise true
for the projection of the retina in the cortex. In the second
place, as far as the identity of the reaction is concerned, in
the case of a geometrical white figure on a black background
or with the relations of brightness reversed, and in oases
when the geometrical figures are replaced by corresponding
contour outlines, and even partial outlines—this identity
can be explained by what has just been said; on the other
hand, this phenomenon was thoroughly studied long ago,
and it means that at first the most general features of the
stimuli act, and then, gradually, under the influence of spe¬
cial conditions, a further analysis takes place and more spe¬
cial components of the stimuli begin to act. In the given
case, it is the combinations of white and black points alone,
without exact relations and dispositions, that first act as
stimuli. And this is demonstrated by the fact that in the
course of further special experiments a white figure on a
black background could, undoubtedly, be differentiated from
a black figure on a white background, i.e., the mutual rela¬
tionship of black and white would become a special stimu¬
lus. The same applies to the replacement of a geometrical
figure by a contour outline, etc. All these are but stages of
analysis, i.e., more and more detailed elements of the stim¬
uli gradually become stimuli themselves.
Concerning the group of reactions, i.e., the motor appa¬
ratus, the author points out that the rat proceeds in the
right direction in the maze, in spite of the fact that some¬
times it runs very quickly, sometimes moves slowly, and
finally, when its cerebellum is injured, makes circular move¬
ments. And this, in the author’s judgement, is an argument
against the existence of any definite connection between the

^9
 stimulus and a given reaction. However, the rat constantly
moves forward and makes turns to the right and to the left
with the help of the same muscles in all the cases mentioned
here, the rest are additional movements determined by other
additional stimuli. Further, in the case of the exclusion of
muscles by paralysis during the elaboration of a habit, and
their subsequent use after curing the paralysis, it is neces¬
sary to find out why and where the paralysis arose. For we
have a vast series of co-ordinated centres, extending from
the end of the spinal cord up to the cerebral hemispheres,
and conductive fibres may reach out to all of them from the
hemispheres. Further, we know that every time we think of
a movement, we actually produce it in an abortive way.
Consequently, a process of innervation is possible, although
actually it does not manifest itself. Then, if the stimulation
cannot be realized through the shortest way, it must, in ac¬
cordance with the principles of summation and irradiation,
pass to the neighbouring points. Have we not known for a
long time that a decapitated frog, when removing acid
placed on the thigh of one of its extremities by using the
foot of the same extremity, if unable to do so because of am¬
putation of that foot, y/ill use the other foot after a few un¬
successful attempts with the disabled extremity?
The author s reference to the absence of stereotype in cer¬
tain forms of movement, for example, in the building of nests
by birds, is also based on misunderstanding. The phenom¬
enon of individual adaptation exists throughout the ani¬
mal world. And this is precisely the conditioned reflex, the
conditioned reaction which is effected on the principle of si¬
multaneity. Finally, the author’s allusion to the uniformity
of grammatical forms fully accords with the above-men¬
tioned fact of systematization taking place in the nervous
processes of the cortical activity. This is precisely the com¬
bination or fusion of structure with function. And if we do
not now have a clear idea of how this occurs, this is only be¬
cause we do not yet possess complete knowledge of the
structure and of the mechanism of the dynamic processes.

440
 I consider it superfluous to dwell further on the author’s
arguments against the significance of structure in the cen¬
tral nervous system. The common feature of all his argu¬
ments is that he disregards the already known complexity of
this structure, and even more so, its probable complexity; he
constantly simplifies it in a preconceived way, reducing it
to the simplest scheme of a physiological text-book, which
merely shows the indispensable connection between the stim¬
ulation and its effect—and nothing more.
What then does the author propose in place of the theory
of reflexes which he rejects? Nothing except extremely re¬
mote and fully unjustified analogies. Is it possible to seek a
solution of the problem of the higher brain mechanism by
references to the tissue of sponges and hydroids or to em¬
bryonal tissue, when in the higher part of the brain of higher
animals, including man, we have the summit of differentia¬
tion of living matter? In any case, admitting absolute free¬
dom of hypothesis, we have the right to demand of the
author at least a preliminary and elementary programme of
definite problems for successful experimentation on this sub¬
ject in the immediate future, a programme offering more
than the theory of reflexes and capable of vigorously ad¬
vancing the problem of cerebral functions. But the author
has no such programme. A truly scientific theory must em¬
brace not only all the existing material, but open up a wide
possibility for further research and, so to speak, unlimited
experimentation.
This is precisely the position in which the theory of re¬
flexes now finds itself. Who will deny the extreme, almost
inconceivable complexity of the structure of the central nerv¬
ous system in its highest representative, the human brain,
and the necessity for a more profound study of it by im¬
proved methods? On the other hand, the human mind still
remains overwhelmed by the mystery of its own activity.
The theory of reflexes seeks to provide a possible solution
for both one and the other, to elucidate the remarkable mech¬
anism, so difficult to conceive, of this most extraordinary

441
 instrument. The possibility of experimentation on the brain,
and especially on its higher part, with the help of the reflex
theory with its requirements of consta;nt determination and
unceasing analysis and synthesis of the underlying phenom¬
ena, is truly unlimited. This I have felt and seen continu¬
ously in the course of the past thirty years, and the further,
the more distinctly.
Since this is my first appearance in psychological litera¬
ture, it seems to me opportune, on the one hand, to dwell
on certain tendencies in psychology, which, in my opinion,
do not agree with the aims of successful investigation, and
on the other hand, to emphasize with greater force my poiiit
of view on the subject of our common research.
I am an empirical psychologist and I know psychological
literature only from the few manuals and the insignificant
number—in comparison with the available materihl—of psy¬
chological articles which I have read. But throughout my
entire conscious life I have been and still am a constant ob¬
server and analyser of myself and others within the range
of life which is accessible to me, including belles-lettres and
genre painting. I decidedly reject and dislike any theory
claiming a complete inclusion of all that constitutes our sub¬
jective world, but that does not mean that I refuse to ana¬
lyse it, or attempt to interpret it simply, in its individual
points. This interpretation must consist in bringing its sepa¬
rate phenomena into accord with the data of our modern
positive knowledge in the field of natural sciences. For this
purpose it is necessary constantly to endeavour to apply in
a most thorough way these data to every particular phenom¬
enon. It is my conviction that a purely physiological inter¬
pretation of much of what was previously called psychical
activity has gained sure ground, and that in the analysis
of the behaviour of higher animals, man included, every
effort should be legitimately made to interpret phenomena in
a purely physiological way, on the basis of established phys¬
iological processes. However, it is clear to me that many
psychologists, so to speak, jealously protect the behaviour

442
of animals and man from purely physiological explanations,
constantly ignore them and do not try to apply any of them
in an objective way.
To prove what I have just said I shall take only two very
simple cases: one mine and the other Prof. 'Koehler’s,al¬
though I could cite many much more cornplex cases.
When we were trying out the method of feeding an animal
from a distance during experimentation, we employed differ¬
ent procedures, and among them the following: in front of
the dog we always placed an empty plate to which a metal
tube led from a vessel containing the powder of dried meat
and bread with which we usually fed our animals at the
time of experimentation. Located at the junction of the ves¬
sel and the tube was a valve which could be opened at the
right moment by means of pneumatic transmission; in this
way a portion of the powder came down the tube and spilt
out into the plate where it was eaten by the animal. The
valve did not work very well and when the tube was shaken
some of the powder would fall into the plate. The dog quick¬
ly learned to make use of this, that is, to shake out the
powder without assistance. And such shaking occurred al¬
most constantly whenever the dog, while eating its portion
of food, brushed against the tube. This, of course, is exactly
what takes place when the dog is being trained to give the
paw. In our experimental case the laboratory surroundings
in general taught the dog, while here only a part of the sur¬
roundings—man. In the latter case the words “paw,”
“give,” etc., the tactile stimulation which arises when the
dog lifts its paw, the kinesthetic stimulation which accom¬
panies this movement, and, finally, the visual stimulation
coming from the trainer, are accompanied by feeding, i.e.,
they are linked up with an alimenary conditioned stimulus.
What happened in the above-mentioned case is exactly the
same thing: the noise of the shaking tube, the tactile stimu¬
lation from the contact with the tube, the kinesthetic stimu¬
lation resulting from knocking against the tube and finally
the sight of the tube—all were likewise connected with the

443
 act of eating, with excitation of the alimentary centre. This,
naturally, occurred through the principle of association by
simultaneity and was a conditioned reflex. Two additional
physiological facts are clearly manifested here. In the first
place, the definite kinesthetic stimulation is connected, in
the given case, probably in a conditioned way (while in the
lower parts of the central nervous system in an uncondi¬
tioned way), with performing the movement that originated
the kinesthetic stimulation. In the second place, when two
nervous centres are connected or joined together, the nerv¬
ous processes move from one to the other in both direc¬
tions. If we accept as absolutely valid the principle of one¬
way conduction of the nervous processes in all points of
the central nervous system, then in the given case we shall
have to assume an additional reverse connection between
these points, i.e., to admit the existence of an additional
neurone connecting them. When the lifting of the paw is
followed by presentation of food, the excitation undoubtedly
proceeds from the kinesthetic point to the alimentary centre.
But when the connection is established and the dog, being
in a state of alimentary excitation, gives the paw itself, the
excitation obviously runs in the opposite direction.
I cannot interpret this fact in any other way. Why this
is only a simple association, as psychologists usually affirm,
and not an act of comprehension, of sagacity, even though
elementary, remains obscure to me.
The other example is taken by me from W. Koehler’s book
(Intelligenzprufungen an Menschenaffen) and also relates
to a dog. The dog is kept in a large cage placed in an open
space. Two opposite walls of the cage are solid and nothing
can be seen^ through them. Of the other two, one is a grille
through which free open space is visible, and the other has
an open door. The dog stands in the cage facing the grille
and a piece of meat is placed in front of it at some distance.’
The moment the dog sees the meat it turns around, walks
D around the cage and takes the meat.
But if the meat is placed close to the grille, the dog vainly

444
jostles about, trying to get to the meat through the grille,
and does not make use of the door. What does this mean?
Koehler makes no attempt to solve this question. But with
the help of conditioned reflexes we can easily comprehend
the matter. When the meat is near the grille, it strongly
stimulates the dog’s olfactory centre, and the latter, in
accordance with the law of negative induction, greatly
inhibits lall the other analysers, all other parts of the cere¬
bral hemispheres, and thus the traces of the dour and of
the roundabout way remain inhibited, or, in subjective ter¬
minology, the dog has temporarily forgotten them. In the
first case, in the absence of a strong olfactory stimulation,
these traces are either only slightly inhibited or not
inhibited at all, and lead the dog more correctly to its aim.
At any rate this interpretation fully deserves further exact
verification in an experimental way. Should it be con¬
firmed, it would be possible experimentally to reproduce the
mechanism of our reverie, of strong concentration of thought
on something, when we do not see or hear what is going
on around us, or, what is the same, to reproduce the mechan¬
ism of the so-called blindness under the influence of passion.
I am sure that persistent experimentation will elucidate
a number of other and more complex cases of the behaviour
of animals and man from the point of view of many estab¬
lished rules of the higher nei vous activity.
The second point, on which I shall dwell, concerns the
significance of the aim and purpose in psychological
research. It seems to me that v/ith regard to this point dif¬
ferent things are always confused.
Before us is the grandiose fact of the evolution of nature
from its initial state in the form of nebulae in infinite space
all the way to human beings on our planet, an evolution
which, roughly speaking, passed through the following
phases; the solar systems, the planetary systems, the inan¬
imate and animate part of nature on earth. The phases of
evolution in the form of phylogeny and ontogeny are most
strikingly seen in living matter. We still do not know, and

445
 probably shall not know for la long time, either the general
law of evolution, or all its successive phases. But observ¬
ing its manifestations, we replace in an anthropomorphic,
subjective way, both in general and in particular, the
knowledge of the law by the terms “purpose,” “intention,”
i.e., we merely repeat the fact without adding anything to
our actual knowledge of it. But a genuine study of the
separate systems of which nature consists, including man,
implies a mere statement both of the internal and external
conditions of existence of these systems, in other words,
the study of their mechanism; to thrust into this investiga¬
tion the idea of purpose in general, means to confuse dif¬
ferent things, to hinder the fruitful investigation which is
now accessible to us. In the study of each particular system
the idea of possible purpose is not the final aim; it can
only serve as an additional help, as a method of scientific
hypothesis favouring the formulation of new problems, vary¬
ing experiments, just as we do when we acquaint ourselves
with a machine which is new to us and which is the work
of human hands.
The question of freedom of will, naturally, is bound up
with this point. Undoubtedly this question is of great vital
importance. But it seems to me that it is possible to dis¬
cuss it in a strictly scientific way (within the limits of
modern exact natural science), and at the same time without
contradicting the feelings common to all men and without
involving confusion in its vital formulation.
Man, of course, is a system (roughly speaking, a ma¬
chine), and like every other system in nature is governed
by the inevitable laws common to all nature; but it is a
system- which, within the present range of our scientific
vision, is unique for its supreme power of self-regulation.
Among the products of human hands we already know a
number of machines with various systems of auto-regula¬
tion. From this point of view, the method of studying the
human system is exactly the same as that of any other
system; it includes decomposition into constituent parts.

446
study of the importance of each part, study of the connec¬
tions between the parts, study of relations with the external
environment, and finally, on this basis, interpretation of its
general functioning, as well as regulation, if this is within
human possibility. But our system is a highly auto-regulat¬
ing system, capable of maintaining, rehabilitating, repair¬
ing and even improving itself. The chief, the strongest and
the lasting impression gained from the study of the higher
nervous activity by our method is the extraordinary plastic¬
ity of this activity, its immense potentialities; nothing is
immobile, unyielding; everything can always be attained,
changed for the better, if only the proper conditions are
created.
A system (machine) on the one hand, and man, with all
his ideals, aspirations and achievements, on the other—
what a terribly discordant comparison this seems at first
glance. But is this really so? And does not it follow from
our own point of view that man is the supreme creation of
nature, the highest embodiment of the resources of infinite
nature, the realization of her mighty and still unexplored
laws? Is not this enough to enhance the dignity of man,
to afford him the deepest satisfaction? And practically
everything vital is retained that is implied in the idea of
free will, with its personal, social and civic responsibility;
for me there remains the possibility, and hence also the
obligation, to know myself, and using this knowledge,
always to maintain myself at the highest possible level of
my abilities. Do not social and civic duties and require¬
ments constitute conditions which are demanded of my sys¬
tem and which must evoke in it corresponding reactions
favouring its integrity and perfection?
 DYNAMIC STEREOTYPY OF THE HIGHER PART
OF THE BRAIN121

Countless stimuli, different in nature and intensity, reach

the cerebral hemispheres both from the external world and
the internal medium of the organism itself. Whereas some
of them are merely investigated (the orienting reflex),
others evoke highly diverse conditioned and unconditioned
effects. They all meet, come together, interact, and they
must, finally, become systematized, equilibrated, and form,
so to speak, a dynamic stereotype.
What truly grandiose work!
_ However, this work is accessible to detailed and exact
investigation, naturally, at first, under simplified conditions.
We are studying this activity on a system of conditioned
reflexes, mainly alimentary, in the course of experimenta¬
tion on dogs. This system consists of a series of positive
stimuli, acting on different receptors and having different
intensities, as well as of negative stimuli.
Since all these stimulations leave, after their action, more
or less profound traces, precise and constant effects of the
stimuli can be obtained in the system with the greatest ease
and rnost rapidly only when the intervals between the
stimuli are invariable and when the stimuli are applied in
a strictly definite order, i.e., when they are externally stere¬
otyped In the end, a dynamic stereotype develops, i.e.
a co-ordinated, equilibrated system of internal processes. The
evoking and establishing of a dynamic stereotype is a nerv-
ous task of extremely variable intensity which, on the one
hand, depends on the complexity of the system of stimuli.

448
 and, on the other hand, on the individuality and state of the
animal.
I take as an example one of the extreme cases, (Vir-
zhikovsky’s experiments.) In a stereotyped system well
elaborated in an animal of the strong nervous type and
composed of positive stimuli of various intensities, as well
as of negative conditioned stimuli, we introduce la new
stimulus, but in the following peculiar way: we apply it
four times in the course of the experiment after different
stimuli, i.e., at different moments of the experiment, but
accompany it by an unconditioned stimulus only at the
fourth application. The reflex is soon manifested and begins
to develop; but this process is accompanied by extreme
excitation of the animal, which tries to break away from
the stand, throws off the apparatus attached to it, and
howls. The previous positive stimuli lose their effect; the
animal even rejects food, and it becomes more and more
difficult to bring it to the experimental chamber and to
emplace it in the stand. This painful state persists for two
or three months, until at last the task is solved by the
animal; the stereotype establishes itself: the first three
applications of the new stim'dus no longer produce any »
positive action, being inhibited, only the last (fourth)
application is effective, and the animal fully calms down.
Thus, the establishment of the new dynamic stereotype
requires an enormous expenditure of nervous energy, which
can be sustained only by a strong nervous type.
But let us continue our experiment. When the first task
is accomplished, we offer the animal another. Now also the
first three applications of the new stimulus are accompanied
by feeding, which means that the animal must transform
them from inhibitory into positive ones. A state of excita¬
tion is again observed in the animal, but this time less
intense and lasting for a shorter period, until all applica¬
tions of the new stimulus begin to produce one and the
same positive effect. Thus, the reshaping of the stereotype
again requires certain effort. But since food has been pre-

29—773 449
sented to the dog this time, it is now not a question of
inhibition of the alimentary excitation, as was probably the
case, even though partially, with the first task, but precisely
of the establishment of la new dynamic stereotype in the
cerebral hemispheres. This is realized more rapidly and
easily because the second task, obviously, is much simpler.
Of course, simpler systems of conditioned reflexes are elab¬
orated by the same animal with greater ease, in any case
without marked efforts on its part.
To me it would be strange not to regard this nervous
work as mental activity, just because the psychologists
ascribe to the dog only lassociative activity.
But such is the state of affairs only with dogs possessing
strong and equilibrated nervous systems. The picture is
altogether different with dogs possessing a strong, but
unequilibrated nervous system, dogs which are more or less
feeble, sick, worn out, or aged. There are dogs which from
the very outset, despite favourable conditions, are incapable
of elaborating a dynamic stereotype—the effects of the con¬
ditioned stimuli constantly vary from experiment to experi¬
ment in a chaotic way. In this case we come to the assist¬
ance of the animal by simplifying the system of reflexes,
for example, by reducing their number to two positive ones.
A mere change in the sequence of the old stimuli in
the course of the experiment also represents la difficult task,
which in our experimental conditions leads sometimes to
complete temporary discontinuance of the reflex conditioned
activity. Even the maintenance of an already elaborated
system calls for definite effort, which some dogs can endure
only if there are intervals of .two or three days in the course
of experimentation, i.e., if the dogs are allowed regular rest.
Without intervals the effect of the conditioned reflexes shows
most irregular fluctuations.
The establishment of a stereotype in the cortical processes
clearly manifests itself also in the absence of the real
stimuli by means of which it was formed (experiments of
Krzhyshkovsky, Kupalov, Asratyan, Skipin and others).

450
Here is one of these interesting experiments. We elaborate
in the animal a series of positive conditioned reflexes of
different intensities, as well as of negative reflexes, applied
at regular intervals and always in a strict sequence. Later,
when in one of the experiments we apply only one of the
positive (preferably weak) stimuli, the following occurs.
The effect throughout the experiment shows the same fluc¬
tuations as exhibited by the whole system of different stim¬
uli. The old stereotype persists for a time and then gives
way to a new one, i.e., the repetition of one stimulus in the
end produces a uniform effect. But the role of the old stere¬
otype, if well established, does not end here. If the last
stimulus is not applied for a time and then is tried once
more, we get not a new stereotype but again the old one.
Consequently, there takes place a certain supersession of
stereotypes and a sort of rivalry between them.
Another, still more interesting, phenomenon is also
observed. We have a stereotype elaborated from different
stimuli. If alongside it a hypnotic state sets in in the dog
during the experiment (this state easily develops in some
dogs when a single stimulus, and, moreover, a weak one,
is applied), then the stimulus now applied singly instead
of the previous system, reproduces by its effects the entire
system, but in a distorted way: a weak effect is obtained
from the previously strong stimuli, and a strong effect—
from the weak stimuli, i.e., there arises the paradoxical
phase. As is known, we established this phase long ago for
stimuli of different intensities in a hypnotic state. Thus, in
the given case the dynamic stereotype is combined with
the hypnotic state.
I believe that there are sufficient grounds for assuming
that the above-described physiological processes in the
cerebral hemispheres conform to what we use to designate
subjectively as our senses, both in the general form of posi¬
tive and negative senses, and in the form of their numerous
nuances and variations due to different combinations and

29* 45}
 intensities. Among these are the senses of difficulty and
facility, gaiety and fatigue, satisfaction and chagrin, joy,
triumph, despair, etc. It seems to me that the painful senses,
which often accompany a change in the habitual mode of
life, an interruption of customary work, loss of close rela¬
tions or friends, to say nothing of a mental crisis and col¬
lapse of beliefs, are, to a considerable degree, physiologi¬
cally caused precisely by the change, the disturbance of the
old dynamic stereotype and the difficulty of elaborating a
new one.
In particularly intense and durable cases a morbid melan¬
choly may also arise. In this connection I vividly recall the
following fact which happened in my student days. We,
three schoolmates, entered the university, and influenced
by our literary inspirer at the time‘*" chose the faculty of
natural sciences. Thus, we began to study chemistry,
botany, etc., i.e., we first began to learn definite facts. While
two of us got used to this study, the third, whose favourite
subject at school had been history and who had been very
fond of writing compositions concerning the causes and
consequences of various historical events, became more and
more depressed and ended in deep melancholy and per¬
sistent attempts to commit suicide. His recovery was
attained in the following way. We, his friends, at first
almost forcibly, made him attend the lectures in the law
faculty. After attending a few of them a marked improve¬
ment set in, until finally the normal state was fully
recovered. Afterwards he entered the law faculty, graduated
and was absolutely normal all his life. From our conver¬
sations with him before and during the disorder we learned
that at school he had acquired the habit of frqely relating
one phenomenon to another, there being no serious obstacles
in this respect, and that he had tried to do the same now,
in studying the natural sciences. However, the implacable
facts constantly opposed this trend and did not permit doing
what could be easily done with the purely verbal material.

452
Repeated failure brought on his bad mood and finally led
to a morbid form of melancholy.
Similarly, when we offered our dogs difficult tasks, i.e.,
when we demanded of them the formation of new and com¬
plicated stereotypes, we met not only with the painful state
described at the beginning of this address, we were also
able to produce chronic nervous diseases—neuroses, which
subsequently had to be treated.
 CONCERNING THE POSSIBILITY OF FUSION
OF THE SUBJECTIVE AND THE OBJECTIVE123

The physiology of the higher nervous activity developed

before our eyes when the physiologist first began to study
systematically by the objective method of conditioned
reflexes the normal activity of the cerebral cortex and of
the adjacent subcortex—the special apparatus of relations
between the entire organism and the surrounding medium—
and to establish the fundamental laws of this activity, i.e.,
to study it exactly in the same way as he studies the appara¬
tus of digestion, circulation of the blood, and other subjects.
Since then there have gradually developed ever-increas¬
ing possibilities to superimpose the phenomena of the sub¬
jective world on the physiological nervous relations, in
other words, to merge them. This was inconceivable when
the experiments of the physiologist were confined to arti¬
ficial stimulation of different cortical points and extirpation
of different parts of the cortex in animals. On the contrary,
at that time there was a strange situation. Two branches
of human knowledge which deal with the activity of one
and the same organ of the animal and human organism
(who can dispute this now?) remained more or less isolated
from each other and sometimes even regarded their inde¬
pendence of each other as a matter of principle. As a result,
the physiology of the higher part of the brain stagnated for
a long time, as for psychology, it could not even work out
a common language to designate the phenomena investi¬
gated by it, although numerous attempts to elaborate a ter-

454
minology that would be adopted by all psychologists were
made/*^ Now the situation has radically changed, especially
for the physiologists. Vast prospects for observation and
experimentation open up before them. The psychologists
will 'at last gain common firm ground—a natural system of
the basic phenomena studied by them, a system that will
enable them to classify more easily the interminable chaos
of human emotions. There is coming into being, and there
is bound to be realized, a natural union, a fusion of the
psychological with the physiological, of the subjective with
the objective. The problem that has troubled human thought
so long will find its real solution. And the urgent task of
science in the near future is to contribute to this in every
possible way.
Naturally, the possibilities for this fusion are provided
most of all by cases of disorder of the human brain when
distortion of the human subjective world is linked, obvi¬
ously, with anatomical and physiological disturbances of
the higher part of the brain.
]
 EXPERIMENTAL PATHOLOGY
OF THE HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY
A
 pQq

EXPERIMENTAL PATHOLOGY OF THE HIGHER

NERVOUS ACTIVITY125

First I should like to say a few introductory words con¬

cerning the complicated fate of our work in the sphere of
physiology and pathology of the higher nervous activity,
assuming that the adjectives “higher nervous” conform to
the adjective “psychical.”
Thirty-five years ago I was engaged in the investigation
of digestion—previously a special subject of mine—and
among other things I investigated the so-called “psydhical
secretion” of saliva. Intending to subject it to further
analysis, I soon became convinced that if we adopted the
psychological standpoint, that is, if we started guessing
what the dog feels, thinks, etc., nothing would come of it
and no exact knowledge could be obtained. It was then
that I first decided to treat this psychical phenomenon, this
“psychical salivation” as objectively, that is, solely from
without, as everything else is studied in physiology. Soon
Dr. Tolochinov became my associate and we began this
work together. Helped by numerous collaborators we have
been carrying on this work incessantly for the last thirty-
five years.
At the outset the work was marked by a slight but inter¬
esting occurrence in our laboratory life. When I decided to
continue the work along those lines, one of my collabora¬
tors, a very clever and alert young man who had worked
with me on another, ordinary physiological subject,
expressed his astonishment and even indignation. “How is

i59
that?” he said, “For goodness’ sake! Is it conceivable to
study psychical activity on dogs, and in the laboratory?”
And this, as it appeared subsequently, was very significant.
Twelve years later, when I travelled to London for the
jubilee celebrations of the Royal Society, I met the leading
British neurophysiologist Sherrington. “You know,” he said
to me, “your conditioned reflexes would hardly be popular
in England, since they have a materialistic flavour.
Well, and how do matters stand at present? I must tell
you that these first impressions of our new work are still
typical of the attitude to it of a considerable part of the
educated public; and because of this work I am regarded
by many as a very odious person.
Now, what about science? Here, too, the situation is far
from being definite. True, in England, the country with
which Sherrington tried to frighten me, there is an alto¬
gether different situation. There, the theory of the condi¬
tioned reflexes is now taught in all schools. It has been
widely recognized also in the United States. But this is
a long way from being the case in all countries. In Ger¬
many, for instance, the approach towards this theory is far
from being such. Not very long ago a German professor
of physiology visited Kharkov; in the course of a conversa¬
tion with Professor Volborth—one of my former assist¬
ants—about conditioned reflexes, he plainly stated that this
was “keine Physiologie.”
It should be added that in general physiologists still
cannot exactly determine the proper place of conditioned
reflexes in the text-books on physiology. It seems to me
that these reflexes must be rightfully advanced to the fore
when expounding the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres,
since they represent the normal, objectively established
work of these hemispheres. Analytical data accumulated
up to the present time by means of stimulations, extirpa¬
tion*” and other methods of investigating the cerebral cor¬
tex, must follow, naturally, the description of the normal
activity.

460
 I do not know what impression our modern physiology Of
conditioned reflexes expounded by Prof. Podkopayev has
made on you, but in submitting the pathology of these
reflexes, I make so bold as to think that you will see for
yourselves how expedient and fruitful our method of treat¬
ing the subject is. That is why I deemed it necessary to
begin with this short introduction.
Now for the subject itself, I am very glad that Prof. Pod¬
kopayev delivered his lectures on the physiology of condi¬
tioned reflexes, prior to me, before this very audience; this
relieves me of the need to make any preliminary explana¬
tions. I take it for granted that all of you are in possession
of the basic physiological data, and so I shall proceed
directly to an exposition of the purely pathological facts.
The nervous activity, as all physicians are aware, con¬
sists of two mechanisms, or two processes—excitatory and
inhibitory. With regard to these two processes we distin¬
guish three fundamental elements, namely, the strength of
both the excitatory and inhibitory nervous processes, the
mobility of these processes—their inertness or lability—
and finally, the equilibrium between these processes.
Certainly, the entire normal higher nervous activity, or
in the usual terminology, the psychical activity, not only
of anim.als, but also of man, is based on the normal course
of these processes with their inherent properties. At least
our experiments with dogs, our usual objects of investiga¬
tion, have convinced us that all their intricate and highly
complex relations with the surrounding world fully come
within the bounds of our research into the above-mentioned
processes and their properties; they are comprehended by
us to the extent permitted by the possibilities of our
experiments.
We can divert all these processes with their basic proper¬
ties from their normal path and cause them to become
pathological. For this purpose we have quite definite
methods at our disposal. There are three of these methods
overstrain of the excitatory process, overstrain of the inhib-

461
itory process and overstrain of the mobility of the nervoils
processes. As to the latter method, it should be pointed out
that the expression “overstrain of the mobility of the nerv¬
ous processes” is actually used by me for the first time;
usually we refer to it as collision of the excitatory and
inhibitory processes.
How to weaken the excitatory process, to make it patho¬
logical? For this purpose it is necessary to act upon the
cell, within which the excitatory process is produced, by an
external agent of a very great, extraordinary strength; by
doing so we overstrain the work of the cell, its excitatory
process, as a result of which the latter becomes pathological.
In a similar way, that is, by overstrain, the inhibitory
process can also be made pathological.
You already know how we obtain inhibition by means
of negative conditioned stimuli. Let us suppose that a
given conditioned inhibitory stimulus has constantly evoked
in its cell inhibition of half a minute duration and that the
cell has endured it very well. I then expressly prolong the
action of the same stimulus for five or ten minutes. A
strong cell is able to sustain it, but in a weak cell the inhibi¬
tion breaks down; the work of the cell becomes pathological
and changes in different ways.
Finally, the third method. It is possible to make both the
excitatory and inhibitory processes pathological by means
of abruptly transforming, without any intervals, the inhib¬
itory state of the cell into a state of excitation, or vice
versa. We usually refer to this as a collision between the
excitatory and inhibitory processes. It is obvious that a
certain amount of time is required for a corresponding
change in the activity of the cerebral cells, just as it is
required for any other activity. Under such collisions only
those cells may remain unaffected and intact where the
basic nervous processes are strong and especially where
these processes are highly labile.
Now, what results from the action of these morbific
methods? How does deviation from the normal occur? How

462
is the pathological state of the cells originated? A general
weakening of the cell takes place. As to the excitatory proc¬
ess, the cell becomes incapable of performing the work
which it performed previously, i.e., the limit of its working
capacity decreases, and this manifests itself in the follow¬
ing pathological phenomena.
You are aware that if we have before us an absolutely
normal cell and that if we apply external agents of different
physical strength as conditioned stimuli, the conditioned
effects of these stimuli more or less correspond to their
physical strength.
Now, if we break this cell down, i.e., if we overstrain it
and thus make it pathological, its relation to the stimuli
becomes different. In some cases conditioned positive stim¬
uli of different physical strength produce an equal effect,
and then we say that this is the equalization phase of the
cell’s activity. In other cases, when the weakening of the
cell, i.e., the decrease in the limit of its working capacity,
is progressing, a state sets in in which strong stimuli
produce a lesser effect than weak ones; this is the paradox¬
ical phase. Finally, a further disturbance of the cell’s activ¬
ity manifests itself in the fact that the cell no longer re¬
sponds to the positiye stimulus, whereas the inhibitory stim¬
ulus produces a positive effect; we have termed this phase
the ultra-paradoxical phase.
Besides the decline in the limit of working capacity, i.e.,
the weakening of the excitatory process in the cell, there
can also be observed other changes of the excitatory process.
One of the most striking of these—particularly interesting
and particularly applicable in neurology and psychiatry—
is the inert state of the excitatory process, i.e., a state in
which the excitatory process becomes more tenacious, per¬
sistent, and gives way more slowly to normally arising
inhibitory influences.
I shall dwell for a while on inertness. The excitatory proc¬
ess normally, even in healthy people, varies not only in
strength, but also in another respect—in mobility. With

463
 some people the excitatory process is less mobile, i.e., it is
more susceptible to stimulation, reacts more quickly under
the influence of stimulation; at the same time, when the
stimulation is over, the effect disappears sooner than with
other types of normal people.
On this basis we, like Hippocrates, divide the equilibrated,
strong animals into two categories—the phlegmatic and the
sanguine. The phlegmatics, it follows, will be characterized
by a relatively slow development of the excitatory process,
the sanguines—by a quick one.
But this is within the bounds of normalcy. If, however,
I act on the cell by means of morbific methods, I can make
the inertness of its excitatory process excessive and patho¬
logical so that its state of excitation becomes exceedingly
persistent.
Concerning the pathological Changes of the excitatory
process the following addition should be made. Two morbid
changes in its mobility are observed. One of these I have
just mentioned—pathological stagnation. Given other mor¬
bific conditions we get a diametrically opposite state of the
nerve cell, namely, pathological lability. In neurology this
is known as excitatory weakness, i.e., a state in which the
cell becomes very alert, very rapidly reacts to stimulation,
and at the same time quickly becomes bankrupt and weak¬
ens. We call this the state of explosiveness.
In the same way it is possible to break down (in our
usual laboratory terminology) the inhibitory process as
well, to make it pathological. By means of a sudden, and
not gradual, considerable extension of the duration of the
inhibitory state in a cell through the action of la corre¬
sponding external stimulus, we can greatly weaken the
inhibitory function of the cell and almost fully destroy it. It
should be pointed out that in this respect the inhibitory
process has been investigated to a lesser degree than the
excitatory one.
The inhibitory process, too, usually manifests itself in
different ways with regard to its mobility. Sometimes it

464
develops rapidly and just as rapidly vanishes; sometimes,
on the contrary, it assumes a more protracted character.
Thus, the inhibitory process is either normally inert or
normally labile. However, it can also be brought to a patho¬
logical state with regard to inertness. In our laboratory there
is a dog which has been exhibiting pathological inertness
for the past three years. In this animal under the influence
of frequent collisions the positive stimulus began to evoke,
instead of the normal excitatory process, an inhibitory one,
and of such a persistent nature that although we constantly
reinforced it under favourable conditions in the course of
the three years, we just could not restore its initial posi¬
tive effect. Only recently did we find a means of changing
this state of affairs, but I shall speak about that at the end.
Thus, you have before you, in general outline, the changes
which occur under the action of morbific agents—the change
in the excitatory process, the change in the inhibitory proc¬
ess and, hence, as a result, a derangement of the proper
correlations between the excitatory and inhibitory processes.
But the normal activity of the nervous system is, of course,
determined by an equilibrium between these basic processes
with their normal properties.
I must tell you that often it is quite easy to obtain a
pathological state of the higher nervous activity with the
help of the methods I have just mentioned. But, depending
on the types of nervous system, one can observe a great
difference in the facility with which this pathological state
is attained.
In equilibrated and strong animals, i.e., those in which
both the excitatory and inhibitory processes are of equal
strength and whose lability is normal, it is, of course, like¬
wise possible to produce a nervous disorder; however, it
would take considerable time and labour, since it neces¬
sitates trying different methods. In excitable and weak
animals this is very easily attained. As you already know,
we classify as “excitable” that type of animal in which the
excitatory process is very strong; the inhibitory process is

30—773 465
probably also considerable, but the two processes do not
conform. The excitatory process strongly predominates, and
therefore in this type the negative stimuli hardly ever reach
zero. This type can be broken down rather easily, i.e., made
pathological. As soon as it is offered la series of tasks calling
for la considerable degree of inhibition, it becomes quite
weak—the animal can no longer discern anything, inhibit
anything, i.e., it becomes neurotic.
As regards animals of the weak type, they ban be easily
made abnormal by all our methods.
The neurotic state manifests itself in the fact that the
animal does not properly respond to the conditions in
which it exists. This relates both to its laboratory character¬
istics and general behaviour. With regard to the latter
everyone will admit that whereas previously the dog was
normal, it is now ill.
In the laboratory we usually apply a system of condi¬
tioned reflexes—positive and negative—which are elabo¬
rated on the basis of various unconditioned stimuli: positive
reflexes to stimuli of different physical strength and different
kinds of negative reflexes. This entire system is normally
governed by strict rules: the positive effect depends on the
strength of stimulation; the inhibitory stimulus produces a
greatly diminished or a zero effect, etc. Under the influence
of our morbific methods all or many of the normal reactions
become weakened and distorted.
The disturbed nervous equilibrium is clearly observed
not only by us in the system of conditioned reflexes: our
attendants also notice it. The dog obeyed them previously,
behaved orderly, it knew where to go when led to an experi¬
ment. Now everything has abruptly changed. And the atten¬
dants simply say that the dog has become stupid and even
has gone mad.
The pictures of neuroses in diseased animals vary con¬
siderably owing either to the different intensity of the dis¬
order, or to the appearance in the foreground of this or that
pathological symptom. Recently we have observed a partic-

466
ularly large number of such neuroses and neurotic symp¬
toms on an organically pathological basis, namely, on cas¬
trated animals. It goes without saying that castration itself
disturbs the normal relations within the nervous system.
I shall, therefore, briefly touch on the post-operative state
of our dogs, as far as their nervous system is concerned.
One of the most striking of the morbid, neuropathological
symptoms appearing almost immediately after castration
is an enormous decline of the inhibitory process, of the inhib¬
itory function, so that the dog, which prior to the opera¬
tion acted in an exemplary manner, in full accordance with
the conditions influencing its nervous system, now becomes
quite chaotic. Normally one sees day after day an absolutely
uniform and perfectly exact system of conditioned reflexes,
but after castration no day is similar to another; there is
a series of entirely different days and there is no order
whatsoever.
One more very important detail manifested itself shortly
after castration and surprised even us. In the case of strong
types, the action of the animals after castration, as I have
just said, is extremely distorted and instead of being strictly
regular, becomes chaotic. In the case of weak types the
reverse is the case. For some time after the operation the
dogs behave better and more orderly than before. True,
this different condition exists only temporarily—for one,
one and a half or two months. Then the nervous activity
in these dogs, too, becomes weakened just as that in strong
dogs. I shall revert to this question later and show\on what
this difference is based and how we interpret it. ^
Then, after months of entirely chaotic activity a circularity
sets in’which did not exi.st before, i.e., the dogs do not
work and manifest their system of conditioned reflexes in
a disorderly manner constantly, i.e., from day to day, but
their activity now periodically changes. It is chaotic for a
while and then for a certain period it greatly improves in
a spontaneous way and becomes more orderly. And as time
goes on, the more distinct this periodicity becomes; the

30* 467
periods of better work are itiore frequent and of larger dura¬
tion, until after some years everything becomes normal.
This, obviously, denotes the existence of certain adaptabil¬
ity in the organism.
Of course, since we know the system of endocrine glands,
which to a certain degree assist and replace one another,
it is conceivable that in time the defect sustained by the
organism immediately after castration becomes more or less
levelled out. But the return to the apparent normal after
castration takes place in different dogs after different
periods; with some it occurs after one month, with others
it takes years, and there are dogs in which this state has
so far not set in at all. This is obviously connected with the
initial strength of the nervous system.
It is clear that in these castrated dogs, after their full or
partial recovery, it is possible to produce various neuroses
much more easily than in absolutely normal dogs, since in
the former the equilibrium has already been disturbed, and
naturally they are, so to speak, more fragile than normal
dogs. Thus, we can produce in them numerous neurotic dis¬
turbances by means of the above-mentioned morbific
methods.
To a considerable degree the pathological nervous states
produced by us conform to the so-called psychogenic dis¬
eases in human beings.The same overstrain and the same
collisions of the excitatory and inhibitory processes are lalso
encountered in our own lives. For instance, somebody has
deeply insulted me and I for some reason or other have
not been able to respond to it by corresponding words, or,
moreover, by a certain action, with the result that I had to
overcome the struggle or conflict between the excitatory and
inhibitory processes within myself. And this was repeated
more than once. Or let us take another case from the liter¬
ature of neuroses. A daughter is at the sick-bed of her father
whom she loves deeply and who is living his last days; how¬
ever, she must pretend that everything is all right and that
everybody expects his recovery, whereas in reality she is

468
weighed down by unbearable anguish and sorrow. This
often leads to breakdowns, to neuroses.
Indeed, can we find any essential physiological difference
between such breakdowns and those which we obtain in
our experimental animals by colliding the excitatory and
inhibitory processes?
But in addition to these neuroses, there must be, owing
to the extreme complexity of our brain in comparison with
that of the higher animals, special human neuroses, to
which I ascribe psychasthenia'-® and hysteria.^®® These states
cannot be produced in dogs, since in cases of this kind the
division of the human brain into a higher, purely human
part, connected with speech, and a lower part, which, just
as in animals, receives the external impressions and directly
analyses and synthesizes them in a certain way, makes
itself felt. But neurasthenic states of different kinds can be
fully reproduced in animals.
In view of the fact that our data seemed to me sufficient
for a physiological interpretation of the mechanisms of
nervous diseases, I decided, two or three years ago, to visit
the neurological and the psychiatric clinics (of course,
devoting only a little time to the matter). As far as the
neurological clinic is concerned, I can say that practically
all the neurotic symptoms and pictures observed there can
be understood and connected with our pathophysiological
laboratory facts. And this is not only my personal opinion,
the opinion of a physiologist, it is also the opinion of neu¬
ropathologists who acquainted me with the clinic and who
admit that our physiological interpretation of neuroses is
not fantastic, that we are really laying a solid foundation
for constant contact between our laboratory facts and human
neuropathological phenomena.
Before passing to another category of our facts I shall
explain a phenomenon which I have mentioned but have
not analysed in detail.
Why is it that animals with strong nervous systems
immediately after castration become chaotic, and only later.

469
lafter a certain time, does their behaviour more or less level
out, while animals with weak nervous systems, on the con¬
trary, immediately after castration behave better, in a more
regular manner than before castration, and only later
become disabled?
We think that this phenomenon should be explained in
the following way. Since an animal possesses sex glands,
it experiences sexual excitation; consequently, additional
impulses come to the brain and tonify it; but the brain is
weak. Hence the deficiency in the general nervous activity.
With the removal of the sex glands the additional stimuli
disappear, the nervous system is eased, and its activity in
all other respects assumes a more expedient character.
There is nothing fantastic in this explanation. We clearly
observe the same in another, more tangible case. The degree
of appetite in the experimental dog is of great importance
in our system of conditioned reflexes. If you have a strong
dog and increase its food excitability by means of a cer¬
tain method (while performing experiments with alimentary
reflexes), then all its conditioned effects are increased. On
the contrary, with a weak dog a heightened food excitability
usually leads to a decline of the conditioned reflexes, i.e.,
the additional excitation cannot be endured by the dog, and
is accompanied by inhibition, which we, therefore, call
protective.
Now I shall proceed to another category of facts. The
development of definite pathological states in the nervous
system with the aid of our definite methods is, of course,
based on the fact that our concept of the mechanism of this
system is to a certain degree correct. The power of our
knowledge over the nervous system will, of course, appear
to much greater advantage if we learn not only to injure
the nervous system but also to restore it at will. It will
then have been really proved that we have mastered the
processes and that we can control them. Actually, this is
the case. In many instances we not only bring on disease,
but eliminate it with great exactitude, one might say, to

470
order. Of course, in this case it was necessary, above all,
instead of reasoning and searching for various remedies
at random, to be guided by the indications of medicine.
Thus, bromide plays a very important role with us. But in
order to apply this remedy accurately thorough knowledge
of the mechanism of its action was necessary.
With regard to bromide we have definitely established,
without the least doubt, that its action is quite different
from that hitherto assumed and possibly still assumed by
pharmacologists. The physiological effect of bromide con¬
sists not in decreasing excitability or in weakening the
excitatory process, but in intensifying the inhibitory proc¬
ess. Bromide bears a special relation to the inhibitory proc¬
ess, and this can be proved by numerous experiments. Here,
for example, is a very simple experiment which we always
apply when need arises.
You have an excitable type of dog—the type in which the
excitatory process is extremely strong and the inhibitory
process relatively weak. Consequently, the dog cannot bring
its inhibitory reflexes to a complete zero—its inhibition is
insufficient. You administer bromide to the dog and imme¬
diately obtain complete inhibition. You often observe in this
case also a greater positive effect than previously, before
the administration of bromide. But there is another, no less
important side to the effect of bromide.
Although bromide has been rightly used as a remedy for
nervous diseases for years (I do not know exactly for how
many years but not less than sixty or seventy), it is an
absolute truth that to this day medicine has not always
used this powerful instrument of nervous therapy in a
proper way, often committing a very serious error.
You administer bromide in a case of a neurotic state. Let
us suppose that the bromide produces no effect. Then you
increase the dose thinking that the previous dose was too
small. But this is true only in one series of cases. In other
cases, and probably in the overwhelming majority of them,
the dose must be decreased and not augmented. Often you

471
 must even decrease the dose to a very considerable degree.
The gradation of the useful doses of bromide is highly
extensive; in our dogs its limits are approximated to a
thousandfold. This is absolutely true and we all guarantee
it. Consequently, a very important correction must be made
in medicine in this respect. If you administer an exces¬
sively large dose, you may obtain an injurious instead of
a beneficial effect; you may cause the patient serious
injury.
There can be no question, of course, that this is true only
of dogs, and that with nervous people matters are different.
The neuropathologists in our clinic have observed that when
they took these facts into consideration it turned out that
in many cases successful treatment necessitated not an
increase in the doses of bromide but reduction to deci¬
grammes and centigrammes. The general laboratory rule is:
the weaker the type of nervous system and the given nervous
state, the smaller must be the dose of bromide.
As is also well known in medicine, rest, too. provides a
certain curative effect in laboratory neuroses. If a dog has
been made neurotic by us, it is often helpful not to work
with this dog every day, since a daily system of our con¬
ditioned reflexes is undoubtedly a difficult task, which in
this state is beyond the dog’s strength. As soon as you
introduce a regular two or three day recess between the
experiments, the nervous system begins to recover.
In some cases it has been observed that rest, as it were,
substitutes bromide. Suppose you have a dog whose work
after castration is chaotic. You can help it in two ways;
either you make it work (that is, you experiment with it)
not every day, but once in two or three days, with the
result that its work considerably improves; or you admin¬
ister a suitable dose of bromide which produces the same
effect.
It should be pointed out that we are now applying another
extremely important method of treatment, but as yet we
are not entitled to say definitely that it is an agent of

472
radical treatment. Still, it is impossible not to pay atten¬
tion to it and not to look upon it with great hope.
With the help of our morbific methods, which make the
whole cerebral cortex pathological, it is also possible to
cause a completely isolated region of the cortex to become
ill; this is an extremely important and highly impressive
fact. Suppose you have a dog with a series of different
acoustic conditioned stimuli', beats of the metronome, a
noise, a tone, a crackling or a gurgling sound, etc. From all
these stimuli it is not difficult to obtain only one which
would prove noxious and evoke a sharp deviation from the
normal. So long as you apply the other acoustic stimuli,
the animal’s behaviour is orderly and its work is quite
regular. But the moment you touch the point of applica¬
tion of the morbific stimulus, not only is the reaction to it
distorted in one degree or another, but thereafter the entire
system of conditioned reflexes becomes deranged, and its
harmful effect spreads over the whole cerebral cortex. This
fact in itself leaves no room for doubts, since it has been
frequently produced and is being produced now by many
experimenters.
But here I would like to draw your attention to the fol¬
lowing. When I enumerated all our sounds, it was obvious
that they were of a more or less complex nature. How, then,
are we to picture the disorder of the cerebral cortex in rela¬
tion to separate sounds? It can hardly be assumed that to
each sound applied by us there corresponds a particular
group of nerve cells receiving the elementary acoustic stim¬
uli of which the sound is formed. It is more probable that
in the case of each of our acoustic stimuli it is a question
of a dynamic structural complex, whose elements, the cor¬
responding cells, enter also into other dynamic complexes
when other complex sounds are applied. And it is the
results of the difficulties created by our morbific methods
in the processes connecting and systematizing the dynamic
complexes that are responsible for the destruction and dis¬
turbances in those complexes.

473
 Isoliated pathological points can be obtained in all parts
of the cerebral hemispheres. Here is an example. You
elaborate conditioned positive stimuli from a mechanical
stimulation of different spots of the skin. You can obtain
such a state when in two points of the skin the excitatory
process does not call forth any pathological effect while
the third is functionally pathological.
We now have a dog of the excitable type, i.e., one in
which the excitatory process is extremely strong but in
which the corresponding inhibition is insufficient. This dog
has been castrated. Being of a strong type it recovered
rather quickly. Since it was excitable much time and effort
was required prior to castration to elaborate in it a differen¬
tiation to the metronome. For a period after castration our
laboratory sustained some trouble: there was a shortage
of food for the animals and they became emaciated. Due
to the general nervous exhaustion the reflex of our dog to
the metronome, which had been complicated by a difficult
differentiation, became morbid, while all other conditioned
reflexes remained unaffected. As soon as metronomes were
applied, normal work with conditioned reflexes became
impossible. We tried to exclude the inhibitory metronome as
the more difficult one, and to make use only of the positive
metronome, but that did not change the picture. Bromide
proved ineffective, which, for some unknown reason, is gen¬
erally the case in disorders of isolated points of the cerebral
hemispheres.
Then the question arose whether the same thing would
occur in another part, in another analyser of the cerebral
hemispheres where the excitatory and the inhibitory proc¬
esses would collide. In order to obtain an answer to this
question we selected the cutaneous region, where we could
apply an easier differentiation, i.e., make one spot of the
skin positive and another inhibitory. The stimulation of
one spot was reinforced by feeding, while that of the other
spot was not. The effect was the same. So long as the posi¬
tive conditioned stimulus alone was being elaborated, the

474
dog behaved quite normally, and the entire system of
reflexes w:as in order. But as soon as the inhibitory stimulus
began to manifest itself, all the reflexes diminished land
became distorted; the dog became extremely violent, so that
the experimenter could not attach the apparatus to the skin
or take it off without the risk of being bitten.
Now I wish to direct your attention to the following
interesting phenomenon. When we had such isolated points
in the cerebral cortex of other dogs, their harmfulness and
morbidness were expressed only in the fact that their
stimulation resulted in the derangement or destruction of
our entire system; but our observations showed that this
was never accompanied by a manifestation of pain in the
animals. However, in this case there was a distinct impres¬
sion that the touch to the skin became painful. How is this
phenomenon to be explained?
As a matter of fact the only difficulty during the collision
of the excitatory and inhibitory processes was in the brain,
and this difficulty made itself felt in the system of condi¬
tioned reflexes. What, then, caused the pain in the skin?
Apparently this may, and should, be explained in the fol¬
lowing way. In a certain point of the cerebral cortex of
the dog there arises a considerable difficulty, which must
cause pain, just as you feel a kind of heaviness, a very
disagreeable sensation in your head when you tackle an
extraordinarily difficult problem. We must assume a similar
state in our dog. But in the course of these experiments the
dog apparently formed a conditioned connection between
the attaching of the apparatus to the skin and the difficult
state of the cutaneous analyser in the brain; conditionally
the dog transfers the struggle against this difficult state
in the brain to the moment of skin stimulation, exhibiting
resistance to any contact with the skin. However, this is not
a hyperaesthesi'a of the skin. Consequently, this is an
extremely interesting case of objectification of an internal
cerebral process, a manifestation of the strength of its con¬
nection with the stimulation of the skin. As for the brain.

475
 we must assume merely a .special kind of heavy sensation
in it, a peculiar kind of pain. It is not without reason that
psychiatrists have described melancholia as a mental pain,
or a cortical pain, the sensation of which differs from the
pain caused by wounds or disorders of different parts of the
organism.
Thus, for a long time we could not do anything with this
dog. At last, however, a favourable way out was found
thanks to the good fortune of one of my oldest and most
valuable associates. Dr. Petrova. Formerly Petrova worked
as a therapist, but later she was enticed into the study of
conditioned reflexes and has devoted herself entirely to it
for many years. I had an interesting experience in this con¬
nection. I must tell you that although I began my profes¬
sorship as a pharmacologist,^-’* I have always had a strong
prejudice against introducing several substances at a
time into the organism. It always struck me as strange
whenever I saw a prescription containing three and
more drugs. What a brew! And I had always been
against such combinations of pharmaceutical remedies in
the physiological analysis of phenomena; in this I proceeded
from the principle that the simpler the conditions of the
phenomena are, the better the chances for elucidating them.
I admitted bromide to our laboratory as a sing.e drug oas-
ing myself on medical practice; caffeine was also intro¬
duced as a separate stimulant related to the excitatory proc¬
ess But I was always against using them in combination.
However, the therapist, being used to combinations, insisted
on a trial, and proved to be right. The effect was extraor¬
dinary and miraculous. When a mixture of bromide and caf¬
feine was given to the dog mentioned above, the persistent
neurosis immediately disappeared without leaving the
slightest trace. We acted carefully. Having administered
the mixture of bromide and caffeine for two days, we at
first tried only the positive mechanical stimulation of the
skin. The effect proved to be normal; the animal was abso¬
lutely quiet and no derangement of the system of condi-

476
tioned reflexes was observed. A little later, being encour¬
aged by the results of the trial of the positive stimulus, we
applied the negative one. In this case too the effect proved
to be the same—there was not the slightest trace of the for¬
mer morbid reaction.
Post factum it was not difficult for me to build a respec¬
tive theory. Now I presented the matter to myself in the
following way. Certainly it must be assumed that in the
overwhelming majority of cases a disorder of the nervous
system is a disturbance of the proper correlations between
the excitatory and inhibitory processes, as it appeared in
the course of application of our morbific methods. Now since
we have, so to speak, two levers in the form of- pharmaceu¬
tical remedies, two communicators towards the two chief
apparatus, i.e., towards the two processes of nervous activ¬
ity, then by putting into action and correspondingly chang¬
ing the strength now of one, now of the other lever, we
have a chance of restoring the disturbed processes to their
former place, into their proper correlations.
We have another similar case. I have already mentioned
the case of the dog in which the pathological inertness of
the inhibitory process lasted for, three years, i.e., its posi¬
tive process became pathological and the positive stimulus
turned into an inhibitory one. Although we have been con¬
stantly reinforcing this stimulus for three years now, i.e.,
we have been creating the conditions under which it ought
to be positive, we have always had it inhibitory. No matter
what we tried—bromide, rest, etc.—nothing helped. Under
the influence of the mixture of bromide and caffeine this
stimulus which for such a long time produced a morbid
reaction, has now assumed a normal positive effect.
In the same dog, parallel with the pathological inertness
of the inhibitory process, there was pathological lability of
the excitatory process on another stimulus, i.e., it developed
its action not gradually but impetuously, in an explosive
manner; but a negative phase set in quickly in the course
of the excitation. At the first moment of the application of

477
 this conditioned stimulus the dog makes a violent effort to
reach the food receptacle land exhibits la profuse salivary
secretion, but soon, already in the course of excitation, the
salivation stops; when you begin to reinforce the stimulus
and offer food, it does not take it and turns awiay. This
pathological phenomenon, too, disappears under the action
of our mixture, the morbific stimulus becoming quite nor¬
mal in its action.
Interesting too is the following fact. We administered
the mixture to this dog for ten days and then decided to
find out whether the cure was radical. But this was not
the case. When we ceased to administer the mixture the
old relations returned. Of course, much .more time is prob¬
ably required to eliminate the disturbances entirely. But one
can also assume that we really establish correct relations
between both processes changing them temporarily, but do
not treat the processes themselves, or at least both of them
simultaneously. It is clear that should it be the first case,
it is a great triumph for therapy. In any event, in the
present-day palliative, and possibly future radical treatment
by means of a mixture of bromide and caffeine, it is neces¬
sary to take into account the extreme precision of the dosage
of both drugs, reducing them, especially in the case of
caffeine, even to milligrammes.
In conclusion, I shall briefly touch on the question of
the application of our laboratory results to the neuro-
pathological and psychiatric clinics. As for the first, there
is no doubt that our human neuroses can be explained quite
satisfactorily in the light of the laboratory analysis. But
it seems to me that in psychiatry, too, certain things have
been clarified by our laboratory research.
At present I am writing a series of booklets entitled
“Latest Papers on the Physiology and Pathology of the
Higher Nervous Activity.” Two brief articles published in
the last issue have been translated into foreign languages.
One of them has already been published in French, the other
has been sent to an English psychiatric journal, and it goes

478
without saying that I eagerly await the reaction of our own
and foreign experts.
Now you are aware that in the laboratory we are able
to make pathological, and besides, in a functional way, an
isolated point of the cerebral cortex, leaving all other points
absolutely intact. I wish to make use of this phenomenon
of isolated disorders for interpreting a very interesting and
very enigmatic psychiatric form, namely paranoia. As is
known, paranoia is characterized by the fact that a mentally
normal person, who, like all healthy people, reckons with
logic and reality, and sometimes may even be gifted, as
soon as it comes to one definite subject, distinctly turns
into a lunatic, acknowledging neither logic, nor reality. It
seems to me that this form can be understood on the basis
of our laboratory findings relating to isolated disorders of
separate points in the cerebral cortex.
One can hardly dispute that the stereotypies of skeletal
movement^®^ can and should be understood as the expression
of the pathological inertness of the excitatory process in the
cortical cells which are connected wdth movement, and that
perseverations*^ should be similarly looked upon only in
the cells of speech movement. But at first sight it is more
difficult to explain obsessive ideas and paranoia in the
same way. However, it seems to me that the understanding
of isolated pathological points of the cerebral cortex not
only in a purely crude anatomical sense,, but also in a
structurally-dynamic one (as mentioned above) has elim¬
inated this difficulty to a sufficient degree.
Here is another case of la neurosis which is very close to
a psychosis.
In persecution mania the patient sometimes firmly
regards as reality that which he fears and wants to avoid.
For example, he wants to have a secret and it seems to
him that all his secrets are constantly being disclosed in
some way. He wants to be alone, and although he is alone
in his room and everything lies open before his eyes, he still
imagines that somebody else is with him. He wants to be

479
respected, and it seems to him that at every moment he is
being insulted in some way or other by signs, words, or
facial expressions. Pierre Janet has described this as feel¬
ings of possession, as if somebody is taking hold of the
patient.
In my view, this case is based physiologically on the
ultra-paradoxical phase, which I have already mentioned
and which, as you know, consists of the following.
Suppose we have two metronomes of different frequency
which act as conditioned stimuli, one of them with 200 beats
per minute being the positive stimulus and the other with
50 beats—the negative one. Now, if the nerve cell becomes
pathological or simply falls into a hypnotic state, the effect
is reverse: the positive stimulus turns into an inhibitory
one, and the inhibitory becomes positive. This is an absolute¬
ly exact and constantly recurring laboratory phenomenon.
Therefore, I irjterpret the state of the above patient in the
following way: when he wanted to be respected or to
remain alone, this was a strong positive stimulus, which
evoked in him an opposite idea involuntarily and irresist¬
ibly in accordance with the rule of ultra-paradoxicality.
Thus you see that in the field of pathology our method of
work, the method of an objective attitude towards the
higher phenomena of the nervous activity, is fully justi¬
fiable for animals, and the more we apply it the more it is
justified. At present we are making, as it seems to me,
warrantable attempts to apply the same method to the
human higher nervous activity which is usually called
psychical activity.
That is all I wanted to tell you.
 TYPES OF HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY,
THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO NEUROSES
AND PSYCHOSES AND THE PHYSIOLOGICAL
MECHANISM OF NEUROTIC AND PSYCHOTIC
SYMPTOMS134

Of the vast material relating to the study of the higher

nervous activity in dogs by the method of conditioned reflexes
I shall now dwell only upon three points because of their
particularly close connection with morbid disturbances of
this activity. They are: the strength of the two basic nervous
processes—excitation and inhibition—then the correlation
of their intensities, or their equilibrium, and finally their
mobility. These properties constitute, on the one hand, the
basis of the types of higher nervous activity, types which
play an important part in the genesis of nervous and so-
called mental diseases, and on the other hand, typical changes
taking place under pathological states of this activity.
Two thousand years ago the great genius of ancient
Greece—the artistic genius, of course, not scientific—was
able to discern in the immense diversity of variations of
human behaviour its fundamental features in the form of
four temperaments. And only now is the study of the higher
nervous activity by the method of conditioned reflexes in a
position to base this systematization on a physiological
foundation.
According to the strength of the excitatory process (i.e.,
according to the working capacity of the cerebral cells) our
dogs were divided into two groups—strong and weak. The
strong group, in its turn, was divided into equilibrated and

31—773 481
 unequilibrated, depending on the correlations between the
intensities of the excitatory and inhibitory processes. And
finally the strong and equilibrated dogs were divided, ac¬
cording to the mobility of the processes, into quiet and live¬
ly ones. Thus, there are four basic types; the strong and
impetuous type, the strong, equilibrated and quiet type, the
strong, equilibrated and lively type, and the weak type. And
they correspond to the four Greek temperaments—choleric,
phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholic. Although there are
different gradations of these types, life clearly shows that it
is just these combinations that are more frequently met with
and bear a more pronounced character. It seems to me that
this coincidence of types in animals and human beings is
convincing proof that such a systematization conforms to
reality.
However, to obtain a full and clear idea of the variations
of human behaviour, normal and pathological, it is neces¬
sary to add to these types, which are common in man and
animals, certain particular, purely human types.
Before the appearance of the family of homo sapiens the
contact of the animals with the surrounding world was
effected solely by means of direct impressions produced by
its various agents which acted on the different receptor
mechanisms of the animals and were conducted to the cor¬
responding cells of the central nervous system. They were
the sole signals of external objects. In the future human
beings there emerged, developed and perfected, signals of
the second order, signals of these initial signals, in the
shape of speech—spoken, auditory and visible. Ultimately
these new signals began to denote everything taken in by
human beings directly from the outer, as well as from the
inner world; they were used not only in mutual intercourse,
but also in self-communion. This predominance of the
new signals was conditioned, of course, by the tremendous
significance of speech, although words were and remain but
second signals of reality. We know, however, that there are
large numbers of people who, operating exclusively with

482
words and failing to base themselves on reality, are ready
to draw from these words every possible conclusion and all
knowledge, and on this basis to direct their own life as
well as the life of others. However, without entering deeper
into this important and very broad subject, it is necessary to
state that thanks to the two signalling systems, and by vir¬
tue of the long-established different modes of life, human
beings in the mass have been divided into artistic, thinking
and intermediate types. The last-named combines the work
of both systems in the requisite degree. This division makes
itself felt both in individual human beings and in nations.
Let us pass now to pathology.
In our experiments on animals we constantly obtained
convincing proof that chronic pathological derangement of
the higher nervous activity under the influence of morbific
agents arises with particular ease in the impetuous and the
weak types, where it assumes the form of neurosis. Impet¬
uous dogs become almost completely deprived of inhibi¬
tion; in weak dogs the conditioned reflex activity either fully
disappears, or is of a highly chaotic character. Kretschmer,
who recognizes only two general types corresponding to our
impetuous and weak types, correctly, as far as I can judge,
associates the first with the manic-depressive psychosis, and
the second with schizophrenia.
Having some very limited clinical experience (during the
last three or four years I have regularly visited the nervous
and psychiatric clinics) I take the liberty of advancing the
following supposition concerning human neuroses. Neuras¬
thenia is a pathological form inherent in the feeble-gen¬
eral and intermediate human types. A hysterical person is
the product of the feeble-general type combined with the
artistic type, and the psychasthenic (to use the terminology
of Pierre Janet) is the product of the feeble-general type
combined with the thinking type. In hysterical persons, gen¬
eral weakness, naturally, has a special effect on the second
signalling system, which in the artistic type in any case
yields pride of place to the first system, while in normally

31* 483
developed persons the second signalling system is the
highest regulator of human behaviour. Hence the chaotic
character of the activity of the first signalling system and
of the emotional fund in the form of pathological fantasies
and unrestrained emotivity with profound destruction of the
general nervous equilibrium (sometimes paralyses, at others
contractures,^®® or convulsive fits or lethargy) and in partic¬
ular, synthesis of personality. In psychasthenics the general
weakness, naturally, again affects the basic foundation of
the correlations between the organism and environment,
namely, the first signalling system and the emotional fund.
Hence the absence of a sense of reality, continual feeling of
inferiority of life, complete inadequacy in life together with
constant fruitless and perverted cogitation iir the form of
obsessions and phobias.'®® This, in general outline, is how I
conceive the genesis of neuroses and psychoses in connec¬
tion with the general and particular types of human higher
nervous activity.
Experimental study of pathological changes in the basic
processes of the nervous activity of animals makes possible
a physiological understanding of the mechanism of the mass
of neurotic and psychotic symptoms, both taken separately
or as components of certain pathological forms.
Weakening of the excitatory process leads to the predom¬
inance of inhibition, both general and diversely partial, in
the form of sleep or of a hypnotic state with its numerous
phases, of which most characteristic are the paradoxical and
ultra-paradoxical phases. This mechanism, I believe, is re¬
sponsible for a particularly large number of pathological
phenomena, such as narcolepsy, cataplexy, catalepsy,'®’ feel¬
ings of possession—les sentiments d’emprise (according to
Pierre Janet), or inversion (according to Kretschmer), cata¬
tonia,'®® etc. The weakening of the excitatory process is
caused either by its overstrain, or by its collision with the
excitatory process.
Under certain laboratory conditions which are not yet
quite clear there takes place a change in the mobility of the

484
excitatory process in the form of pathological lability. This
phenomenon, long known in the clinic under the name of
excitatory weakness, consists in an extremely high reactiv¬
ity or sensitivity of the process followed by its rapid con¬
secutive exhaustion. Our conditioned positive stimulus pro¬
duces an instantaneous and extraordinary effect, which,
however, falls to zero and becomes inhibited already during
the normal period of stimulation. We sometimes call this
phenomenon explosiveness.
But in our experimental practice we also meet with quite
the opposite pathological change in the mobility of the ex¬
citatory process—with pathological inertness. The excita¬
tory process persists despite a prolonged application of
conditions, under which normally the excitatory process is
superseded, by inhibition. The positive stimulus is not sus¬
ceptible or slightly susceptible to successive inhibition evoked
by preceding inhibitory stimuli. This pathological state
is in some cases caused by a moderate, but continuously
growing intensity of the excitatory process, and in other cases
by collisions with the inhibitory process. It is quite natural
to attribute the phenomena of stereotypy, obsessive ideas,
paranoia, etc., to this pathological inertness of the excita¬
tory process.
The inhibitory process can also be weakened either by its
overstrain, or by collisions with the excitatory process. This
weakening leads to an abnormal predominance of the exci¬
tatory process in the form of a derangement of differentia¬
tions, retardation and other normal phenomena in whiPh
inhibition intervenes; it also manifests itself iri the
animal’s general behaviour in the form of fussiness, impa¬
tience and violence, and finally in the form of pathological
phenomena, for example, neurasthenic irritability. In man
it takes the form of submanic and manic states,^®* etc. ^
This year phenomena of pathological lability of the inhib¬
itory process have been observed in our animals by my old
colleague. Prof. Petrova, who has enriched experimental
pathology and therapy of the higher nervous activity with

485
quite a considerable number of important facts. A dog which
previously took its food, placed at the edge of a staircase,
with ease, without any hesitation, ceases to do so, hurriedly
avoids the food and moves away from the edge. The matter
is quite clear. When.a normal animal, approaching the edge
of a staircase, stops and does not move farther, this means
that it is able confidently to hold itself back, as much as is
necessary to prevent it from falling down. In our case this
retention is exaggerated; the reaction to depth is excessive
and keeps the dog, to the detriment of its interests, much
farther from the edge of the staircase than is actually nec¬
essary. Subjectively this is an obvious state of dread or
fear, a phobia of depth. The phobia could be induced, and
could be eliminated, i.e., it was under the experimenter’s
control. The condition responsible for its emergence is what
we may call the torture of the inhibitory process. I will dem¬
onstrate this fact in a few days’ time at the international
physiological congress in Leningrad. I think that in many
cases persecution mania can also be accounted for by the
pathological lability of inhibition.
We have already examined the pathological inertness of
the inhibitory process.
A difficult task still remains to be accomplished—it is
necessary to determine with precision and in all cases when
and in what particular conditions one or another pathologi¬
cal change arises in the basic nervous processes.
 FUSION OF PRINCIPAL BRANCHES OF MEDICINE
IN MODERN EXPERIMENTATION
AS DEMONSTRATED BY THE EXAMPLE
OF DIGESTION140

Despite the extremely complex nature of biological phenom¬

ena, and notwithstanding the difficulty of establishing
their true causal relationship, and, consequently, of control¬
ling them, the irresistible pressure of life forced medicine, even
in olden times, to take charge of these phenomena, i. e., long
before they began to be studied by natural science. And to
a degree at least, medicine accomplished this task. At first
sight the job seemed to be a huge one and hopelessly diffi¬
cult, and yet it was partially accomplished. Among the
countless possible solutions a few were seized upon as
being truly fortunate. This incredible success was determined
by two extremely vital conditions; in the first place, it
was due to man’s incessant and passionate striving for
health and life, a striving which arose together with the
first man, and, in the second place, to the participation of
multitudes, of almost all mankind, in realizing this desire.
But if the successes already achieved by medicine are as¬
tounding, who can doubt that they are still very insignificant
compared with those which will be eventually attained. This,
however, will take place not only because medicine utilizes,
one might say, at every instance, and will continue in an
ever-increasing measure, to use the general achievements of
natural science for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
Were medicine to remain purely practical, it is doubtful if it

487
would attain complete triumph, since in most of its activity
it would be doomed to apply only one instrument of natural
science—observation; the other instrument—experimenta¬
tion—is utilized by medicine with extreme caution and
within relatively narrow bounds. But the method of obser¬
vation is sufficient only for the study of the simpler phe¬
nomena. The more complex the phenomenon (and what can
be more complex than life?), the greater the need for experi¬
ment. Experiment alone crowns the efforts of medicine, ex¬
periment limited only by the natural range of the powers of
the human mind. Observation discloses in the animal or¬
ganism numerous phenomena existing side by side and in¬
terconnected now profoundly, now indirectly, or acciden¬
tally. Confronted with a multitude of different assumptions
the mind must guess the real nature of this connection.
Experiment, as it were, takes the phenomena in hand, sets
in motion now one of them, now another, and thus, by
means of artificial, simplified combinations, discovers the
actual connection between the phenomena. To put it in an¬
other way, observation collects that which nature has to offer,
whereas experiment takes from her that which it desires. And
the power of biological experimentation is truly colossal.
This experimentation has created in the course of some sev¬
enty or eighty years practically the entire modern, highly
developed physiology of the organs of the complex animal.
The ordinary educated man, even if he is not yet familiar
with biology, upon acquainting himself with the usual, but
somewhat more thoroughly arranged course of demonstra¬
tive physiology of- animals, designed for medical students,
would undoubtedly be extremely surprised at discovering
the power which the present-day physiologist wields over
the complex animal organism. And his surprise would
be all the greater upon discovering that this power is
the result not of millenniums or centuries, but only of
decades.
Before our eyes this triumphant experimentation is stead¬
ily extending its power both to pathology and therapy. And

488
it is difficult to imagine why this power of experimentation
should not be equally effective in new branches of research.
It seems to me that the remarkable success of modern med¬
icine lies precisely in the fact that it is now in a position
to develop all its principal branches by applying the method
of experimentation. Bacteriology, in its turn, has given a
tremendous impetus to this new tendency. Although pathol¬
ogy came to the laboratory somewhat earlier than bacteri¬
ology, the action of the still unknown, but highly pathogenic
world of micro-organisms represented a very serious ob¬
stacle to experimental pathological investigation. We had in
hand only the inanimate causes of the disease, such as
mechanical force, heat, etc., but its living causes, the micro¬
organisms, escaped us. Only when the pathogenic organisms
were discovered, did the domain of pathological physiology
fully open up before the experimenter, and now nothing can
prevent him from investigating almost the entire pathologi¬
cal world in laboratory conditions.
Although the clinic, as a result of its work of thousands of
years, established with remarkable precision the forms of
various diseases and gave almost the complete morphology
of pathological states, although crude pathological anato¬
my, as well as the more recent microscopic and clinical in¬
vestigations, collected and continue to collect rich material
relating to the inner details of pathological processes, a full
analysis and complete knowledge of the mechanism of such
processes, of their entire development, can be obtained only
by means of experimentation. In this respect the method of
pathological anatomy alone is too crude, and the clinic
alone, without experimentation, is powerless to penetrate
deeply into the complexity of phenomena. Only laboratory
experimentation makes it possible to discern in the general
picture of a disease that which constitutes the protective
mechanisms of the organism, and which compensates for
the loss caused by the damage proper; only such experimen¬
tation can exactly reveal the inter-dependence of injuries,
i.e,, distinguish the initial injury from those subsequently

489
evoked by it. Only this knowledge ensures expedient and
effective aid to the diseased organism and precludes the
possibility of any extraneous intervention which sometimes
brings harm to the organism instead of relief. This—on the
one hand. On the other, only experimentation will succeed
in investigating and establishing all the real causes of
pathological states, since it begins by isolating the cause
which it deliberately induces to act. And it is precisely here
that medicine is most vulnerable: it is a well-known fact
that aetiology is medicine’s weakest point. Indeed, do not
the causes of the disease usually creep into the organism
where they begin to act long before the patient becomes the
subject of medical attention? Knowledge of these causes is,
naturally, of extreme importance for medicine. In the first
place, only when we know the cause, can we effectively
struggle against it, and in the second place, what is still
more important, prevent its action, its penetration into the
organism. Only knowledge of the causes of diseases will
turn the present-day medicine into the medicine of the
future, i.e., hygiene in the broad sense of the word. In view
of the obvious indisputability and significance of all this, one
cannot but regret that pathology, being an exclusively ex¬
perimental science—pathological physiology—has not yet
generally taken its proper place, at times serving as an
appendix to pathological anatomy and at others being com¬
pletely lost in the programme of general pathology. The
methods of pathological anatomy and those of experimental
pathology differ to such a considerable degree that in prac¬
tice, under university training conditions, they can hardly
be applied by one and the same person and in one and the
same premises on the principle of equality. It seems to me,
on the other hand, that in the so-called general pathology
special emphasis must be laid now precisely on experimen¬
tal pathology, on the analysis of pathological processes by
means of experimentation, and not on conclusions and ab¬
stractions drawn from facts of special pathology, which are
often a mere enumeration, though in a new way, of these

490
facts. One can hardly base serious scientific hopes on such
a verbal treatment of the material of general pathology, es¬
pecially at a time when such fascinating and fruitful exper¬
imental study of the world of pathological phenomena is
taking place in the laboratory.
It is easy to imagine the embarrassing position of the
physician when, in using a certain therapeutic method against
one or another illness, against one or another symptom,
he is often absolutely unaware of the effect that this meth¬
od produces in the organism, and does not know in what
way it helps in the given case. What inexactitude and uncer¬
tainty of action, what scope for fortuities! In these circum¬
stances the striving of the clinicians to elucidate the mech¬
anism of action of their therapeutic remedies is perfectly
understandable; for decades experimentation has been ren¬
dering assistance to therapy and the therapeutic methods
have been studied in the laboratory, where their action on
healthy animals is subjected to analysis. This experimenta¬
tion mainly concerns chemical medicines, hence the devel¬
opment of experimental pharmacology.
However, little by little the pharmacologist departed from
his original purpose until he came to show little or no con¬
cern or interest in the therapeutic action of the substances
handled by him. Pharmacology, naturally, developed into a
department of physiology, studying the effect of chemical
agents' on the living body and pursuing purely theoretical
aims. Actually, of course, there can be no objection to this.
But thanks to this circumstance the connection between
modern pharmacology and practical medicine, which might
be described as the original mission of pharmacological ex¬
periment, a reminder of which is preserved to this day in the
name—the study of medicines—is in many cases, at the
present moment at least, weak and at times even purely
scholastic. For example, in many text-books the exposition
of the physiological action of one or another medicine is
followed by an enumeration of the indications and contra¬
indications of their therapeutic use, often completely

491
unrelated to the previously described physiological action.
This accounts for the complaints we sometimes get from
physicians against modern pharmacology. Both experiment¬
ers and physicians would benefit by supplementing phar¬
macology with elements of experirhental therapy. Having
to do with the sick as well as the healthy animal, and
administering drugs not only for the purpose of observing
their effect in general, but also for the purpose of healing
the sick animal, the pharmacologist, by way of analysis,
will, for his own benefit, broaden and deepen his study of
the reactions of the body to a given chemical compound, as
well as his study of the body in general, and, for the sake of
the physician, elucidate the actual value and real
mechanism of action of the therapeutic agent. This necessity,
at least so far as the study of the action of medicines on
sick animals is concerned, was recognized and proclaimed
long ago, the only obstacle to its realization being the
difficulty of obtaining the necessary sick animals in labora¬
tory conditions; at present this difficulty has been
surmounted to a considerable degree thanks to the achieve¬
ments of experimental pathology. Only if pharmacology is
fused with experimental therapy, as mentioned above, will
many therapeutical mirages be dispelled, as they rightly
deserve to be; it will, on the other hand, preclude the sad
possibility of many drugs being wrongly discarded for the
sole reason that the pharmacological analysis of their effect
on healthy animals has not yet touched the proper points
of investigation or has failed to contact them altogether,
since it was dealing exclusively with healthy animals. The
programme of experimental therapy will, naturally, include
the experimental analysis of various therapeutic means
other than chemical agents, means which at present are
wholly ignored in the vast course of medical academic
education.
There is every reason to hope that we shall witness a
tremendous growth of interest on the part of investigators
when all the pathological processes, and not only the bac-

492
terial ones, are subjected in the laboratory to bold,
unimpeded, and fully controlled^ treatment. We can be even
more sure that outside bacteriology, no less success awaits
the experimenter if he, in the field of therapy, assumes the
role of initiator and not of interpreter, as has been the case
so far. Some people hoped to bring pharmacology and
medicine together by recommending the organization of,
and by actually organizing, clinical sections in the pharma¬
cological laboratories. But it seems to me that scientifically
it is more logical and from the standpoint of practice more
advantageous to create experimental therapeutic labora¬
tories than special pharmacological clinics. Indeed, no
matter what name you give the clinic, the patient cannot
be subjected to a greater degree of experimentation in it
than in any other. At the same time skill and system in the
matter of treatment are obligatory for every clinical teacher,
since precisely this distinguishes him from the ordinary
practical physician. Thus, either the experimenter will be
sacrificed to the clinician without any essential benefit, or,
on the contrary, the clinician will be sacrificed to the
experimenter, because a permanent and proportionate fusion
of these two branches of activity is hardly within the bounds
of practical cealization.
I have come to the end of my paper. Only by passing
through the fire of experiment will medicine as a whole
become what it should be, namely, a conscious and, hence,
always purposefully acting science. Modern surgery affords
striking proof of this. What is responsible for its brilliant
achievements? Its absolute consciousness of action. Proceed¬
ing from the plasticity of the organism and armed with
antiseptics and aseptics against its chief enemy, the
micro-organisms, surgery treats its subject from a purely
mechanical point of view and strictly bases its methods on
knowledge of the anatomical structure and physiological
importance of this or that part of the body.
I am excited at the thought whether I have succeeded
in convincing you of the extremely important role of ex-

493
perimentation in achieving the aims of practical medicine.
But if you are convinced of this then your duty is to con¬
tribute in every way to the development of biological
experimentation not only by possible personal participation,
but also by actively assisting the experimenters in
their work. The success of biological, that is, medical exper¬
imentation depends on adequate personnel, premises and
means.
I draw your attention, gentlemen, to an essential differ¬
ence between the clinicians and the experimenters. In
the sphere of medicine scientists usually originate from
the mass of the medical workers; every intelligent,
energetic and talented practising physician can participate
in the general science of medicine and may become a per¬
manent and outstanding worker in this field. But the
experimenters constitute an insignificant group of amateurs;
their training and activity is almost impossible without
special laboratory conditions. And this obliges you
to render every possible help, both at college and beyond
its walls, to the young champions of laboratory work
who, by their laboratory specialization, take the risk of
restricting, for the time being, their chances of success in
life.
As is known, many clinicians, both therapeutists and
surgeons, often have recourse to laboratory experimenta¬
tion, now for the purpose of analysing a pathological
process, now for elucidating the action of certain therapeu¬
tic agents, and for trying out a new surgical method, etc.
This practice is, of course, commendable. At present the
clinicians feel, even more so than the physiologists, the
necessity of analysing in laboratory conditions certain
clinical pathological or therapeutic phenomena. That is
why in numerous cases they now appear as initiators of
experimental pathological and therapeutic investigations.
This is their great merit and will remain so. However, for
them this activity is not of primary importance; they devote
to it only the leisure hours remaining after their principal

494
therapeutic duty. Meanwhile, laboratory activity requires
from any scientific worker full devotion, the sacrifice of all
his strength. And I am of the opinion that our specialities
(experimental pathology and experimental therapy) should
be accorded the most favourable and absolutely independent
status, since, broadly speaking, they are, in method and
concept, nothing else but physiology. The course of medical
sciences should, therefore, everywhere comprise three
experimental chairs of physiology, namely, normal, patholog¬
ical and therapeutic physiology.
 /

I
 PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

32-773
V

' VkAil
 PSYCHIATRY AS AN AUXILIARY
TO THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE CEREBRAL
HEMISPHERES!^!

'My earlier researches on the circulation of the blood and

on digestion led me to the firm conviction that the physiolog¬
ical mode of thinking may derive great help from the stildy
of clinical cases, i.e., from the countless number of diverse
pathological variations and combinations of the functions of
the human organism. For this reason, during many years
of work on the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres I
often thought of making use of the world of psychiatric phe¬
nomena as an analytical auxiliary to this physiological
study. Indeed, instead of applying our usual method which,
as a mode of analysis, consists in destroying certain parts
of the brain, and is very crude compared with the complexity
and delicacy of the mechanism under investigation, one
might expect in some cases to achieve a more distinct,
precise and detailed decomposition of the work of the
brain as a whole into its separate elements, to obtain a
delimitation of its functions resulting from pathological
causes, which sometimes reach a very high degree of dif¬
ferentiation.
In the summer of 1918 I had at last the opportunity to
study la number of cases of insanity. And as it seems to me
my former hopes have not been in vain. In some instances,
I saw excellent demonstrations of points more or less ex¬
plained in physiology; in others, new aspects of the work of

32* 499
 the brain were brought to light, new questions and unusual
problems for laboratory investigation drose.
My attitude towards the psychiatric material, however,
differed greatly from the usual attitude of specialists. Due
to a definite inclination of thought developed during years
of laboratory practice, I always reasoned on a purely phys¬
iological basis and constantly explained to myself the psy¬
chical activity of the patients in definite physiological con¬
cepts and terms. This did not present any great difficulty
for me, since my attention was concentrated not on the
details of the subjective state, but on the principal features
and phenomena of one or another state of the patient. How
this was achieved will be partly seen from the following
account.
In this article I shall describe and analyse the symptoms
observed in two patients. One was an educated, well-bred
girl, twenty-two or twenty-three years old. We find her lying
motionless in bed in the hospital garden, her eyes half
closed. At our approach she does not speak of her own ac¬
cord. The physician accompanying me tells me that this is
now her usual state. She refuses to eat without assistance
and is untidy. She appears to understand our questions
about her family, and remembers everything perfectly; she
answers correctly, but with great effort and after consider¬
able delay. The patient exhibits a strongly pronounced cat¬
aleptic state. She has been ill for years, at times almost
fully recovering, at others relapsing and manifesting a con¬
siderable variety of symptoms; her present state is one of
these relapses.
The second patient is a man aged sixty. He spent twenty-
two years of his life in hospital, lying like a living corpse,
without the slightest voluntary movement and absolutely
speechless, he was fed artificially -and was untidy. During
the past few years, as he was approaching sixty, he began
more and more often to make voluntary movements. At pres-
ent he is able to get up and go to the lavatory; he talks
volubly and quite reasonably, and sometimes eats without

500
assistance. Recalling his former state, he said that he had
been conscious of his surroundings, but had experienced
such extreme and insuperable heaviness in his muscles that
he could hardly breathe. And this was the reason why he
could neither move, eat, nor speak. The disorder began to
develop when he was thirty-five. Tonic reflexes^® were re¬
corded in the history of the case.
How should one assess the physiological state of the two
patients?
In order to answer this question let us consider the
strongly pronounced motor symptoms which are ob¬
served in both cases: the catalepsy of the first patient and
the tonic reflexes of the second. When do these symptoms
manifest themselves in animals? A long time ago Schiff^^®
observed cataleptic phenomena in a rabbit deprived of the
cerebral heiliispheres. Decerebration*^^ introduced by Sher¬
rington is a simple method of obtaining distinct tonic re¬
flexes in cats. Intoxication by certain narcotics, for exam¬
ple, urethan, also produces cataleptic phenomena. In all
these cases there occurs an elimination of the activity of
the cerebral hemispheres without the suppression of the
lower parts of the brain; in the first two cases this is due to
a specific property of the brain tissue of the given animals,
as well as to the freshness of the operation, i.e., to the ab¬
sence of subsequent reactive phenomena; in the case of in¬
toxication by urethan it is due to the presence in the latter
of an ammoniac grouping which produces a stimulating ac¬
tion on the lower motor centres. Such an isolated exclusion
of the cerebral hemispheres, the nervous organ of the so-
called voluntary movements, reveals the normal activity of
the lower parts of the nervous motor apparatus. This activ¬
ity is designed first of all for equilibrating the organism
and its parts in space, which represents the equilibration
reflex, always functioning under normal conditions and at
the same time constantly disguised by voluntary move¬
ments. Thus, catalepsy is a normal and permanent reflex
yhich manifests itself in a distinct and patent way only

60t
when the action of the cerebral hemispheres is excluded as
in the above-mentioned case. As for the tonic reflexes, they
are the elements of this complex reflex.
Consequently, the existence of the same mechanism must
be assumed in our patients, i.e., exclusion of the activity of
the cerebral hemispheres. It is clear, however, that here only
the activity of the motor region of the cerebral hemispheres
is excluded, since our patients, unable to make any volun¬
tary movements or suffering extreme impairment of this
function, are able, at the same time, as can be seen or as
they themselves acknowledge, to understand perfectly well
what they are told; they also remember everything and are
conscious of their state, i.e., the work of all the other parts
of their cerebral hemispheres is quite satisfactory.
This strictly isolated inhibition of the rhotor region of the
cerebral cortex is observed also in other cases, in other def¬
inite states inherent in man and animals. A subject in a
certain degree of hypnosis understands your words quite
well, remembers them and is willing to do something in
connection with the conversation, but he has no power over
his skeletal muscles and remains in the posture imparted to
him, even though it is uncomfortable and he does not like
it. Apparently, this phenomenon is essentially accounted for
by a fully isolated inhibition of the motor region of the cer¬
ebral cortex, an inhibition which does not spread either
over other parts of the hemispheres or to the lower levels of
the brain mass. I have often observed a similar state in
dogs when I worked in the laboratory with the so-called con¬
ditioned reflexes. Jointly with Dr. Voskresensky I studied
these relations with particular precision and in a most sys¬
tematic way on one of our dogs. For weeks and months this
dog was often left alone in the room for a long time,
strapped in the stand without being subjected to any ex¬
perimental influence. As a result, the entire environment of
the room became for the dog a hypnogenous agent, to the
degree that the moment it entered the room, its behaviour
immediately changed. Strictly measuring the influence of
this agent by varying the duration of its action we could
clearly see the separate phases in the development of the
sleeping state. The following phenomena were observed. The
so-called conditioned alimentary reflex for sound (associa¬
tion) was elaborated in the dog, i.e., at a definite sound the
dog exhibited an alimentary reaction: it secreted saliva and
made appropriate movements, licking its lips, turning in the
direction from where the food was usually offered, and eat¬
ing the food the moment it was offered. With the first signs
of the sleeping state the conditioned salivary reflex to the
sound . disappeared, but the motor reflex to the sight of
food remained quite normal, i.e., the dog began to eat with¬
out any delay. This first phase was followed by another one,
which was quite unexpected and of considerable interest.
Now the conditioned salivary reflex to the sound reappeared
and became intensified with the addition of the natural con¬
ditioned stimuli proceeding from the food itself. But the mo¬
tor reflex was absent—the dog did not take the food, even
turned away from it and resisted its forcible introduction.
In the following phase—the phase of profound sleep—all
reactions to food, naturally, vanished. When the animal was
deliberately awakened (by means of strong stimuli) the
phases indicated above manifested themselves in reverse or¬
der as the sleeping state gave way. The second phase, nat¬
urally, could be interpreted as follows: the motor region of
the cortex was already embraced by sleep inhibition while
all other parts of the cerebral hemispheres still functioned
quite satisfactorily and manifested their activity on an or¬
gan fully independent of the motor region—on the salivary
gland. It is impossible not to see here a complete analogy
with a person who is being awakened by you; he under¬
stands and even admits that you are rousing him at his own
insistent request, but he cannot overcome the influence of
sleep, begs you to leave him alone or he becomes angry and
even aggressive when you persist in fulfilling his request
and continue to disturb his sleep.

m
 The first phase and its replacement by the second when
the sleep becomes more profound, can be explained thus:
since in our case the entire environment of the room, i.e.,
all the stimuli affecting the eyes, ears and nose, acts as a
soporific agent, the parts of, the cerebral hemispheres corre¬
sponding to these stimuli were the first to be subjected to
sleep inhibition, the latter, though still superficial, was
strong enough to suppress the conditioned action of the
stimuli. At the same time the soporific influence was not
yet sufficient to inhibit the more powerful part of the cor¬
tex—the motor region. But when monotonous cutaneous
and motor stimuli (due to the limited movement in the
stand) were added to the sleep-producing action of the
room, sleep inhibition extended also to the motor region.
And now this part of the cortex, being the strongest, at¬
tracted sleep inhibition from all other parts in accordance
with the law of concentration of the nervous process; it
thereby once more liberated them temporarily from this
inhibition, until with the ever-increasing action of all
soporific agents the sleep inhibition embraced all parts
of the cerebral hemispheres with an equal and sufficient
intensity.
And so we have sufficient grounds for granting the exist¬
ence in the above-described patients of a concentrated and
isolated inhibition of the motor region of the cerebral cor¬
tex as a result of the pathogenic cause.
What objections, from the clinical point of view, can be
raised against our interpretation of the symptoms in our
above-mentioned patients? I shall cite the arguments or the
seeming inconsistencies with clinical cases which were
pointed out by the psychiatrists when we informed them of
the results of our analysis. Some of them were inclined to
see in the cases cited by us a state of stupor evoked by
strong emotions. But in the first place, this concerns the
cause of the symptoms and not their mechanism. Evidently
cases of stupor, i.e., of similar cataleptic states, may occur
under the influence of strong, unusual stimulations caused
by sounds of extraordinary intensity, by uncommon pictures,
etc.; a very strong stimulation of certain parts of the hemi¬
spheres may lead to the inhibition of their motor region
and thus create favourable conditions for the manifesta¬
tion of the equilibrating reflex. In the second place, in the
above-mentioned patients there are no indications of the
existence of such a mechanism, and nothing reveals the
presence of any extraordinary stimuli; one of the patients
plainly points out the extreme difficulty, the impossibility
of voluntary movements.
Further, it was stated that in progressive paralysis^^® a
destruction of the cerebral hemispheres is proved even on a
pathological anatomical basis, although catalepsy is absent.
However, in this case there is no complete elimination
of the motor activity of the cerebral hemispheres either. The
patients are able to make many voluntary movements
though they are badly co-ordinated; besides, they often ex¬
hibit phenomena of extreme motor excitability of the cortex
in the form of convulsions. Consequently, here the main con¬
dition tor the manifestation of a pure equilibrating reflex is
absent.
Reference was made to cases of thrombosis^^" and haem¬
orrhage in the cerebral hemispheres, which are accompa¬
nied by paralysis and not by catalepsy. But again this is not
a condition which provokes catalepsy. In these cases one ob¬
serves the absence of even spinal reflexes. It is clear that
the inhibitory action of the destruction extends even to the
spinal cord. And this inhibition must manifest itself all the
more in the parts of the brain adjacent to- the cerebral hemi¬
spheres.
Thus, the clinical cases of cerebral diseases do not reveal
any actual inconsistencies with our analysis of the patho¬
logical state of the patients; therefore, in definite cases the
mechanism of the pathological activity of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres suggested by us must be acknowledged as quite
real. The fact that after more than twenty years of illness
the patient described in our second qase shows signs of re*

505
turning to normal state, also .leads us to interpret the gen¬
eral symptoms as an inhibition of the motor region of the
cortex. This means that all the time his state was of a func¬
tional rather than of an organic, pathologico-anatomic na¬
ture.
Analysing further the state of our patients we must point
to another essential circumstance. Although, according to
present-day physiology, the cortical motor elements con¬
trolling different movements (skeletal, verbal, ocular, etc.),
are localized in different parts of the cerebral hemispheres
or, so to speak, scattered over them, nevertheless, in our
patients they are all united by a common inhibition contrary
to all other elements of the hemispheres which remain at
the same time more or less free. This leads us to the impor¬
tant conclusion that all the motor elements possess common
features in respect of their structure or chemical constitu¬
tion, or, most probably, of both. Therefore, their relation to
the cause originating the pathological symptoms is the
same, and in this respect they differ from other cortical ele¬
ments—visual, auditory, etc. This difference between cer¬
tain elements of the cortex naturally manifests itself also in
the above-mentioned phases of hypnosis and sleep when, in¬
fluenced by one and the same cause, some elements are in
one state and others in a different state.*
Let us now answer the following question: what cause
actually determines the given symptoms? Different assump¬
tions are, of course, possible. There may be a definite toxic

♦ This difference between the cellular elements of the cerebral

cortex must be regarded as being incontestable, especially since in the
physiology of the peripheral nerves we constantly meet with a
strongly pronounced individuality (excitability, relative strength, etc.)
of the nerve fibres (and of their peripheral endings) of different’ func¬
tions. This individuality underlies the methods by means of which
the differentiation of these different fibres of one and the same anatomic
trunk can be effected. Let us recall, for example, the methods used
in separating vasoconstrictor from vasodilator fibres. (Note by
/. P. Pavlov.)
action, the sphere of influence of which is naturally limited
by the individual peculiarities of the separate cortical ele¬
ments that have just been mentioned. One can also assume
exhaustion of the elements of the cortex resulting either from
the general exhaustion of the organism, or only from over¬
fatigue of the brain, from exhaustion concentrated in def¬
inite elements of the brain either because of the predominant
part of these elements in the work producing the exhaus¬
tion, or again as a result of their specific nature. Finally,
there is the possibility of direct or indirect (the last result¬
ing from local changes in blood circulation or in general
nutrition) reflex influences which may effect injuriously and
also in an elective manner different elements of the cortex.
Hence, in different cases, in spite of the similarity or
even identity of the mechanism of the given complex of
symptoms, the causes producing them may not be the
same.
Finally, the following question is also of definite interest
to us: what is the explanation for the case of our second
patient, in whom the inhibition of the motor region of the
cerebral cortex, having remained for twenty years almost
at the same level of intensity, at last began drastically to
diminish? This can be accounted for only by the patient’s
age. Approaching the age of sixty, when a sharp decline in
the strength of the organism and the process of its aging
usually becomes pronounced, he began to return to his nor¬
mal state. How is this connection to be interpreted? If^ a
certain toxic agent acted in this case, then, with the senile
transformation of the body’s chemism, there could take place
a weakening, diminution of the agent producing this action.
If the principal cause of the disease was chronic exhaustion
of the nervous substance, then, with the senile transforma¬
tion of the brain (lesser reactivity and lesser functional de-
structibility of the brain which is manifested in a sharp
weakening of the memory for current events), this cause
could now be less pronounced. Since sleep and hypnosis

507
 should be regarded as a kind of special inhibition, it may
be admitted that our second patient presented an example
of chronic partial sleep or hypnosis. With the advent of old
age there is in evidence a relatively greater decline of the
inhibitory processes, expressed in senile talkativeness, fan¬
tasticality, and in extreme cases, in dotage. In view of this,
the recovery of the patient may be attributed to the senile
decline of the inhibitory process.
It can hardly be disputed, I think, that the physiological
analysis of the above cases raises before the physiology of
the brain many new problems which can be investigated in
the laboratory.
 AN ATTEMPT OF A PHYSIOLOGIST TO DIGRESS
INTO THE DOMAIN OF PSYCHIATRY ^‘7

In the course of the past thirty years I, together with

my numerous colleagues, have been predominantly engaged
in studying the activity of the higher parts of the brain,
mainly the cerebral hemispheres; this study has been car¬
ried out on the basis of a strictly objective method, the
method of the so-called conditioned reflexes. We have col¬
lected very considerable material relating not only to the
normal activity of the above-mentioned parts of the brain,
but to a certain degree also to their pathology and therapy.
We are now in a position to produce obvious experimental
neuroses in our experimental animals, (dogs) and to treat
them; and it is not impossible, in our opinion, to produce
in the same animals states somewhat analogous to the hu¬
man psychoses. It was this that induced me to make closer
acquaintance with psychiatry, of which almost no traces
have remained in my memory since my student days in the
medical faculty. Thanks to the kindness of my medical col¬
leagues, and especially of Prof. P. A. Ostankov and Dr.
I. O. Narbutovich, I am now able systematically to observe
different forms of mental disorders. Schizophrenia was the
first disorder observed and studied by me. Here my atten¬
tion was attracted, on the one hand, by the symptoms of
apathy, torpor, inactivity, stereotype movements, and on the
other hand, by playfulness, exaggerated familiarity, childish
behaviour in general, which had not been peculiar to these
patients before the onset of the disease (hebephrenia'^® and
catatonia).

509
 How can this be explained from the physiological point
of view? Is it possible physiologically to generalize these
phenomena land to find their common mechanism?
For this purpose it is necessary first of all to consider
the facts obtained by the method of conditioned reflexes.
This study has provided us with abundant data, particularly
relating to the inhibitory process and its physiological and
pathological significance.
Inhibition, which together with excitation constantly takes
part in the diverse activity of the animal in its wakeful state,
also guards the extremely reactive cells of the organism, the
cells of the cerebral cortex; it protects them from highly
strenuous work under the action of very strong stimuli, or
even under the prolonged repetition of weak stimuli; it also
ensures the necessary rest for the cells in the form of sleep
after their daily normal work.
We have established the indubitable fact that sleep is in¬
hibition, which irradiates over the hemispheres and de¬
scends along the brain to a certain level. Besides, we have
been in a position to study on our animals also the inter¬
mediate phases between wakefulness and complete sleep—
the hypnotic phases. These phases have been regarded by
us, on the one hand, as different degrees of extensity of inhib¬
ition, i.e., of a larger or smaller extent of its irradiation
over various areas of the hemispheres, as well as over vari¬
ous parts of the brain, and, on the other hand, as different
degrees of intensity of inhibition in the form of different
depth of inhibition in one and the same point. It is clear that
owing to the tremendous complexity of the human brain, the
diversity of separate hypnotic phenomena in man is much
greater than in animals. It is possible, however, that some
hypnotic phenomena are for one reason or another more man¬
ifest in animals than in man, especially since even the
manifestations of human hypnosis vary considerably, depend¬
ing on the peculiar features of the individual and the meth¬
od of hypnotization. And so, taking into consideration the
full complex of symptoms of hypnosis, I shall further deal

510
with hypnotic phenomena observed both in man land in oiir
animals.
Observing the above-mentioned schizophrenic symptoms
I have come to the conclusion that they are an expression of
a chronic hypnotic state, which I shall try to substantiate in
my further exposition. Of course, apathy, dullness, inactiv¬
ity, etc., are not in themselves proof of the hypnotic state of
the patients, but at the same time they will not conflict in
any way with this conclusion, provided my thesis is con¬
firmed by a further comparison of more specific symptoms.
I shall first of all cite the following fact. Apathy and tor¬
por are usually ascertained in a patient when he does not
react to the questions addressed to him and gives the im¬
pression of being absolutely indifferent to them. However,
if the same questions are asked not in a loud voice and not
with the usual intensity, but in a low voice and in quiet sur¬
roundings, the patient reacts immediately with proper an¬
swers. This is a highly characteristic hypnotic phenomenon,
to which, in my opinion, constant and proper attention is
not being paid. And it is to be regretted that up to now
the clinic, as far as I know, has no special term to designate
this essential and important symptom as has been done with
other symptoms. In our animals this symptom is one of the
most frequent and persistent signs of the onset of hypnosis.
In our experiments we constantly meet with the so-called
paradoxical phase, when in the course of the given experi¬
ment or in one of its phases strong conditioned stimuli lose
their usual action, while weak stimuli evoke in the animal
a perfectly normal effect. In the well-known case of a five-
year sleep, or properly speaking, hypnosis, described by
Pierre Janet, the author made intellectual contact with his
patient solely on the basis of this phenomenon. The patient
herself emerged from the hypnotic state only at night, when
all the daytime stimulations ceased.
Further phenomena of so-called negativism*^® were ob¬
served in the analysed patients. Similarly, in our experi¬
mental animals negativism is usually in evidence at the

511
 onset of a hypnotic state. In the case of an alimentary reflex
when the conditioned stimulus is brought into action, and
the food receptacle is placed before the dog, the latter per¬
sistently turns lawiay from it. Not without interest is the fol¬
lowing detail very clearly observed in a definite phase: when
you begin to move the food receptacle away, the dog, on the
contrary, reaches for it. And this is repeated several times
in succession. But the moment the state of hypnosis is dis-
sipiated, the same dog devours the just rejected food. I shall
analyse the mechanism of this, as well las other hypnotic
symptoms, at another time; for the present I shall use
them only as established facts constituting the hypnotic
state.
Another symptom of schizophrenia in one of its varia¬
tions is stereotypy—a persistent and prolonged repetition of
definite movements. This, too, is an obvious hypnotic mani¬
festation, and it is clearly observed in some of our dogs.
When the dog is in a perfectly cheerful state, after being
fed in the case of a conditioned alimentary reflex, it often
continues for a certain time to lick the anterior part of its
body, usually the breast and the forelegs. With the onset
of a hypnotic state the licking assumes an extremely pro¬
longed character and often lasts until the next meal. Cer¬
tain other movements, effected by the animal at one time or
other, are repeated with similar persistence.
Among usual phenomena observed in schizophrenics are
the so-called echolalia‘®“ and echopraxia,'^' i.e., repetition by
the patient of the words addressed to him by his interlocutor
and the reproduction of gestures made by someone who at¬
tracts his attention. As is known, this phenomenon is also
usual in hypnotized normal persons, and, it seems to me,
manifests itself with particular ease and most frequently in
hypnosis evoked by passes. Catalepsy is a very ordinary
phenomenon in schizophrenics, consisting in prolonged re¬
tention by the patient of different postures, which are easily,
i.e., without any resistance of the musculature, imparted to
his body by another person; naturally this relates also to

512
those postures which the patient himself assumes under the
influence of certain temporarily acting stimuli. This, too, is
a symptom very easily reproduced in normal persons sub¬
jected to hypnotism.
A particularly striking,, pronounced and tenacious symp¬
tom in certain schizophrenics, constituting even a special
form of the disease, is catatonia, i.e., a state of rigidity of
the skeletal musculature strongly resisting any change in
the given disposition of different parts of the body. Catato¬
nia is simply tonic reflexes, as a result of which a hypnotized
person can become las inflexible las a solid board.
Finally, it is necessary to include in this group of different
variations of central inhibition the symptom of playfulness
or silly mannerisms, mostly observed in hebephrenics, as
well as the outbursts of aggressive excitation, met with in
other schizophrenics in .addition to the already mentioned
symptoms. All these phenomena closely resemble the initial
state of ordinary alcoholic intoxication, and the state pecul¬
iar to children and young animals, for example, puppies,
when they are waking up, and especially when they are
falling asleep. There is every reason to assume that these
manifestations result from a developing general inhibition of
the cerebral hemispheres; due to this the adjacent subcortex
is not only liberated from constant control, from constant in¬
hibition effected by the cerebral hemispheres in an alert
state, but, because of the mechanism of positive induction,
is even brought to a state of chaotic excitation affecting
all its centres. That is why the state of alcoholic intoxication
is accompanied now by a causeless and unusual playfulness
and joviality, now by excessive sensibility and tearfulness,
now by anger, and, in the case of children when they fall
asleep, by capriciousness. Particularly typical is a child in
the middle of the first year of its life just going off to sleep.
Tou can see on its face a truly caleidoscopic change of di¬
verse expressions reflecting the chaotic activity of the child’s
primitive subcortex. Similarly the schizophrenic .at definite
stages and in definite variations of his disease exhibits

33—773 513
 this phenomenon now in a protracted form, now in the form
of brief outbursts.
In view of what has been said, one can hardly doubt
that schizophrenia, in certain of its variations and phases,
is actually a chronic hypnosis. The fact that these variations
and phases persist for years, cannot serve as a telling argu¬
ment against this conclusion. Since there has been a case
of a five-year sleep (described by Pierre Janet) and even of
a twenty-year sleep (observed in Petersburg), why cannot
hypnosis be of an equally lasting character, especially since
the instances just mentioned must be regarded as states
of hypnosis rather than sleep?
What is the reason for the chronic hypnosis of schizo¬
phrenics? What is its physiological, and especially patho¬
logical, basis? How does it develop and what are its con¬
sequences?
In the final analysis, of course, this hypnosis is profoundly
based on the weak nervous system, and especially the weak¬
ness of the cortical cells. For this weakness various causes,
both hereditary and acquired, may be responsible. We shall
not touch here on these causes. But naturally, when such a
nervous system encounters difficulties, more often in a crit¬
ical physiological and social period of life, it inevitably be¬
comes exhausted after excessive excitation. But exhaustion
is one of the chief physiological impulses for the appearance
of inhibition in the capacity of a protective process. Hence
chronic hypnosis is inhibition in different degrees of exten¬
sity and intensity. Consequently, this state is, on the one
hand, pathology, since it prevents the patient from normal
activity, and, on the other hand, according to its mechan¬
ism, it is still physiology, a physiological remedy, since it
protects the cortical cells from the danger of being destroyed
as a result of too heavy work. In our laboratory we have
now a striking example showing how prolonged inhibition
restores normal activity for a time to weak cortical cells.
There are reasons to assume that as long as the inhibitory
process operates, the cortical cells are not gravely damaged.

614
their full return to normal is still possible, they can recover
from excessive exhaustion and their pathological process
remains reversible. Using modern terminology, it is only a
functional disease. That this is really the case, is proved by
the following fact. According to Krepelin, a leading psy¬
chiatrist, of all the forms of schizophrenia the Ihebephrenic,
and especially the catatonic form—which is of a particularly
pronounced hypnotic character—show the highest rate of
complete recovery (catatonics—up to 15 per cent), which is
not observed in other forms, especially the paranoic one.
In conclusion I take the liberty of offering therapeutic
advice more of a practical than sentimental character. Al¬
though enormous progress has been made since olden times
up to our day in the treatment of the mentally ill, still, I
think, something remains to be desired in this respect,. To
keep patients, already possessing a certain degree of self-
consciousness, together with other, irresponsible patients,
who may subject them, on the one hand, to strong stimula¬
tions in the form of screams and extraordinary scenes, and,
on the other hand, to direct violence, in most cases, means
creating conditions which to a still greater extent enfeeble
the already weak cortical cells. Moreover, the violation of
the patient’s human rights’, of which he is already conscious
and which partly consists in restriction of his freedom,
and partly in the fact that the attendants and medical per¬
sonnel naturally and almost inevitably regard him as an
irresponsible person, cannot but strike further heavy bloiws
at the weak cells. Consequently, it is necessary as quickly
and as timely as possible to place such mentally diseased
in the position of patients suffering from other illnesses
which do not offend human dignity so manifestly.

33*
 ESSAY ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CONCEPT
OF THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF HYSTERIAisa

To my dear comrade Alexei Vasilievich

Martynov, in honour of his forty years of bril¬
liant scientific, pedagogic and practical
work.
The grateful author,
Leningrad, April, 1932

The objective study of the higher nervous activity by the

method of conditioned reflexes has made such progress and
has been so widened and deepened that it no longer seems
very risky to attempt a physiological interpretation and
analysis of the complex, pathological picture presented by
hysteria in all its manifestations, although hysteria is
■regarded by clinicians, fully or predominantly, as a
mental disease, as a psychogenic Reaction to the envi¬
ronment.
Thus, it is at the same time a test which enables one to
judge to what degree the theory of conditioned reflexes is
entitled to claim ;a physiological explanation of the so-called
psychical phenomena.
Unfortunately, here again it is impossible to do without a
physiological introduction, although a brief one. To this day
conditioned reflexes are relatively little known even in the
country of their origin; besides, the theory of conditioned
reflexes is developing so rapidly that many of its important
points have not yet been published and will be expounded by
me here for the first time.

516
 1

The conditioned reflexes continuously accumulated by

human beings and animals in the course of their individual
life are .formed in the cerebral hemispheres, or, in . general,
in the higher part of the central nervous system. They repre¬
sent a higher degree of complexity of ordinary uncondi¬
tioned reflexes, i.e., reflexes which exist in the organization
of the central nervous system from the day of birth.
The biological meaning of the conditioned reflexes con¬
sists in the fact that the few external stimuli of uncondi¬
tioned reflexes, given a definite condition (coincidence in
time), establish a temporary connection with the countless
phenomena of the surrounding medium—signals of those
stimuli. Because of this, all the organic activities represent¬
ing the effects produced by the unconditioned reflexes, es¬
tablish more delicate and more precise relations with the
environment in wider and wider areas. The theory of condi¬
tioned reflexes or the physiology of the higher nervous ac¬
tivity studies the laws governing the dynamics of these re¬
flexes both in normal and pathological life.
The activity of the cerebral hemispheres and of the entire
central nervous system with its two processes—excitation
and inhibition—is subordinated, in our view, to two fun¬
damental laws: the law of irradiation and concentration of
each of these processes, and the law of their reciprocal in¬
duction. Experiments carried out on the normal activity of
the cortex enable us to draw the conclusion that if the in¬
tensity of these processes is weak, they at once begin to
irradiate from the point of their origin; if their intensity is
strong enough, they concentrate, and if it is excessively
strong they irradiate again. When the processes concen¬
trate they induce an opposite process both at the periphery
during their action, and at the precise point of action upon
its termination.
The irradiation of the excitatory process over the entire
nervous system gives rise to a summation reflex. In spread-

5/7
ing out, the wave of new excitation is summated with the al¬
ready existing, manifest or latent, local excitation, revealing
in the latter case the latent focus of excitation. In the cere¬
bral hemispheres, which are of a more complex structure
and possess extreme reactivity and impressionability, the
irradiation of the excitatory process leads to the formation
of a temporary conditioned connection, a conditioned reflex,
association. While the summation reflex represents a mo¬
mentary, transient phenomenon, the conditioned reflex is a
chronic phenomenon, gradually becoming stronger under
the above-mentioned condition; it is a characteristic cortical
process.
When the excitatory process concentrates in the entire
central nervous system we meet with phenomena of inhibi¬
tion—a manifestation of the law of induction. The point
at which the excitation is concentrated is to a greater or
lesser extent surrounded by an inhibitory process represent¬
ing a phenomenon of negative induction. The latter makes
itself felt both in the unconditioned and conditioned re¬
flexes. The inhibition develops in full at once; it always
arises and persists not only during the excitation by which
it has been produced, but even for some time after it. The
stronger the excitation and the lower the positive tonus of
the surrounding brain mass the more profound, extensive
and durable is its action. Negative induction acts both be¬
tween the small points of the brain and its large parts. We
call this inhibition external, passive, and, it can be added,
unconditioned. Previously, this well-known phenomenon
was termed the struggle of nervous centres, which empha¬
sized the fact that at a particular time a physiological pre¬
dominance, or, so to speak, priority of one nervous activity
over the other takes place.
Along with the inhibition just mentioned the cerebral
hemispheres exhibit other kinds or cases of inhibition, al¬
though there are grounds to assume that the physico¬
chemical process in all these cases is one and the same.
This is, first of all, an inhibition which constantly corrects

518
the conditioned connection and accordingly restrains the ex¬
citatory process, when the signalling conditioned stimulus
is not accompanied, in some cases temporarily, by the sig¬
nalized stimulus, or when it is accompanied by the latter with
a considerable delay. This inhibition becoming highly frag¬
mentary, also delimits, differentiates the conditioned positive
agents from the countless analogous and related negative
agents. It arises of itself in the conditions mentioned above,
gradually grows and gains in intensity; it can train and
perfect itself. This inhibition can also become connected
with any indifferent external stimulus, if the action of the
Latter coincides for a certain time with the presence of in¬
hibition in the cortex; this stimulus then begins of itself to
produce an inhibitory process in the cortex. From what has
been said it is clear that this purely cortical inhibition, along
with the conditioned connection, plays an important role in
the adaptation to the surrounding medium, constantly and
expediently analysing the stimulations coming from there.
We have named this kind or case of inhibition internal, ac¬
tive inhibition. Generally speaking, the adjective “condi¬
tioned” could be accorded it as well. Then another, specific
case of inhibition is observed in the cortex. All other con¬
ditions being equal, the effect of the conditioned stimulus is,
as a rule, proportional to the intensity of the physical
strength of the stimulus, but to a definite maximum level
(and probably also to a certain minimum level). Beyond
this maximum the effect no longer increases; it may some¬
times even diminish. We then say that such a stimulus, on
reaching this maximum level, begins to produce inhibition,
not excitation. We interpret this phenomenon in the follow¬
ing way: the given cortical cell has a definite limit of func¬
tional capacity, i.e., of, so to speak, inoffensive, easily re¬
versible functional wear, and the inhibition, which arises in
connection with a super-powerful stimulation, does not per¬
mit overstepping this limit. The stronger the super-powerful
stimuli, the more intense is the inhibition; in this case the
effect of stimulation either remains at the maximum level,

519
which is more often the case, or diminishes somewhat, if
the stimulation is too intense. This inhibition could be called
transmarginal.
The limit of functional capacity of the cortical cells is
not of a constant nature; it may change abruptly, as well
as in a chronic way. Inanition, hypnosis, disease and old age
lead to a steady decline of this limit; at the same time in the
surrounding environment more and more inhibitory stimuli
appear which become super-powerful for the given cell.
The following important fact must be also pointed out. When
the excitability or lability of the cortical cells is augmented
in a natural or artificial way, for example, by means of chem¬
ical substances, i.e., when a more rapid functional wear
of the cortical cells is provoked, lan ever-increasing number
of stimuli which previously were below maximum or of
miaximum strength become super-powerful, leading to inhi¬
bition and a general decline of the conditioned reflex ac¬
tivity.
The following question remains unsolved; what is the re¬
lation between the two latter cases of inhibition and the
first universal case of negative induction? If they are simply
a modification of the first case, then what is the nature of
the modification and how does it occur in relation to the pe¬
culiar properties of the cortex? It is probable that transmar¬
ginal inhibition is closer and more related to external, pas¬
sive inhibition than to internal, active inhibition, since it,
too, arises at once, and is not elaborated and trained as the
latter.
These two kinds of cortical inhibition also move, spread
over the brain mass. A very large number of diverse ex¬
periments were performed with the special object of study¬
ing the movement of the first kind of cortical inhibition—in¬
ternal inhibition. In these experiments the inhibition spread
out as if before the eyes of the experimenters.
There is no doubt that inhibition, while irradiating and
deepening, develops different degrees of a hypnotic state,
and that spreading from the cerebral hemispheres down-

520
ward to the utmost over the brain, it produces normal sleep.
The diversity and multiplicity of hypnotic stages, which lat
first can hardly be distinguished from the waking state, strik¬
ingly manifest themselves even in our dogs. In respect of the
intensity of inhibition the so-called equalization, paradoxical
and ultra-paradoxical phases are worth mentioning. Condi¬
tioned stimuli of different physical intensity, instead of pro¬
ducing effects in proportion totheir intensity, as in the case of
the waking state, now produce equal, or even inversely pro¬
portional and distorted effects. In rarer cases the distortion
of the effects reaches such a degree that only the inhibitory
conditioned stimuli produce la positive effect, while the posi¬
tive stimuli assume an inhibitory action. In respect of the
extensity of inhibition there are observed functional dis¬
sociations of the cortex, as well as of the rest of the brain,
into larger and smaller parts. The motor area of the cortex
is particularly often isolated from other areas, and even
in this area sometimes a dissociation of functions comes
to the fore.
It is a matter of sincere regret that up to the present time
the impression produced by these laboratory experiments
is weakened due to the rivalry of the so-called sleep centre
suggested by clinicians and certain physiologists;^®® mean¬
while, the matter can be interpreted in a satisfactory and
conciliatory way from the following point of view, which
seems to me fully justified by the facts. One can hardly
doubt that there are two mechanisms responsible for the
onset of sleep, land that it is necessary to distinguish active
sleep from passive sleep. Active sleep originates in the
cerebral hemispheres and is based on an active process of
inhibition, arising in the hemispheres and spreading from
there to the lower parts of the brain. Passive sleep results
from the diminution or limitation of stimulating impulses
reaching the higher parts of the brain (not only the cere¬
bral hemispheres, but also the adjacent subcortex).
The stimulating impulses include, on the one hand, exter¬
nal stimuli, which reach the brain through the medium of

521
the external receptors, and, on the other hand, internal stim¬
uli, conditioned by the work of the internal organs and
transmitted to the higher parts of the brain from the cen¬
tral nervous region regulating the organism’s vegetative
functions.
The first cases of passive sleep of a particularly pro¬
nounced character are Striimpel’s well-known clinical case
and the analogical, more recent experiment carried out by
Prof. A. D. Speransky and V. S. Galkin when, after a periph¬
eral destruction of three receptors—olfactory, auditory
and visual—the dog falls into a profound and chronic state
of sleep (lasting for weeks and months). The second cases
of passive sleep are the clinical cases which lead to the
recognition of what clinicians and some experimenters
designate as the “centre of sleep.’’
The physiology of the muscular tissue offers us an
example which in this respect is analogous to sleep. Owing
to its specific physiological organization, the skeletal
muscle only contracts under the influence of its motor nerve,
but the relaxation of the muscle is of a passive nature; as
to the smooth muscle, its contraction and relaxation are
actively effected under the influence of two special nerves—
one positive and the other inhibitory.
Just as in the case of concentration of the excitatory proc¬
ess, the concentration of the inhibitory process engenders,
by virtue of the law of reciprocal induction, an opposite
process, which in the given case is, naturally, a process of
excitation. The point of concentration of the inhibition is
surrounded, to a greater or lesser extent, by a process of
heightened excitability—<a manifestation of positive induc¬
tion. The positive induction makes itself felt in the uncon¬
ditioned, as well as in the conditioned reflexes. A height¬
ened excitability arises either immediately or after a cer¬
tain period during which the inhibition gradually con¬
centrates; it persists not only for the duration of the inhibi¬
tion, but for some time after its disappearance and in cer¬
tain cases long after it. The positive induction manifests

522
itself both between small points of the cortex and large
parts of the brain.
I shall dwell now on some points of the physiology of
the higher nervous activity which are of importance for
physiological analysis of the symptomatology of hysteria.
The connection between the organism and the surround¬
ing medium through conditioned signalling agents is the
more perfect the more these agents are analysed and
synthesized by the cerebral hemispheres in conformity with
the extreme complexity and continuous fluctuations of the
environment. The synthesis is effected through the process
of conditioned connection. The analysis, the differentiation
of positive conditioned agents from inhibitory ones is based
on the process of reciprocal induction; the separation of dif¬
ferent positive agents, i.e., of agents related to different
unconditioned reflexes, is accomplished by a process of
concentration (new experiments by Rickman). Thus, precise
analysis requires a sufficient intensity both of the inhibitory
and excitatory processes.
Further, of particular significance for the physiological
study of hysteria are our data relating to the types of nerv¬
ous system. First of all, we distinguish very strong
animals, but unequilibrated, in which the inhibitory proc¬
ess alwaj^s lags to a certain degree and, consequently, does
not conform to the excitatory process. When these animals
are confronted with difficult nervous tasks calling for con¬
siderable inhibition, they almost fully lose their inhibitory
function (special neurosis) and become painfully restless;
in some cases this restless state is periodically superseded
by depression and drowsiness. In their general behaviour
animals of this category are aggressive, provocative, and
lacking in self-control. We call such dogs excitable or
choleric. Next comes the type of strong and at the same
time equilibrated animals, in which both processes are of
equal strength; because of this, it is difficult and sometimes
even impossible to induce neuroses in such animals by
means of complex nervous tasks. This type assumes two

523
 forms—the quiet (phlegmatic) and the very lively (san¬
guine) forms. Finally, there is the weak inhibitable type,
in which both processes are insufficient, particularly and
more often the inhibitory process. It is this type which speci¬
ally furnishes experimental neuroses, reproduced in them
with extreme ease. Animals of this type are cowardly; they
are constantly in a state of uneasiness or display excessive
fussiness and impatience. They are incapable of enduring
strong external agents acting as positive conditioned stim¬
uli, any considerable normal excitation in general (ali¬
mentary, sexual, etc.), even a slight intensity (continuation)
of the inhibitory process, and still less ta collision of the
nervous processes, any complex system of conditioned
reflexes and finally any change in the stereotype of the con¬
ditioned reflex activity. In all these cases they exhibit a
weakened land chaotic conditioned reflex activity and very
often fall into different phases of hypnosis. Moreover, in
these animals separate, even very small, points of the cere¬
bral hemispheres can be easily rendered pathological, and
when adequate stimuli affect such points a rapid and drastic
decline of the general conditioned reflex activity takes place.
Although the general behaviour of these animals is such
that they cannot always be described as melancholic,
nevertheless there is every reason to include them in the
category of melancholic animals, i.e., those in which the
vital manifestations are in many cases constantly sup¬
pressed and inhibited. In our exposition of the types of nerv¬
ous system we implied, when we spoke of the equilibrium
between excitation and inhibition, the so-called internal in¬
hibition. In the weak type, with its weak internal inhibition,
the external inhibition (negative induction) is, on the con¬
trary, highly predominant and, above all, determines the
entire external behaviour of the animal. Hence this type is
called weak, inhibitable.
In concluding the physiological part of this article, I
must point to the following circumstance which is of partic¬
ular importance for the comprehension of some of the spe-

524
cial symptoms of hysteria. There are sufficient grounds to
assume that centripetal, afferent impulses produced by each
element and moment of movement reach the cerebral cortex
(motor region) not only from the skeletal motor apparatus,
which makes possible an exact cortical regulation, of * the
skeletal movements, but also from other organs and even
separate tissues; because of this, the cortical regulation of
the latter is likewise possible. At the present time, condi¬
tioning, which must be related to the higher part of the
central nervous system, assumes greater biological signifi¬
cance since the possibility of conditioned leucocytoses, im¬
munity and other various organic processes, has been
demonstrated, even though we do not yet know the exact
nervous connections participating, directly or indirectly, in
this phenomenon. But this possibility of cortical influence is
deliberately utilized and is revealed by us in very rare
cases under exceptional artificial or abnormal conditions.
This is explained by the fact that, on the one hand, the auto¬
regulation of the activity of other organs and tissues, apart
from the skeletal motor apparatus, is chiefly effected in the
lower parts of the central nervous system, and, on the other
hand, is disguised by the fundamental activity of the cere¬
bral hemispheres aimed at regulating the most complex
relations with the surrounding medium.

Let us turn now to hysteria.

Concerning the general concepts of hysteria held by the
clinicians, some of them give a fundamental general char¬
acteristic of the pathological state and some bring forward
certain particularly pronounced traits or symptoms of this
state. Some clinicians speak, as it were, of a return to
instinctive, i.e., emotional and even reflex life; others attrib¬
ute the disorder to suggestibility, explaining the entire behav¬
iour of hysterical persons and the so-called stigmata of

525
hysteria (analgesia, paralyses, etc.) by suggestion and lauto-
suggestion. Certain clinicians advance to the foreground
the desire to be ill, to take refuge in illness; others regard
as particularly important the manifestation of fantasticism,
the absence of a real perception of life; still others look on
the disease as chronic hypnosis, and finally there are clini¬
cians who ascribe it to a reduced capacity for psychical
synthesis or to split personality. I believe that all these con¬
cepts taken together fully cover the entire syndrome and
the entire nature of hysteria.
First of all, we must consider as a generally recognized
fact that hysteria results from a weak nervous system.
Pierre Janet plainly states that hysteria is one of an
immense group of mental illnesses caused by weakness and
cerebral inanition.^^^ If that is so, then the above character¬
istic—taking into account that the weakness mainly relates
to the higher part of the central nervous system and espe¬
cially to the cerebral hemispheres as its most reactive part—
becomes comprehensible in the light of the physiology of the
central nervous system and of its higher part as now pre¬
sented by the theory of conditioned reflexes.
Usually the cerebral hemispheres which represent the
highest organ of correlations between the organism and the
surrounding medium land hence the constant controller of
the executive functions of the organism, always exert influ¬
ence on the adjacent parts of the brain with their instinct
and reflex activity. From this it follows that the elimination
or weakening of the activity of the cerebral hemispheres
must necessarily lead to a more or less chaotic activity of
the subcortex devoid of the right measure and of adequacy
to the given surroundings. This is a well-known physiolog¬
ical fact which manifests itself in animals after the extir¬
pation of the cerebral hemispheres, in adults when they are
in different states of narcotization and in children when they
fall asleep. Thus, using the above-mentioned physiological
terms, the alert, active state of the cerebral hemispheres,
manifested in the unceasing analysis and synthesis of exter-

526
nal stimuli, of the influences of the surrounding medium,
negatively induces the subcortex, i.e., inhibits its activity as
a whole, libenating in la selective way only the activity
needed by conditions of place and time. On the contrary,
an inhibited state of the hemispheres liberates or positively
induces the subcortex, i.e., strengthens its general activity.
Consequently, there are adequate physiological grounds
for the occurrence of various affective outbursts and con¬
vulsive fits in hysterical persons under acute and abrupt
inhibition of the cortex resulting from unendurable stimula¬
tions—and such stimulations are not infrequent in the case
of a weak cortex. These outbursts and fits are sometimes
expressed in more or less definite instinctive and reflex
activities and sometimes in absolutely chaotic forms, depend¬
ing on the varying localization of inhibition over the cortex
and the adjacent or more distant subcortex.
But this is an extreme and active expression of the
pathological state. When the inhibition spreads further down
the brain, we witness another extreme, but passive state of
the organism of the hysterical person in the form of pro¬
found hypnosis and, in the end, of complete sleep Lasting for
hours land even for days (lethargy). This difference between
the extreme states is probably determined not only by vari¬
ous degrees of weakness of the excitatory and inhibitory
processes in the cortex, but also by the force correlations
between the cortex and subcortex, which sometimes vary in
an acute or chronic way in one and the same individual,
and sometimes are also related to different individuals.
This varying chronic weakness of the cortex, apart from
being the cause of the extraordinary and extreme states of
the organism just described, invariably conditions also the
permanent peculiar state of hysterical persons—their
emotivity.
Although our life and that of animals is directed by the
basic tendencies of the organism—alimentary, sexual,
aggressive. Investigatory, etc. (functions performed by the
subcortex adjacent to the cerebral hemispheres), neverthe-

527
less, for the purpose of co-ordinating and realizing all these
tendencies, indispensably in connection with the general
conditions of life, there is a special part of the central nerv¬
ous system; this part moderates each particular tendency,
harmonizes them and ensures their most rational realiza¬
tion in the conditions of the surrounding medium. These
are, of course, the cerebral hemispheres. Thus, there are two
ways of action. In the first place it is the way of rational
action which is effected after, so to speak, a preliminary
(though sometimes almost instantaneous) investigation of
the given tendency by the cerebral hemispheres and its
transformation, in the requisite measure and at the appro¬
priate moment, into a corresponding motor act or behaviour
with the help of the cortical motor region. It is, in the sec¬
ond place, the way of affective, passionate action, realized
(perhaps even directly through the subcortical connections)
under the influence of the given tendency alone, v.dthout the
above-mentioned preliminary control. In hysterical persons
the latter way of action predominates in most cases, and
its nervous mechanism is quite clear. The tendency arises
under the influence of external or internal stimulation and
evokes the activity of a corresponding point or region of
the cerebral hemispheres. Under the influence of emotion
and due to the irradiation from the subcortex, this point
becomes extremely charged. If the cortex is weak, this is
sufficient to provoke a strong and greatly extended negative
induction, which excludes any control, any influence of all
other parts of the cerebral hemispheres. And it is precisely
these parts which locate the representation of other tend¬
encies and of the surrounding medium, the traces of pre¬
vious stimulations and emotions, the acquired experience.
This is joined by another mechanism. The strong excitation
produced by emotion intensifies the excitability of the cor¬
tex; this rapidly leads the excitation of the cortex to the
limit of its functional capacity and exceeds it. Consequently,
negative induction is joined by transmarginal inhibition.
Hence, a hysterical person lives to a greater or lesser degree

528
not a rational but an emotive life, and is directed not by
the cortical, but subcortical activity.
Suggestibility and auto-suggestibility are directly con¬
nected with this mechanism of hysteria. What are sugges¬
tion and auto-suggestion? They are a concentrated excita¬
tion of a definite point or region of the cerebral hemispheres
in the form of a definite excitation, sensation or its trace—
an idea now called forth by emotions, i.e., excited from the
subcortex, now produced abruptly from the outside, now by
means of internal connections, associations—an excitation
which acquires a predominant, undue and irresistible sig¬
nificance. It exists and acts, i.e., passes over into movement,
into one or another motor act, not because it is maintained
by various associations, that is, connections with many pres¬
ent and past stimuli, sensations and ideas—this would
produce resolute and sensible action, such as is usual vith
a normal strong cortex—but because in a weak cortex with
a low, weak tone this concentrated excitation is accom¬
panied by a strong negative induction which detaches and
isolates it from all indispensable extraneous influences.
This is the mechanism of hypnotic and post-hypnotic sug¬
gestion. During hypnosis we observe even in a normal and
strong cortex a lowered positive tone owing to irradiated
inhibition.* When the word or command of the hypnotist
is directed to a definite point of such a cortex as a stimulus,
the latter concentrates the excitatory process in a corre¬
sponding point and is immediately followed by negative
induction, which, meeting little resistance on its way,
spreads bver the entire cortex; thanks to this, the word or

* Despite the very rich materia! accumulated by the physiology

of the nervous system in general, and by the theory of conditioned
reflexes in particular, the question of the relation between excitation
and inhibition still baffles solution. Is it one and the same process
interchanging under definite conditions, or a couple, strongly knit to¬
gether, which, as it were, revolves under certain conditions and shows,
to a greater or lesser extent, or even in full, now one of its sides, now
the other? {Note by 1. P. Pavlov.)

34—773 529
commiand is completely isolated from all influences and
becomes an absolute, irresistible stimulus, continuing to
operate even subsequently, when the individual returns to
an alert state.
Exactly the same as to its mechanism, but in lesser
degree, takes place constantly and spontaneously in old
age when the excitatory process in the cortex undergoes a
natural decline. In a still strong brain the internal or exter¬
nal excitation, concentrating, even though considerably (but
not excessively, as in exceptional cases), in a definite point
or region of the cortex, is naturally accompanied by nega¬
tive induction, which, because of the strength of the cortex,
does not represent complete and widely spread inhibit! n.
Therefore, along with the predominant excitation, some
other concomitant excitations act, which evoke correspond¬
ing reflexes, especially old and fixed ones, or the so-called
automatic reflexes. Usually our behaviour consists not of
isolated, but complex reactions, corresponding to the con¬
stant complexity of the surroundings. The picture is alto¬
gether different in old age. When concentrating on a cer¬
tain excitation, we exclude by means of negative induction
the action of all other e^^traneous but simultaneous stimula¬
tions, and that is why we often act not in compliance with
the given conditions, i.e., our reaction to the entire sur¬
roundings remains incomplete. Here is a simple illustra¬
tion. I look at the object which I need, I take it in my hand
but at the same time do not notice all or practically all
other objects surrounding and adjoining it; as a result I
knock against the other objects, derange them without any
need, etc. This is described, erroneously, as senile distrac¬
tion, whereas, on the contrary, it is concentration, but invol¬
untary, passive and defective. Precisely for the same reason
an old man, who thinks of something or talks to somebody
while putting on his outdoor clothes, sometimes forgets to
put on his hat, takes one object instead of another, etc.
As a result of constant extraneous and involuntary sug¬
gestions and auto-suggestions, the life of a hysterical per-

530
son is overcharged with extraordinary and peculiar mani¬
festations.
To begin with, let us take the case of war hysteria which
was thoroughly studied during the world war. Being a per¬
manent and serious menace of death, war, of course, is one
of the most natural incentives to fear. Fear has definite
physiological symptoms which in individuals with a strong
nervous system either do not manifest themselves at all,
being suppressed, or quickly disappear; in persons with a
weak nervous system they are of a more prolonged char¬
acter, with the result that such persons are no longer able
to participate in military operations and thus are discharged
from the obligation of exposing their life to danger. These
persistent symptoms could also disappear of themselves with
the lapse of time, but in a weak nervous system, precisely
because of its weakness, a mechanism sets in which main¬
tains them. The persistent symptoms of fear and the result¬
ing temporary safety thus coincide in time and, by virtue
of the law of conditioned reflexes, must become associated,
interconnected. Hence, the sensation and representation of
these symptoms assume a positive emotional shade and,
naturally, are repeatedly reproduced. Then, on the one hand,
according to the law of irradiation and summation, they,
acting from the cortex, maintain and reinforce the lower
centres of the reflex symptoms of fear, and, on the other
hand, being emotionally charged, they ar.e accompanied,
in a weak cortex, by an intense negative induction, and thus
exclude the influence of other representations which could
oppose the feeling of conditioned agreeableness or desir¬
ability of these symptoms. We, therefore, have not sufficient
grounds to affirm that this case represents a deliberate
simulation of symptoms. In eflect, it is a case of fatal phys¬
iological relations.
But a hysterical person displays a multitude of similar
cases even in his everyday life. Not only the horrors of war,
but many other dangers (fire, railway accidents, etc.),
numerous life shocks, such as the loss of close relations or

34* 531
friends, unfaithful love and. other deceptions encountered,
the loss of property, collapse of copvictions and beliefs, etc.,
and in general difficult conditions of life—unhappy mar¬
riage, poverty, violation of self-respect, and so forth—all
these factors produce in a weak individual, at once or even¬
tually, violent reactions accompanied by different abnormal
somatic symptoms. Many of these symptoms, which appear
at the moment of strong excitation, are impressed in the
cortex for a long time or forever, just as are many strong
stimulations in normal persons (kinesthetic stimulations
included). But other symptoms, which in a normal subject
can be effaced with the lapse of time—whether because of
fear of their abnormality, inconvenience, direct harmfulness
and merely indecency, or, the reverse, because they are
advantageous or simply interesting—become more and more
intense, extended (through irradiation) and stable, owing
to the same mechanism as in the case of the \Var hysteria
mentioned earlier, as well as to their emotional reinforce¬
ment. Naturally, in la weak subject, an invalid in life, unable
to win by positive qualities respect, attention and favour of
other people, the Latter motive acts most and contributes to
the prolongation and fixation of the morbid symptoms.
Hence, one of the most striking features of hysteria is the
desire to be ill, to take refuge in illness.
Along with positive symptoms, there are negative ones,
which are produced in the central nervous system not by the
process of excitation, but by the inhibition process, for
instance, analgesia and paralysis. They attract special atten¬
tion, and some clinicians (for example, Hoche'“ in a recent
article) regard them as specifically hysterical symptoms
which seem absolutely incomprehensible. But this is an
obvious misunderstanding: they do not differ in any way
from positive symptoms. Do not we, normal people, con¬
stantly repress some of our movements and words, i.e., do
not we send inhibitory impulses to definite points of ’the
cerebral hemispheres? As pointed out in our physiological
introduction, in the laboratory we constantly elaborate.

532
along with conditioned positive stimuli, conditioned nega¬
tive stimuli. In hypnosis by means of stimulating words we
produce anaesthesia,analgesia, general immobility or
inability to move certain parts of the body, functional
paralysis. A hysterical person often can and must be
regarded, even in normal conditions, as being in a chronic
state of hypnosis to a certain degree, since owing to the
weakness of his cortex, ordinary stimuli become super¬
powerful and are accompanied by a diffused transmarginal
inhibition, just as in the paradoxical phase of hypnosis
observed in our animals. Therefore, besides the fixed inhib¬
itory symptoms, which, like the positive ones, appear at
the moment of violent nervous trauma, the same inhibitory
symptoms may arise in a hysterical hypnotic as a result
of suggestion or auto-suggestion. Any notion of an inhibitory
effect evoked either by fear, interest or advantage, repeat¬
edly concentrates and intensifies in the cortex and, owing
to the emotivity of the hysterical person, just as in hypnosis
the word of the hypnotist, provokes these symptoms and
fixes them for a long time, until, finally, a stronger wave
of excitation effaces these inhibitory points.
The same mechanism of auto-suggestion produces in a
hysterical person a multitude of other symptoms, some of
which are rather ordinary and frequent and some extra¬
ordinary and highly peculiar.
Any slight sensation of pain or the slightest anomaly in
any organic function engenders in a hysterical person the
fear of becoming seriously ill; and this suffices not only to
maintain these sensations, again by means of the above-
described mechanism, but to reinforce them and bring to
such a pitch of intensity as to render the subject invalid.
However, this time it is not the positive aspect of the sen¬
sation that is responsible for its frequent reproduction and
predominant action in the cortex, as is the case in war
hysteria, but, on the contrary, its negative aspect. This,
naturally, makes no difference as regards the essence of the
physiological process. Unquestioned cases of imaginary

533
pregnancy accomp;anied by corresponding changes in the
mammary glands, by an accumulation of fat in the abdom¬
inal wall, etc., are examples of peculiar manifestations of
hysterical auto-suggestion. This is further confirmation of
what has been said in the physiological introduction to this
article concerning the cortical representation not only of
the lactivity of all organs, but of separate tissues. At the
same time this testifies to the extreme emotivity of hyster¬
ical persons. It is true that in this case the maternal
instinct, powerful in itself, reproduces by auto-suggestion
such a complex and specific state of the organism as preg¬
nancy, at least certain of its components. The same mechan¬
ism is responsible for the states and stigmates of religious
ecstatics. It is a historical fact that the Christian martyrs
endured their tortures with patience, even with joy, and
when dying, lauded those for whom they sacrificed them¬
selves; this is striking proof of the power of auto-sugges¬
tion, i.e., of the strength of concentrated excitation in a
definite cortical region, excitation accompanied by a veiy
intense inhibition of all other parts of the cortex represent¬
ing, so to speak, the fundamental interests of the entire
organism, its integrity, its existence. If the power of sug¬
gestion and auto-suggestion is so great that even the destruc¬
tion of the organism can take place without the slightest
physiological resistance on its part, then, in view of the
already proved high ability of the cortex to influence the
processes of the organism, it is easy to understand from the
physiological point of view the partial violation of the
organism’s integrity produced by suggestion and auto-sug¬
gestion by means of trophic innervation, the existence of
which has been also proved.
It is, therefore, impossible not to see the erroneousness
of the extreme point of view put forward by Babinsky,^”
although in general he correctly appraises the fundamental
mechanism of hysteria. In his view the only symptom that
should be regarded as hysterical, is the one provoked or
eliminated by suggestion. This conclusion overlooks the

534
extreme intensity and incessant action of the given emotiv¬
ity, which cannot be produced in a full measure deliberately
by suggestion, especially since the real cause land nature
of this emotivity may remain unrevealed.
Finally, it is necessary to touch on the fantasticism of
hysterical persons, on their detachment from reality and
frequent twilight states. It can be assumed that these symp¬
toms are interconnected. As shown by the observations
made by Bernheim and others on hypnotized normal sub¬
jects, as well as by our observations on dogs mentioned in
the physiological part of this article, we must distinguish
in hypnotism a number of gradations, beginning with a
state, which hardly differs from wakefulness and ending
with complete sleep.
In order to embrace and fully understand all the degrees
of hypnosis, especially in man, I think it is necessary to
dwell on the following problems, which have not only been
insufficiently elaborated by science, but are not even prop¬
erly formulated.
Life clearly reveals two groups of human beings: artists
and thinkers. There is a striking difference between them.
The first group, artists of all kinds—writers, musicians,
painters, etc., perceive reality as a single whole, i.e., the
entire living reality without breaking it up or decomposing
it. The other group, the thinkers, on the contrary, dismember
it, thereby, as it were, killing it and making of it a kind of
temporary skeleton; only afterwards do they gradually as
if anew assemble its parts and try to revive it, but this,
however, they are unable fully to accomplish. This difference
is particularly manifest in the so-called eudetism of chil¬
dren.*®® I recall a case which greatly amazed me forty or fifty
years ago. In a family of a marked artistic disposition the
parents used to entertain their two or three years old child
(and amuse themselves at the same time) by showing him
a collection of twenty or thirty photos of different relatives,
writers, actors, etc.—and simultaneously pronouncing their
names. The effect was that the child memorized the photos

535
and then called all the persons represented on them by their
proper names. But how great was the general surprise one
day when it was discovered that the child could give the
right names by looking even at the back of the photo.
Apparently in this case the brain, the cerebral hemispheres,
perceived the optic stimulations in exactly the same way
as a photographic plate reacts to the fluctuations of the
intensity of light or as a phonographic disc records the
sounds. And this, perhaps, is the essential feature of any
kind of artistic faculty. Generally, such an integral reproduc¬
tion of reality is inaccessible to a thinker. That is why the
combination in one and the same person of great artist
and great thinker is .an exceedingly rare phenomenon. In
the overwhelming majority of oases they are represented
by different individuals. Of course, in the mass there are
intermediates.
I believe that there are definite physiological .grounds,
although as yet not very convincing, for interpreting the
matter in the following way. In the artist the activity of the
cerebral hemispheres, while developing throughout their
entire mass, least of all involves the frontal lobes and con¬
centrates mainly in other parts; in the thinker, on the con¬
trary, it is most intense in the frantal lobes.
Repeating what I have just said, for the sake of sys¬
tematization, I view the higher nervous activity as a whole
like this. In higher animals, including man, the first sys¬
tem establishing complex correlations between the organism
and the external environment is represented by the sub¬
cortex adjacent to the cerebral hemispheres with its highly
complex unconditioned reflexes (in our terminology), or
instincts, drives, affects, emotions (in the usual diverse ter¬
minology). These reflexes are produced by a relatively
limited number of unconditioned external agents, or in
other words, those which act right from the day of birth.
Hence, a limited capacity of orientation in relation to the
surrounding world and at the same time a low degree of
adaptation. The second system is represented by the cere-

555
bral hemispheres, excluding, however, the frontal lobes. It
is here that la new principle of activity arises with the help
of conditioned connection or association—the signalization
of a limited number of unconditioned external agents by a
countless number of other agents, which at the same time
are constantly subjected to analysis and synthesis and
ensure a very wide orientation in relation to the same
medium and thereby a much higher degree of adaptation.
This is the only signalling system in the animal organism
and the first signalling system in man. In the latter another
system of signalization is added: it can be assumed that this
system relates to the frontal lobes, which in animals are
much less developed than in man. It represents a signaliza¬
tion of the first signalling system by means of speech and
of its basis or basal component—kinesthetic stimulations of
the speech organs. In this way a new principle of nervous
activity arises—abstraction and at the same time general¬
ization of the countless signals of the first signalling system
which is again accompanied by analysis and synthesis of
the new generalized signals—a principle which ensures
unrestricted orientation in relation to the surrounding world
and ensures the highest degree of adaptation, namely, sci¬
ence, both in the form of human universal empiricism and
in specialized forms. This second system of signalization
and its organ, representing the latest acquisition in the proc¬
ess of evolution, are bound to be most fragile and sus¬
ceptible to diffused inhibition when it arises in the cerebral
hemispheres at the initial stages of hypnosis. Then, instead
of the activity of the second signalling system, usually pre¬
dominant in the alert state, the activity of the first system
comes to the fore, liberated from the regulating influence
of the second sysdem; at first it takes the more stable form
of reverie and fantastic imagination and subsequently the
more acute form of a twilight state or light sleep (corre¬
sponding to the intermediate state between sleep and wake¬
fulness or to the state of falling asleep). Hence the chaotic
character of this activity, which no longer reckons with

537
reality, or if it does, then only slightly, and is mainly de¬
pendent on the emotional influences of the sub-cortex.
From what has been said it will not be difficult to appre¬
ciate from the physiological point of view what the clini¬
cians term disturbance of psychical synthesis in hysteria (the
expression used by Pierre Janet) or the split “ego” (Ray¬
mond’s expression). Instead of a co-ordinated and well-
equilibrated activity of the three systems mentioned, in hys¬
teria this activity is continually dissociated, and the natural
and law-governed interdependence of the systems is de¬
ranged; meanwhile the interconnection and proper interde¬
pendence of the work of these systems constitute the foun¬
dation of a sane personality and underlie the integrity of
our “ego.”
In the final analysis, different combinations of the fol¬
lowing three' particular physiological phenomena are con¬
stantly manifest and make themselves felt against the fun¬
damental background of cortical weakness in hysterical
persons: quick susceptibility to varying degrees of hypnotic
states due to the fact that even normal life stimuli are super¬
powerful and are accompanied by transmarginal diffused
inhibition (the paradoxical phase); extreme fixation and
concentration of the nervous processes in definite points of
the cortex due to the predominance of the subcprtex; and,
finally, undue intensity and extensity of negative induc¬
tion, i.e., of inhibition caused by low resistibility of the
positive tone of other cortical parts.
In conclusion, I take the liberty of saying a few words
about hysterical psychoses. A case of this kind of psychosis
has been demonstrated to me; it is a case of hysterical
puerilism*““ in a woman of mere than forty, who became
ill as a result of severe shocks experienced in family life.
She was unexpectedly deserted by her husband who some
time later also deprived her of her child. After an attack
of stupor and a general prolonged paresis*®” the woman
sank into dotage. At present she behaves like a child, with¬
out, however, manifesting lany obvious general defects in

538
the intellectual and moral sphere or in personal life. A
closer examination of the patient shows that everything
seems to be accounted for exclusively by the absence of the
analytical inhibition which always accompanies our behav¬
iour, our movements, words and thoughts and which dis¬
tinguishes the adult from the child. Does not the develop¬
ment of our personality consist in the fact that under the
influence of education and religious, social and civic require¬
ments, we gradually learn to inhibit, to repress that which
is not admitted, which is prohibited by the factors just
mentioned? Is not our behaviour in the family circle or in
the company of friends quite different in all respects from
that under other conditions? The universal experiments of
life prove this beyond all doubt. Do we not constantly
encounter the fact that in fits of passion, which overcome
the cortical inhibition, men speak and act in a manner
which they regard as inadmissible when they are calm?
And do they not bitterly regret such behaviour when the fit
of passion recedes? This is particularly evident in the state
of alcohol intoxication when all brakes are abruptly
switched off, as aptly expressed in the Russian proverb: to
the drunkard the sea seems up to his knee.
Will this patient ever return to a normal state? Well, it
depends. The psychiatrists affirm that in youth such a state
persists only for hours or days, although it is sometimes
more protracted. In the given case it is a state of relative
calm and satisfaction; it is probably determined by the pre¬
viously described nervous mechanism, which makes the
patient take refuge In illness in order to escape the difficul¬
ties of life and owing to which this pathological state may
in the end become irremediably habitual. On the other
hand, the disturbed and overstrained inhibition may weaken
and disappear altogether.
Is hysteria in general a curable disease from the phys¬
iological point of view? In this respect everything depends
on the type of nervous system. It is true that the predomin¬
ant and encouraging impression produced by our work on

539
 conditioned reflexes in dogs is that the cerebral hemispheres
offer great possibilities for their training, although natu¬
rally these possibilities are not unlimited. When dealing with
an extremely weak type we can, in exceptional, so to speak,
hot-house experimental conditions, obtain an improvement,
a regularization of the animal’s general conditioned reflex
activity, and nothing more. A durable transformation of
the type is, of course, out of the question. But since certain
hysterical reactions of a general physiological character
can also take place in more or less strong types as a result
of powerful stimulations or violent shocks, a full return to
the normal is, of course, possible in this case. However,
the return can occur only if the series of shocks and exces¬
sive stimulations do not overstep their limits.
While it is impossible to read without keen interest the
really brilliant pamphlet by Kretschmer on hysteria, in
which the author reveals a strong and almost constant
tendency to interpret the hysterical symptoms physiologi¬
cally, Hoche’s article in Deutsche Medizinische Wochen-
schrift in its January issue this year, makes a strange
impression. Is it really the case that modern physiological
knowledge does not throw any light on the mechanism of
hysteria, that the clinic and physiology “have halted before
hysteria as they would at closed doors?” The following rea¬
soning in Hoche’s article seems quite strange. Adhering to
the view that analgesiae and paralyses constitute the fun¬
damental feature of hysteria, he addresses the supporters
of the theory of the pathogenic force of motives in hysteria
with the question: why would the strong indignation felt
by some of^ his listeners and readers in consequence of his
adverse opinion of the above-mentioned theory, not ren¬
der them insensitive to pain, if it were caused by a
faradic current of high intensity? Then he cites other
analogous cases: for example, why are the patients
not_ cured ^ by a similar method, i.e., by a strong
desire to get rid of their illness, of their neuralgiae?
In this connection I recall an instance from my stu-

540
dent days which deeply impressed me and all who witnessed
it. A young woman was undergoing a plastic operation on
her nose which had been dreadfully deformed by some dis¬
ease. Right in the middle of the operation the woman, to
everyone’s surprise, suddenly made a calm remark in re¬
sponse to something said by the professor performing the
operation. Evidently, the anaesthesia (which was general)
had practically no effect. Yet the same woman attracted
general attention by the fact that during the daily dressing
of the post-operative wound she exhibited extreme sen¬
sitivity to pain. Clearly the strong desire to get rid of the
deformity, probably intensified by sexual emotion, rendered
the woman insensitive to the operation trauma and made
her hope and believe that the. surgical intervention would
end in complete success. But after the operation, at any
rate for a period immediately after it, when the coarse,
strange-looking artificial nose bitterly and cruelly disap¬
pointed her, the same emotion, on the contrary, rendered her
highly sensitive even to what was now carefully done to
her nose.
Many cases of this kind are met in everyday life, as well
as in history. When dealing with such cases, it is neces¬
sary to take into account: in strong and normal individuals
the harmonious complex of strong emotions and of predom¬
inant cortical associations accompanied by an equally
strong negative induction in all other parts of the cerebral
hemispheres; in the weak nervous type—the hysterical
mechanism described above.
 FEELINGS OF POSSESSION
(LES SENTIMENTS D’EMPRISE)
AND THE ULTRA-PARADOXICAL PHASEiei

(open letter to prof. PIERRE JANET)

Would you deem it interesting to print this letter in your

journal and at the same time express your views on the
points made by me after careful study of the article pub¬
lished by you last year; “Emotions of the Persecution
Delusion”?
I am a physiologist and of late, together with my col¬
leagues, have devoted myself exclusively to study of the
physiological and pathological work of the higher part of
the central nervous system in higher animals (dogs), which
corresponds to our higher nervous activity, usually called
psychical activity. You are a neurologist, psychiatrist and
psyc ologist. It seems that we should give proper considera¬
tion to our reciprocal work and co-operate in our research,
for, after all, we are investigating the activity of one and
the same organ (concerning which there can hardly be anv
doubt now).
The third part of your article attempts to interpret the
feelings of possession. The basic phenomenon is that the
patients objectivize their weakness, their imperfections, and
attribute them to others. They want to be independent, but
they are adamant in believing that other people regard
t ern as slaves who are obliged to execute orders. They
want to be respected, but it seems to them that they are

542
being insulted. They want to have their own secrets, but it
appears to them that their secrets are constantly being dis¬
closed. Like everybody else, they have their own intimate
thoughts, but in their imagination these thoughts are being
stolen from them. They have annoying habits or painful fits,
but they ascribe them to other people.
You interpret this phenomenon in the following way.
Many of the ordinary circumstances of life are very dif¬
ficult, unbearable and painful for these patients. For
instance, the presence at the dinner table of two ladies of
the patient’s acquaintance, towards whom she had never
been ill-disposed before. This constant difficulty and the
natural frequent failures fill the patients with anxiety and
fear, and inspire in them the desire to get away from it all.
Like children or savages, they attribute all their troubles to
the malignant actions of others, and this signifies deliber¬
ate objectification. Further, you devote attention to the fol¬
lowing detail; in all the cases cited by you, we have to do,
in your terminology, with binary social acts: to be master
or slave, give or steal, strive for solitude or seek company,
etc. These contrasts are confused by the patients when they
are in a state of depression, the disagreeable opposite usually
bearing an objective character and relating to other people.
For example, the patient passionately wants to be alone,
locked up in her room, and actually she remains alone, but ^
she is tortured by the thought that some malevolent person
has contrived to get into the room and watch her.
One cannot but agree with all the foregoing, which rep¬
resents an extremely interesting psychological analysis.
But I take the liberty of disagreeing with you on the inter¬
pretation of the last point. You repeat more than once that,
contrary to the general belief, these 'contrasts are not so
easily distinguishable. You say; ‘To tell and to be told form
a single whole and the one is not easily distinguished from
the other, as is usually believed.” And further: "The act of
insulting and the act of being insulted are united by the
general concept of insult; but the disorder shows that they

543
may be confused, that one may be mistaken for the other.”
You explain this confusion by a rather complex combination
of feelings.
Availing myself of the facts established and systematized
by you, I have resolved to take another way and to inter¬
pret them physiologically.
Our general notion (category) of contraposition is one
of the fundamental and indispensable general notions,
which, lalong with all others, facilitates and controls nor¬
mal thinking land even makes it possible. Our attitude
towards the surrounding world, social environment
included, as well as towards ourselves, would be distorted
to la very great degree if there were constant confusion of
opposites: I and not I; mine and yours; I am simultaneously
alone and in company; I offend and I am offended, etc. Con¬
sequently, there must be a profound reason for the disap¬
pearance or weakening of this general notion, and, in my
opinion, this reason can and must be sought in the funda¬
mental laws of nervous activity. I think that in present-day
physiology there are definite indications to this effect.
In the course of our study of the higher nervous activity
by the method of conditioned reflexes we observed and
investigated in our experimental animals the following pre¬
cise facts. In different states of depression, inhibition (more
often in various hypnotic states) the equalization, paradox¬
ical and ultra-paradoxical phases are manifest. This signi¬
fies that the cortical nervous cells, instead of normally
producing (within certain limits) effects proportional to the
intensity of the stimulating agents, in states of various
inhibition, begin to produce effects either of equal strength,
or inversely proportional to the intensity of the stimulus,
and even of an entirely opposite character; this means that
the inhibitory stimuli produce a positive effect, and the posi¬
tive stimuli a negative effect. I make so bold as to suppose
that it is precisely this ultra-paradoxical phase which causes
the weakening of the notion of contraposition in our
patients.

544
 All the conditions necessary for the development of an
ultra-paradoxical state in the cortical cells of our patients,
are in evidence and have been clearly established by you.
When these patients, being of weak constitution, come up
against a multitude of life situations, they easily fall into
a state of depression, anxiety and fear; they can, however,
still desire or not desire something, they have their emo¬
tionally-reinforced and possibly concentrated ideas of what
is desirable or undesirable (I am the master, not the slave;
I want to be alone and not in company; I want to have
secrets, etc.). And in such conditions this is sufficient to
evoke in a fatal way an opposite idea (I am a slave; there
is always somebody near me; all my secrets are being dis¬
closed, etc.).
The physiological explanation of this phenomenon would
be as follows. Let us suppose that a definite frequency of
the metronome acts as a conditioned alimentary positive
stimulus, since its application is accompanied by feeding
and, because of this, evokes an alimentary reaction. Another
frequency of the metronome acts as a negative stimulus,
since it is not reinforced by feeding and produces, there¬
fore, a negative reaction: the animal turns away when it is
applied. The frequencies of the-metronome beats constitute
a physiological pair, the components of which, being oppo¬
sites, are associated and at the same time, reciprocally
induced, i.e., one frequency stimulates and reinforces the
action of the other. This is an exact physiological fact.
Further, if a positive frequency acts on a cell which for
some reason or other is in a weak state (or in a hypnotic
state), then this frequency, according to the law of max¬
imum, which is also a strictly established fact, inhibits the
cell. This inhibition, in conformity with the law of reciprocal
induction, conditions a state of excitation instead of inhibi¬
tion in the other component of the associated couple. That
is why the stimulus related to the latter now provokes
excitation, not inhibition.
This is the mechanism of negativism or contralism.

35—773 545
 If food is offered to a dog when it is in a state of inhibi¬
tion (or hypnosis), i.e., when you induce it to positive
activity—to the act of eating—it turns away and rejects the
food. But when the food is moved away, i.e., when you give
the dog a negative impulse aimed at inhibiting the cor¬
responding activity, at discontinuing the act of eating, the
dog, on the contrary, begins to reach for the food.
Evidently this law of reciprocal induction of opposite
actions must also be applied to contrary ideas, which,
naturally, are connected with definite (verbal) cells and
also constitute an associated pair. Due to a state of depres¬
sion or inhibition (in our experiments any difficulty aris¬
ing in the higher nervous activity is usually reflected by
inhibition), more or less intense stimulation of one idea
leads to its inhibition and, by means of the same mechan¬
ism, induces the opposite idea.
It is easy to see that 'this explanation naturally embraces
the peculiar symptom of the schizophrenics—ambival-
ency'“=—which arises under a highly e.xtended and profound
ultra-paradoxical state.
Many people, even scientifically-minded people, are
moved almost to the point of anger by the attempts to give
a physiological interpretation of psychical phenomena; they
retort that such explanations are “mechanical,” since they
want to stress .as strongly as they can the obvious inapti¬
tude and absurdity of trying to link subjective feelings and
mechanics. In my view this is an obvious misunderstanding.
At present, of course, there can be no talk of represent¬
ing our psychical phenomena mechanically, in the full sense
of^ the word. We are also far from being able to do this
with regard to all physiological manifestations; the same
thing applies, although in lesser degree, to chemical phe¬
nomena,-and it applies fully to physical phenomena. A truly
mechanical interpretation is still the goal of natural-science
research; the study of reality as a whole, including our¬
selves, is advancing very slowly towards this goal, and
much time will be required before it is reached. Modern

546
natural science as a whole is but a series of many stages of
approximation to this mechanical interpretation, stages
linked throughout by the supreme principle of causality or
determinism, according to which there is no action with¬
out cause.
And if possibilities are now opening up for explaining
the so-called psychical phenomena physiologically, they can
be regarded as a certain, slight, very slight degree of
approximation towards a mechanical interpretation. It
seems to me that in many cases these possibilities are open¬
ing up.
Being now at the psychological stage of your research,
you are interpreting the feelings of possession, establish¬
ing the conditions under .which they arise, reducing them
to their elementary components and, in this way, elucidat¬
ing their general structure, i.e., you are also dealing with
their mechanics, with their general structure, but in your
own way. I, in the physiological stage of my research, am
trying to bring our common problem a bit nearer to true
general mechanics, interpreting your fact concerning con¬
fusion of opposite ideas, as the specific interaction of ele¬
mentary physiological phenomena—nervous excitation and
inhibition. In their turn chemistry, and, finally, physics,
will further disclose these phenomena and their mechanism,
thus steadily approaching the solution of our problem.

35*
 \

A
FRAGMENTS OF STATEMENTS
AT THE “WEDNESDAY”
GATHERINGS
 STRUGGLE OF I. P. PAVLOV AGAINST IDEALISTS

[EXPERIMENTS WITH ANTHROPOIDS. CRITICISM OF THE

CONCEPTS OF YERKES18® AND KOEHLER]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY”

HELD ON MAY 16, 1934

Academician I. P. Pavlov: Here we have before us

“Raphael”^®* the chimpanzee. You say to him: “Work,” and
he takes a seat in a definite place, near a big rectan¬
gular box. The box has sliding lids with openings of differ¬
ent shape—circular, quadrangular and triangular. The
lower part has a small door and through this we place food
which rouses “Raphael’s” interest. Near the box we put fifteen
or twenty sticks with sections of different shape—round,
quadrangular and triangular. We place the food into the
lower part of the box, with “Raphael” looking on, and then
we close it. The box is of a special construction: it is neces¬
sary to insert a corresponding stick into the opening in the
lid, and press heavily on it; only then the door in the lower
part opens, and “Raphael” is able to take the food. This is
what we call his work, and his work lasts for a very long
time, for two, three months and even more.
Thus, the food is placed in the box in the presence of the
ape in order to rouse his interest, and a bundle of sticks is
placed alongside the box, some of them circular, some

551
t6trah6dral, and som6 trih6dral. At present Raphael has
brought his work to a high degree of perfection.
For example, when a lid with la quadrangular opening
is placed on the box, “Raphael” takes a tetrahedral stick
and opens the box.
When we complicate the job by placing among many
sticks only one with a square section, he makes an error and
picks up a triangular stick instead of the square one. He
makes the same error three times and then picks up the
square stick and gets the food. We repeat the experiment.
This time “Raphael” makes the same error only twice, and
then takes the right stick. After several trials and several
errors, in the course of subsequent experiments, he insists
on taking the square stick only, no matter how deeply it
is concealed in the bundle. Thus you see that “Raphael” errs,
but in a uniform manner. There are round and triangular
sticks in front of him, but he never takes a round one.
We then place on the box a lid with a round opening.
“Raphael’s” choice is excellent: he immediately finds the
right stick, even if it is hidden in the bundle.
We change the lid once more. This time it has a triangular,
not a round opening. At the first go “Raphael” confuses it
with the square opening, which means that as yet he can¬
not differentiate precisely between angular forms; he takes
a quadrangular stick, tries it and, since it does not fit,
throws it away. But he does not repeat this error; he finds
the triangular stick no matter how it is hidden among the
others. The following detail should be added. Here I shall
have recourse to a certain degree of imagination, although
in a way which seems to me absolutely legitimate.
“Raphael” is a very gluttonous fellow, indeed; he accom¬
plishes the entire procedure only if he is well recompensed.
As a rule, he shows no inclination to waste time on trifles.
Along with “Raphael,” there is “Rosa,” a female ape, who,
unlike him, is more disposed to exercise her intelligence
than to satisfy her tummy. When offered food, she often
pushes it away. We can say, therefore, that if she displayed

552
 any interest in these exercises she would in all probability
solve the task merely for the sake of curiosity.
In telling you all this I wish to stress the following. The
activity of this ape is in no way inferior to that described
with such great satisfaction by Mr. Yerkes and Mr. 'Koehler.
They regard this activity as a manifestation of the special
intelligence of apes and sharply distinguish it from the
activity of dogs which they regard as an associative proc¬
ess. But what reasons did they have for this viewpoint?
What is the difference between dog and ape in this respect?
I would even ask what difference is there between this
activity and the activity of a child? And again, in what way
does this activity differ from that of the dog?
The fundamental difference is that the lower extremities
of the ape can perform functions similar to those performed
by the upper extremities. Consequently, the ape accom¬
plishes his task with greater ease, that is, finds the right
sticks, chooses one, and inserts it in the opening, etc.
“Raphael’s” success, is due, above all, to the highly-devel¬
oped mechanical possibilities of his body compared with
those of the dog; the dog has no hands, and lacks the
mobile extremities provided with five separate digits which
make it possible to choose, to seize, to place, etc. This
means that the motor apparatus of the ape is much more
perfect than that of the dog.
And then? Then the spectator is impressed by the fact
that the apes greatly resemble human beings—hands and
general behaviour. However, were we to trace the entire
path traversed by “Raphael” before he attained his complex
equilibration with the surrounding world in conformity
with his sense organs, we would be able to say that, wher¬
ever we were successful in observing his behaviour step by
step, we found nothing, absolutely nothing, that had not
already been studied by us on dogs. This is a process of
association followed by a process of analysis effected with
the help of analysers and accompanied by an inhibitory proc¬
ess which facilitates differentiation and rejection of that

553
which does not correspond to the given conditions. Nothing
more than this was observed by us in the course of our
experiments. Consequently, there are no grounds for affirm¬
ing that apes have some kind of “intelligence” which brings
them closer to man, while dogs have not and are capable
only of an associative process. I have gone back to the
grudge that I had against certain psychologists. At first I
renounced them, then I became reconciled with them to a
degree, but now the facts have turned me against them once
more. They, apparently, want their subject to remain unex¬
plained. How strar^ge, indeed! How they love the mysteri¬
ous. Everything tb^t can be explained physiologically they
reject. But all the facts mentioned here took place before
our eyes. “Raphael ’ analysed the actions which he had to
perform with the b|iox gradually and for quite a long time.
He began by discerning the visual images of the sticks
lying horizontally on the floor; he distinguished the angular,
trihedral stick from the flat and tetrahedral one, as well
as from the round one. When he had to choose the right
stick he began with what I call a chaotic reaction. It seems
to me I have already said that if we wish strictly to adhere
to objective terminology, we must replace the American
term “trial and error”^®® by the term “chaotic reaction.”
There is a nuance of subjectivity in the first term. But from
the objective point of view this is a chaotic reaction. Take,
for example, infusoria which move hither and thither in
their medium in pursuit of definite aims—food, favourable
conditions, better temperature, more appropriate composi¬
tion, oxygen, and who knows what else; suddenly one of
the infusoria gets caught in a certain noxious substance—
in a cold or hot current; it begins to zigzag back and
forth, and from side to side until it finds a suitable
medium. This is termed the “method of trial and error.”
But I would prefer to call it “chaotic reaction,” especially
since every child begins with chaotic reaction.
“Raphael’s” connection with the stick as an instrument of
action was probably established long ago. He takes the

554
 stick, and this is quite comprehensible, lall the more so
since it was previously inserted in the opening in his pres¬
ence; consequently, we have here the action of imitative
excitation. He tries the stick but it does not fit; since his
action is not reinforced by food he discards the stick and
picks up another one Which is also thrown away; however,
he now begins to distinguish between the sticks. After
several trials he no longer takes the wrong stick; this means
that extinctive inhibition has been elaborated to them. The
third trial is crowned with success; he gets the food, and
thus the action is reinforced. After several repetitions a con¬
nection is formed between the visual image of the stick and
the success of the action. But then the lid of the box is
changed; “Raphael” adheres to the stick which has already
brought him success for several times. But this time its
use is not reinforced with food; he is able to differentiate,
rejects the stick and looks for another one in the same way,
etc. Consequently, everything begins with the formation of
an association, with analysis of the shape of the sticks. In
the subsequent experiments he selects the sticks at random,
since he does not relate them to the opening in the lid; but
whenever the stick does not fit, he throws it aside, and thus
extinction manifests itself. He tries another stick, and if it
does not fit either, it too is discarded, and finally he finds
the proper one. Thus he easily distinguishes one stick from
another, but that is not sufficient to solve the problem. So
far “Raphael” only analyses the visual images of the sticks,
but does not connect them with the opening. Then the sec¬
ond phase begins: the formation of a connection between
the visual images of the sticks and the shape of the open¬
ing. Obviously “Raphael” cannot establish the connection
between the shape of the sticks and the shape of the open¬
ings for a long time, because he does not see the shape of
the section of the stick, while he clearly sees the lid open¬
ing, which is either round, square or triangular.
Further, an association must be formed between the open¬
ing and the visual images of the sticks. When one of these

555
associations proves to be correct, when it is reinforced by
food, “Raphael” begins to establish a connection between
the visual stimulation produced by the opening and the
visual images of the sticks, i.e., he begins to analyse. At
one stage he distinguishes only la round opening from
angular ones, but he still confuses different angular sticks.
This means that the analysis must be further perfected.
“Raphael” finally learns to distinguish the sticks precisely,
and then the problem is fully accomplished.
Consequentlv, in this task there is simply constant
association between the opening and the stick. There you
have the whole of “Raphael’s” man-like activity; his entire
behaviour is based on analysis and association.
M. A. Ussievich: A dog with which I am working, upon
being placed in the stand for the first time and seeing a
revolving food receptacle, immediately began to turn it with
his paw.
/. P. Pavlov. That is in complete accord with what I
have said. The tendency to draw a psychological difference
between ape and dog based on the process of association
is nothing more than the secret desire of the psychologists
to evade la clear solution of the problem and to render it
mysterious and extraordinary. In this pernicious, I should
say, disgusting tendency to depart from the truth, psy¬
chologists like Yerkes or Koehler fall back on such barren
notions as, for example, that the ape went away, “meditated
at leisure” in la human-like way, “has found la solution,”
etc. Of course, this is absolute nonsense, child’s play, most
unbecoming. We know very well that a dog often tries to
accomplish a definite task but is unable to cope with it;
however, it suffices to let the dog rest, say, for two days,
and the task is successfully accomplished. Can we seri¬
ously say that the dog spent the two days considering the
problem? Of course not. Simply fatigue has brought on
inhibition, which confuses everything, renders difficult and
destroys. This Is a very ordinary phenomenon.

556
 A long time ago someone told me—I think it was Speran-
sky—that musicians studying a new melody often have a
lot of trouble—nothing comes of their efforts. The more
persistent they are the worse the result. In utter despair
they abandon the effort. But after some time, when they
resume work, all the obstacles are easily surmounted. This
is merely accounted for by the fact that in the course of
the study one becomes fatigued and the fatigue disguises
the immediate result. But after a rest the ready result
clearly manifests itself.
It is necessary to add that these facts can be explained
without any difficulty. It is worth noting that when these
experiments were performed one after another and in great
number, “Raphael” erred much more frequently; he fell
into a state of despair and picked up the sticks at random,
just like a man when he is upset. This was an obvious
manifestation of fatigue.
Then my attention was attracted by the following fact.
When “Raphael” was unable to perform his task he did
look away for a while, after which he turned again and
accomplished the task. This fact can also be explained quite
simply. When “Raphael” moved he had before his eyes the
real images of the sticks; but when he turned away from
these real impressions, he had before him only the per¬
sisting images of the traces of different sticks, and the
association in this case was easily accomplished. This is
perfectly natural. And that is how the matter should be ac¬
tually interpreted.
Therefore, basing myself on the study of the apes, I af¬
firm now that their somewhat complex behaviour is a com¬
bination of association and analysis, which I consider to be
the foundation of the higher nervous activity. So far we have
seen nothing else in their behaviour. The same can be said
of our thinking. Beyond association there is nothing more
in it.

557
 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE IN ANTHROPOIDS
AND THE ERRONEOUS INTERPRETATION OF KOEHLER

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD

OF THE “WEDNESDAY,” HELD ON SEPTEMBER 12, 1934

Academician /. P. Pavlov: ... I have two incidental

subjects: one about apes, the other about Mr. Sherring¬
ton. The apes are connected with Koehler. It would be more
correct perhaps if I say: on the one hand, about Koehler,
and, on the other, about Sherrington. I believe it will be
more useful if I talk about Koehler first.
This summer I devoted some time to the study of apes.
We began with experiments concerning the analytical abil¬
ity of apes. But these data are not new and are of no great
interest. During the last month we reproduced Koehler’s ex¬
periments, for example, the superposition of boxes in order
to take hold of suspended fruit, etc. Prior to this I had read
very thoroughly, and as usual, not once but several times,
Koehler’s article “Investigation of the Intellect of Anthro¬
poids.Thus I was able to read about the experiments
and to have the facts of the given experiments before my
eyes. I must say that I am really amazed at the degree in
which human minds can differ.
In my opinion, Koehler saw nothing of what was actually
demonstrated by the apes. I say this without any exaggera¬
tion: he simply did not understand anything.
Koehler, as indicated by the very title of his article, tried
to prove that apes are intelligent, that in this respect, un¬
like dogs, they are close to man. He even mentions a special
experiment which showed that the dog, unlike the ape, is
not intelligent, and the latter, therefore, is rightly called an
anthropoid animal.
What proof does he advance?
His sole fundamental, but peculiar proof is this. When
the ape is given the task of taking hold of fruit suspended
at a certain height, and when for the purpose of accomplish-

558
 ing it he needs definite instruments, for example, a stick and
some boxes, all his unsuccessful efforts to get the fruit are
not, according to Koehler, proof of intelligence. This is sim¬
ply the method of trial and error. When the ape becomes
tired, as a result of his unsuccessful efforts, he gives up and
remains for some time in sitting posture. When he has
rested he tries again and succeeds in accomplishing his task.
According to Koehler, the ape’s intelligence is proved by
the fact that he sits for a period without doing anything.
He literally says that, gentlemen. In his view the ape ac¬
complishes some kind of intellectual work when it is sit¬
ting, and this proves its intelligence. How do you like it?
It turns out that nothing but the silent inaction of the ape
proves its intelligence!
And the fact that the ape uses a stick and places several
boxes one omtop of the other, this is not a manifestation of
intelligence. When the ape acts, moves the boxes from one
position to another, these are associations and not mani¬
festations of intelligence; this is the method of trial and
error. Koehler absolutely disregards these facts—all this is
simply only association. But when the ape rests, when he is
inactive, he performs certain intellectual work. Naturally,
the only explanation one can offer for such reasoning is that
Koehler is a confirmed animist, he simply cannot become rec¬
onciled to the fact that this soul can be grasped by hand,
brought to the laboratory, and that the laws of its function¬
ing can be ascertained on dogs. He does not want to admit
this.
In reality the matter is quite different. For it is the proc¬
esses disregarded by Koehler that are of greatest impor¬
tance. I grasped and realized this while observing the behav¬
iour of the ape. And I say that all this activity of the ape
in trying now one, now another way of solving the task, is
the intelligence, the reasoning in action, which you can see
with your own eyes. This is a series of :associations; some of-
them have been acquired in the past, others are formed be¬
fore your eyes, and are either combined, united into a posi-

559
tive whole, or, on the contrary, are gradually inhibited and
lead to failure. One can clearly observe the manifestation
of some of the lassociations formed earlier in the ape, in the
course of his life in the jungle, in his native surroundings.
It is clear that the ape is the perfect equilibrist, capable
of maintaining his centre of gravity even in most incredible
positions on a vertical support. When putting the boxes in
position the ape first of all finds out in an empirical way
whether they are firmly fixed. He places one box on top of
the other, just as if they were stones or stumps, and then
tests their firmness. He does not verify whether the surfaces
of the boxes coincide; he simply gets up on them and begins
to sway. In the event of failure, he rearranges the boxes in
order better to adjust their parts, then jumps on to them
again and tests their firmness once more. You are witness¬
ing associations—associations acquired in the past and
used by the ape as ready-made ones. These are the tactile,
muscular, visual and other associations.
The ape continues piling up the boxes, depending on the
height of the construction. It so happens that he picks up an
extra box, climbs the pyramid and places the box on his
head. This, you see, is an error, made in the process of elab¬
orating the right association, the necessary connection.
One erroneous and very ancient association causes him
great difficulty. He cannot overcome this association on the
basis of reality.
He is given boxes of different dimensions; to attain sta¬
bility it is necessary to place them in strict order, beginning
with the largest one which must be placed at the bottom. But
up to now he is unable to do this. If, for example, he mis¬
takenly places, say, the sixth box instead of the second, there
is no association which could tell him that this is incon¬
venient, that the wrong box must be removed; so he con¬
tinues building. In this case only a lucky chance comes to
his assistance. As for newly acquired associations, their suc¬
cessful elaboration depends exclusively on the exact order
of the boxes. This is a visual association, and it is formed

560
before our eyes. The sight of la regular pyramid leads to suc¬
cess. This visual association favours success. The act of plac¬
ing the boxes directly under the suspended fruit, is an asso¬
ciation which already existed. Thus, we clearly witness the
formation of our thinking, we see all the reefs it encoun¬
tered on the way, and all its methods. This is actual intel¬
ligence, but Mr. Koehler disregards it: for him this is simply
trial and error.
There are some essential details. If the ape is in a state
of excessive alimentary excitation, his actions become very
disorderly—he takes the boxes as they come to hand, for ex¬
ample, the sixth instead of the second, etc. External inhibi¬
tion exerts a very great negative influence. All this is well
known. It is only necessary properly to observe definite facts
and to accord them their actual significance. Then every¬
thing becomes clear and unfolds before the eyes. Such is the
entire activity of the ape. His thinking is clearly observed in
his actions. And this is the proof of his intelligence. It shows
that there is nothing in intelligence but correct or erroneous
associations, proper or distorted combinations of associa¬
tions. Koehler, however, maintains that it is not a matter of
association. Meanwhile the entire intelligence consists pre¬
cisely of associations. What distinguishes it from the devel¬
opment of a child, or from our inventions? For the ape the
problem consists in getting the fruit without the help of a
stick, and he does this before your eyes by the method of
trial and error, i.e., by means of associations. It is absolutely
clear. In what way does this differ from our scientific dis¬
coveries? It is exactly the same thing. Evidently, this is ele¬
mentary intelligence, differing from ours only by the poverty
of associations. The ape has associations which relate to the
interaction of mechanical objects in nature_ Thinking
once more about the reason for the ape’s success compared
with other animals, and why he is closer to man, we would
say that it is precisely because he has hands, actually even
four hands, i.e., more than we have. Because of this, the ape
can enter into very complex relations with the surrounding

36—773 561
objects. And that is why a multitude of associations are
formed in him, associations which do not exist in other ani¬
mals. Since these motor associations must have their ma¬
terial substratum in the nervous system, in the brain, the
cerebral hemispheres of the apes are more developed than
those of other animals, this development being due to the
diversity of their motor functions. We, humans, in addition
to the diverse movements of our hands, possess a complex
of speech movements. As is known, the ape is less capable
of imitating speech than many other animals. Compared
with him the parrot can have a greater stock of words. That
is how I see the matter.
Koehler, evidently, is a victim of animism. Sherrington
is another victim, but I will speak about this next time.
Such is Koehler’s interpretation of the matter. That does
not mean, of course, that he is not a highly intelligent man.
These are quite different things. Quite a lot of intelligent
people have also been animists.
I have had the opportunity of meeting Koehler. He is a
most intelligent man, a man of vast erudition; he has pro¬
found knowledge, particularly in the domain of natural sci¬
ence. Will his intelligence enable him to overcome this ani¬
mism? In his book he constantly refers to another volume to
be written by him. I do not know whether it has appeared or
not (a voice: “No, it hasn’t”). Then I will venture the fol¬
lowing supposition. His book, apparently, was written under
animist influence, but subsequently he overcame his animism
and in all probability he now takes a different view of the sub¬
ject. That is why his second volume has not yet appeared.
Read Koehler’s book and see for yourselves. To close
one’s eyes to the ape’s activity, which is plain for all to see
and the meaning of which is absolutely clear, is the height
of absurdity, sheer nonsense. Koehler speculates that the ape
goes into meditation when it is in a state of inactivity. But
we observed this state time without number; it signifies mere
extinction and nothing else.
Good-bye.

562
 [CRITICISM OF SHERRINGTON’S IDEALISTIC CONCEPTS]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD

OF THE “WEDNESDAY,” HELD ON SEPTEMBER 19, 1934

Academician /. P. Pavlov. I shall now turn to a criti¬

cism of Mr. Sherrington. I have taken my time over this,
quite deliberately; I re-read his book several times so as to
avoid any exaggeration, any superfluous statement or judge¬
ment. However, two weeks have passed and my opinion has
not changed in the least.
There is no doubt that Sherrington is handling a subject
with which he, obviously, is quite familiar—The Brain and
Its Mechanism.^^'’ He has been a neurologist all his life, en¬
gaged in the study of the nervous system, though, more of
its lower part, the spinal cord, than the higher part.
Comparing the laws of the brain and its mechanisms, he
draws a very strange conclusion. It appears that up to now
he is not at all sure whether the brain bears any relation
to our mind. A neurologist who has spent his whole life
studying the subject is still not sure whether the brain has
anything to do with the mind. This is clearly expressed by
him in the following words: “If nerve activity have relation
to mind....” I did not trust my knowledge of English and
so I requested others to translate it for me.
How can it be that at the present time a physiologist
should doubt the relation between nervous activity and the
mind? This is the result of a purely dualistic concept. This
is the Cartesian viewpoint, according to which the brain is a
piano, a passive instrument, while the soul is a musician
extracting from this piano any melodies it likes. Obviously
this is his viewpoint. Probably Sherrington is a dualist who
resolutely divides his being in two halves: the sinful body
and the eternal, immortal soul. I am all the more surprised
that for some reason or other he regards knowledge of this
soul as something pernicious and clearly expresses this
point of view; according to him, if the best of us acquire

36* 563
some knowledge of the nervous system this would be a most
dangerous thing threatening the extinction of man on earth.
He makes the following statement which appears to me
rather strange: if man learns to know himself and on the
basis of this knowledge to govern himself in an economical
way (such economy is not bad since it means that he will
preserve himself for a longer time), then our “planet will be
re-liberated, free for the next era of animal domination.”
What do you think of that? What does it mean? Why, it’s
simply preposterous!
Very good, we will suppose that the relation of the soul
to the body is similar to that of the pianist to the piano, but
it still leaves us in the dark as to why knowledge of the soul
may be pernicious. I would like to know how on earth it can
lead to the extinction of man. Socrates counselled; “iKnow
thyself.” How, then, can a scientist, a neurologist, say; “Do
not dare know thyself”? Strange as it may seem, Sherring¬
ton adheres to the motto proclaimed at one time by Dubois-
Raymond, a man who was always ready to sacrifice truth to
eloquence, to a witty phrase, and who said that the function
of the brain should never be made known,—“ignorabi-
mus.”^'® Sherrington, it seems, gets pleasure from repeating
the same words fifty years later. What does this signify?
“If nerve activity have relation to mind,” then he is in¬
clined to think that this concerns only inhibition. Thus, pos¬
itive work is of no significance whatever, while inhibition,
discontinuance of work seems to go very well with the soul.
He literally says: “If nerve activity have relation to mind,
we can hardly escape the inference that nerve inhibition
must be a large factor in the working of the mind.” Why
is, then, the essential positive activity rejected as having no
relation to intelligence, while inhibition is regarded as hav¬
ing such a relation? Gentlemen, can anyone of you, who has
read Sherrington’s booklet, say anything in defence of the
author? I believe that this is not a matter of some kind
of misunderstanding, thoughtlessness or misjudgement. I
simply suppose that he is ill, although he is only seventy

564
years old, that these are distinct symptoms of old age, of
senility.
Take my wife, for example. She is an obvious dualist. She
is religious, but at the same time her attitude to things is
not distorted.
How is it possible to come out against studying the prob¬
lem, to affirm that this can lead to the end of mankind, to
the triumph of the animal world? Indeed I would like to see
this book translated by someone who reads English fluently.
Why is such nonsense published, especially since Sherring¬
ton is regarded by many as an outstanding authority? I ask
you to read it and, if you can, to say something in his de¬
fence. To me, it is strange in the highest measure.
Now I can prove to you that he is a dualist and animist.
This is clear from the fact that in 1912, that is, twenty-two
years ago, he said to me when we first met in London:
“Your conditioned reflexes will hardly be popular in Eng¬
land, since they have a materialistic flavour.” As I under¬
stand it, he obviously spoke for himself.
Here is another interesting passage. He puts the matter
thus: “Strictly we have to regard the relation of mind to
brain as still not merely unsolved but still devoid of a basis
for its very beginning.” He clearly states that we do not
possess any starting-point, even the slightest one, for the
solution of this problem.
Precisely this explains why towards the end of his life he
has become a confirmed dualist and animist.
As for Descartes and his dualism, he, when he speaks of
animals, regards them as genuine machines. This gave us
the idea of reflexes on which we base our entire analysis of
nervous activity. But when he speaks of man, Descartes is
a dualist, believing in all seriousness that the brain is a
piano, while the soul is the pianist, and that there is no di¬
rect connection between them. Thus, for Descartes’ great in¬
tellect this was a complicated problem. He drew a distinct
demarcation line between the animal and himself. In ani¬
mals, the simple people used to say, there is only smoke or

565
vapour, while mian has a soul.. When I mentioned this in a
conversation with Richet,^®® he, apparently anxious to uphold
French thought, told me that this was not Descartes’ real
viewpoint, that the clergy had forced him to think in this
way and to express such ideas, that in reality he obviously
advocated our point of view.
Voice: There are indications that Descartes burnt his last
book, an outstanding work written in an absolutely materi¬
alistic spirit, because he had a presentiment that he would
be denounced by the church. This was his conclusive philo¬
sophical work.
I. P. Pavlov: I have never read anything about that. In
those days, of course, this was no joke: They could easily
burn him, do away with him. That is quite on the cards.
N. A. Podkopayev: There are indications that Des¬
cartes deliberately inserted corrections in his work to suit
the censorship; there was a difference between his real views
and what he wrote.
/. P. Pavlov: I have never heard of that.
Well, gentlemen, that is all. I recommend those of you
who know English to read this book.
P. S. Kupalov: Of course Sherrington is a dualist. That
is absolutely clear. It explains why the sense he generally
imparts to certain words differs from yours.
/. P. Pavlov: But he literally writes: “If nerve activity
have relation to mind.’’
P. S. Kupalov: What does he imply by the term mind?
I. P. Pavlov: He simply uses the term “mind.’’
P. S. Kupalov: But you interpret the concept mind in
your way, while he regards it somewhat differently. He
chiefly takes into account, so to speak, the subjective emo¬
tions. He agrees that behaviour is law-governed. But he is
preoccupied with what we call—near sensations.
N. A. Podkopayev: That makes it all the worse.
I. P. Pavlov: Podkopayev is quite right when he says it
makes it all the worse. What is meant by the statement that
sensations have no relation to nervous activity? If by the

566
mind he implies not proper orientation in the surrounding
world, but exclusively subjective emotions and subjective
manifestations, for example, direct sensations, then it fol¬
lows that sensations have no relation to the nervous ac¬
tivity.
P. S. Kupalov: At the beginning of his book he states
that the mind is directed by the external world and that all
human behaviour is conditioned by the laws of that world.
So, las far as the first part of the book is concerned, there is
no misunderstanding. But I don’t quite comprehend the final
part of the book. He puts the following question; if I start
investigating the brain from a purely physiological point of
view, will I discover anything other than the mechanisms
of which I already know in the nerve cell? As he sees it,
mind signifies rather spirit than intelligence.
N. A. Podkopayev: Such a formulation of the problem
is, in itself, dualism. In order to throw a bridge over two
things, it is necessary that they should greatly differ, that
there must be a gulf between them.
I. P. Pavlov: He is right from the physiological point
of view when he admits that the mind is a most delicate cor¬
relation between the organism and the surrounding world. I
should like to ask you then, what remains for your sub¬
jective sensations? If all our relations with the surrounding
world, even the most delicate ones, are nothing but our phys¬
iological brain, then there is no room for any other inter¬
pretation of the word “mind.” And this is the kernel of the
contradiction.
P. S. Kupalov: He expresses the following idea: if we
thoroughly knew one another, to the very core, life would
become absurd, stupid, impossible.
I. P. Pavlov: Your words reveal the torments of the
thought expended in trying to solve this problem, but they
lack clarity.
P. S. Kupalov: I see it in a different way. Let us take
his very last phrase which begins with the words “May I
be forgiven....” and concerns the social type....

567
 1. P. Pavlov: That is really stupid; it has nothing to do
with the question we are discussing and is further proof that
we are dealing with an abnormal mind. The fact that you,
his advocate, despite your attempt to comprehend his view¬
point, are baffled by his phrase, simply reinforces my posi¬
tion. He is an out and out dualist. I know other dualists, but
they have not gone so far as to affirm that if you analyse
this sort of thing, i.e., the mind, you will be threatened by
annihilation and by animal domination on earth. His talk
about liberating the planet from man is sheer nonsense. It
means that we, who are crowning the evolution of living
matter, are evil, a species of tyrants. It is from this point
of view that his words about the planet which “will be
liberated” can be understood and interpreted.
P. S. Kupalov: Liberated in order to be developed anew.
I. P. Pavlov: “Free for the next era of animal domina¬
tion.”
No, gentlemen, if you undertake to defend him you must
at least fully understand what he writes.
P. S. Kupalov: He maintains that there is “animal dom¬
ination” on earth at present, meaning the reign of the ani¬
mal world, including man. Who governs the earth? It is man
as the supreme representative of the animal world.
I. P. Pavlov: When he speaks of animal domination he
implies not man, but animals, which are inferior to us.
E. A. Asratyan: Perhaps, this can be explained in a
simpler way; perhaps, the social aspect of the problem is in¬
volved here too. Spengler^’“ and other reactionary trends
have tremendous influence in the West. It is rather an atti¬
tude towards science.
I. P. Pavlov: That simply shows the course of his ab¬
normal thought. He speaks of this, obviously proceeding
from a dualistic point of view, and then inappropriately quotes
Spengler and others. He says that we need not be proph¬
ets to foresee the fast approaching extinction of man. But
Spengler and others say something quite different, namely,
that in view of the complexity of life, to which the human

568
system is not adapted, such excessive work may lead to the
destruction of man. That is a different thing and has abso¬
lutely nothing to do with the study of the mind and of the
nervous system. I can’t understand it. In my opinion this
phrase simply proves his abnormal thought. For it is a ques¬
tion of study, of scientific research, of economizing the
nerves and intellectual forces, while Spengler speaks of the
deformation of nervous activity as a result of excessive work
which is beyond its strength.
E. A. Asratyan. I believe this stems from the same
root.
/. P. Pavlov: As you like. But this is of definite interest.
If these are torments of thought under the influence of dual¬
ism, then it is of general human importance and deserves
to be given consideration....
To solve particular, comparatively limited problems is
on.; thing; but to tackle a problem involving the entire his¬
tory of human intelligence is quite a different thing. We have
just begun more or less to liberate ourselves from dualism.
The human mind has for a long time been a prisoner of
idealistic concepts. This should be borne in mind. And now
it is time to end our discussion.

[CRITICISM OF THE GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY”!]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD

OF THE “WEDNESDAY,” HELD ON NOVEMBER 28, 1934

Academician /. P. Pavlov: Today our discussion will

be devoted to psychology, or to be more precise, to the mar¬
riage of psychology and physiology....
I shall devote myself specially to the gestaltists....
First of all, what do the gestaltists represent? They are
representatives, advocates, adherents of the idea of inte¬
grality. According to them, it is necessary to consider and
to keep in mind the integral whole, the synthesis, the sys-

569
tern, and not isolated manifestations, which for some rea¬
son they dislike. Gestalt means design, pattern or image.
The word is differently translated into different languages.
For example, the English translate it as “form” or, even bet¬
ter, as the author calls it, “configuration.” The English
gestaltists are “configurationists.” Gestalt is a German
word and it has the same meaning....
A few words about the radicalism of this psychology. I
must tell you that it is quite young. It originated in 1912,
and is but twenty-two years old. It represented a revolt
against Wundt, i.e., against associationism—the system of
psychology which dates from the 16th or 17th centuries and
which to this day is, to a degree, predominant among psy¬
chologists.
“The Gestalt psychology revolted against analysis as the
fundamental problem of psychology,” as its principal task.
This is a somewhat strange approach in view of the fact that
all positive, modern science is fully based on analysis and
inevitably begins with it.
We shali never arrive at any psychology if we do not ana¬
lyse the human behaviour or experience.
Further, the Gestalt psychology has proclaimed that the
notion of association is simply a misconception.
What a queer radicalism, indeed!
“Gestalt psychology was as opposed to the simple reflex
as to the simple sensation.” Such is their true radicalism!
It cannot be expressed in a more distinct, in a more definite
form. The gestaltists attacked Wundt and associationism sole¬
ly because the latter defended the principle of analysis.
Wundt stated that he first identified the elements and then
worked up to larger and larger compounds, which is what
science does in general. But the gestaltists refer to this ap¬
proach as the “brick psychology”—a play upon words—or
the “mortar psychology” crumbling everything with its
pestle. Very nice, indeed!...
The author goes on to inform us that a still more impor¬
tant impulse to the development of this psychology was

570
given by the notion which lappeared on the intellectual hori¬
zon in 1890 and which was introduced by a certain Ehren-
fels, namely, the notion of “form quality.”
This “form quality” means that elements remain elements,
and are not worthy of any attention; of real importance
only is the fact that from one and the same elements it is
possible to obtain different wholes. The following example
is citgd. Take definite musical notes and compose from
them different melodies. The melodies, of course, will be ab¬
solutely different. But this does not mean that the elements
are of no value; it is thanks to them that the melodies can
be formed and if they did not exist the melodies would be
inconceivable. But this is no novelty! Why does the notion of
form quality date only from 1890? Good gracious, how often
do we meet the same in organic chemistry? Carbon, oxy¬
gen, hydrogen are elements which form carbon hydrates,
acids, alcohols, etc. Where, then, is the novelty? And how
can it be affirmed that the notion of form quality originated
in 1890? Actually the idea is a very, very old one. But it
made quite an impression on the psychologists. Woodworth
even finds that it played the role of an impulse.
I must say that we have to deal with rather strange psy¬
chologists. At present I know them fairly well; I have also
frequently met some of them. When I pointed out in my book
the mosaic of the cerebral hemispheres, on the one hand, and
the dynamic system, on the other, M. Pieron, a Paris psychol¬
ogist, was greatly astonished and confused. Thereupon I
wrote: let him open any page of any book on organic chem¬
istry and consider any formula of chemical compound. He
will see, on the one hand, a mosaic of hydrogen, oxygen,
carbon, and on the other hand, their combination, the for¬
mation of a dynamic system. Do not all bodies represent
dynamic systems?
Such is their thoughtlessness! They amuse themselves
with a play on words, but disregard reality. This is abso¬
lutely clear.

571
 Such, according to the author, is the origin of this “form
quality”; it greatly attracted them and they chose it as their
fundamental principle.
Since 1912 the Gestalt psychology has endeavoured to
prove that any distinction in psychology between the ele¬
ments and the whole is a misconception, that psychology
invariably and exclusively deals with the study of the
whole. But how can anyone get to know the whole without
breaking it up? Take, for example, the simplest machine.
How can the principle of its working be understood, if it is
not dismantled, if the interdependence of its parts is not con¬
sidered?
This is truly strange reasoning and it passes my compre¬
hension.
The next chapter deals with the organic integrity of the
psychical activity as the fundamental feature of the Gestalt
psychology.
I must tell you that Woodworth endeavours to convey the
ideas of others with astonishing thoroughness, I should say,
even scrupulously....
“We can certainly recognize in the Gestalt psychology a
strong and valuable addition to the varieties of psychology.”
The gestaltists adhere to the point of view that an isolated
feature should hy no means be studied; they prove this in
splendid fashion by stating that if a single feature of the
face is exposed, and the rest of the face is covered, nothing
will come out of it. This is self-evident. Separate features
assume different importance in the entire whole; some of
them stand out in bold relief, others are disguised, recede
into the background, etc. That is quite obvious. But the fea¬
tures must be identified. In the end, wihen one analyses a
face, one must on the basis of definite features depict it as
quiet, calm, wilful, very tender, etc. Of course, without
analysing the constituent parts one cannot comprehend any¬
thing. The same thing applies to the human character. If one
takes isolated traits and analyses each of them separately,
naturally it will be impossible to determine the given char-

572
acter; for this purpose it is necessary to take a system of
traits and to establish which of the traits in this system
are more prominent, which are hardly visible, etc.
The author adds that human and animal organisms are a
“Gestalt.” But nobody doubts their integrity. At. the same
time, however, nothing prevents the decomposition of this
system into its component systems of blood circulation and
digestion, as well as the decomposition of the latter into the
stomach, intestines, gastric glands, etc. This is simply forc¬
ing an open door.
Further, it is said that our bfehaviour is not a mere sum
of reflexes. Again, what a truth! That is a commonplace.
But they picture the matter in such a way as if a system
were a sort of a sack filled pell-mell with potatoes, apples,
cucumbers, etc. Nobody has ever expressed such an idea.
The moment one has to deal with an organism, it is clear
that all its elements act one upon another, just as hydrogen,
oxygen and carbon act in a chemical body depending on
their location—from above, from the sides, from the right,
from below, etc. This is a well-known, long-established
fact... .
The gestaltists have given much attention to perception.
What is perception? Some fifty or sixty years ago when I
was studying in the seminary, and when there was not even
a sign of the igestaltists, I learned from the same old pro¬
fessors and psychologists all about perception and what dis¬
tinguished it from sensation, wihich is a more elementary
process. The course of psychology at the seminary taught
us that sensation is a kind of purer, so to speak, physio¬
logical stimulation, produced by a certain external agent on
the sense organs; perception, however, is that which arises
in the brain, when this stimulation is not single, but con¬
nected with other stimulations and old traces. It is this that
enables us to get an idea of an external object. Such is per¬
ception. The final result of internal elaboration constitutes
its very essence. So you see this is quite a commonplace fact,
well known to everybody.. ..

57S
 But this has already been exhaustively elucidated from the
physiological point of view. I am not acquainted with their
works and their bibliography, and I don’t know whether
they made corresponding allusions or not; but they should
have cited Helmholtz and his physiological experiments with
the sensation of tones. Another of his classical books deals
with the eye and the ear. There the explanations are not so
vague; they are absolutely exact from the physiological
point of view, from the point of view of the whole of the
system. And so some fifty years prior to them everything
had been explained physiologically.
These gentlemen should have made a proper study of phys¬
iology, i.e., they should have thoroughly read Helmholtz.
But instead, they content themselves with a play on words:
“the sensory brain process is ... subjected to the influence
of the distance,”—but how—about this not a single word
is said.
Perception, if considered profoundly, is simply a condi¬
tioned reflex; however, since Helmholtz knew nothing of
conditioned reflexes he called them unconscious conclu¬
sions. ...
So you see that the gestaltists, far from contributing any¬
thing new to the problem, are not even aware of what was
regarded as a truth more than fifty years ago. This is an in¬
disputable fact. I defy the physiologists or psychologists to
prove that I am not right.
Now let us turn to another point—to the gestaltist study
of behaviour.
The following is literally stated: “Gestalt psychology dis¬
likes the stimulus-response conception.” What does this
mean? These are scandalous words.
“It objects, first of all, to the idea that behaviour can
properly be analysed into stimulus-response units.” Thus
they do not admit stimulations and reactions, i.e., they deny,
for example, the fact that if I choke, it is because something
is irritating my throat. They do not want to make any
distinctions. But this won’t get them very far! And what

574
do you think of this? “It objects to the notion of a bond be¬
tween stimulus and response.” This is literally stated. Read
it and see for yourselves. They object to the notion, con¬
sequently, to the importance of a connection between stimuli
and responses, whether provided by nature or inculcated by
practice.
These are not my words; they are the words of the author.
I shall read one more passage, since it is a collection
of magnificent absurdities.
They object to the theory that an instinct is simply a chain
of reflexes; they object to the theory that learned behaviour
consists of reflexes linked together by the process of condi¬
tioning. Moreover, they object to the loose way in which the
term “stimulus” is used by psychologists. A psychologist
speaks of a definite complex object as the stimulus. But they
say: you have no grounds for affirming this, since various
stimuli proceed from this object. But no one disputes that.
For when I look at a certain object it may act simultane¬
ously on my eyes and on my sense of smell if it has an
odour. Why, then, is it impossible to use the term stim¬
ulus?
Now we pass, so to speak, to the pillars of Hercules, i.e.,
to the analysis of behaviour. Here we encounter another
gestaltist. Apparently, gestaltists are recruited from among
very superficial persons. Such, for instance, is Professor
Kurt Lewin of Berlin University—don’t trifle with this!
Lewin has devoted himself to the study of the psychology of
action. His arguments against the associationists, and in
particular against the linkage between stimuli, do not go so
far as to deny their existence in general. No, he does not go
as far as that. But he affirms that the stimuli do not produce
any action. This is also remarkable! “They are not the in¬
sufficient causes of action.” He illustrates this point of view
by splendid experiments—observations carried out on him¬
self. All the experiments and observations of the teachers,
and of the pupils, are cited in his book. So you can imagine
what an intellectual beauty it is!

575
 Suppose, for example, that I have put- a letter in my
pocket, impressing on myself the necessity of dropping it
into the letter-box I pass in the street. In this way I have
established a connection between the sight of the letter-box,
as a stimulus and my response, my reaction, i.e., the neces¬
sity of placing the letter in the box. And when I see the let¬
ter-box I post the letter. The associationist or psychologist
would cite this reaction as excellent confirmation of their
doctrine. But he begins to argue.
“According to the association psychology the exercise of
this stimulus-response connection should strengthen it.” It
is not bad, of course, that he is aware of reinforcement.
“Therefore, when I reach the second letter-box my response
of reaching in my pocket for the letter will be even stronger”
{laughter).
Tell me, please, what does this mean? Is it not really
absurd?...
Had he studied the matter more attentively, he would have
said: I put the letter in my pocket. I had it with me, but be¬
ing absorbed in my thoughts I forgot all about it and went
past the letter-box. Later, I came to another letter-box which
caught my eye; then my thoughts coincided, and I dropped
the letter into the bpx. This is a true association. But he
confused everything. The devil’s own brew! Such are the
gentlemen who analyse the higher psychological activity.
They won’t go very far!

[CRITICISM OF THE GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY]

( Continued)

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD

OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”' HELD ON DECEMBER 5, 1934

Academician I. P. Pavlov: Today we shall continue discus¬

sion of last Wednesday’s subject. It merits considera¬
tion and is quite opportune since we are now trying hard
to link up the psychological with the physiological.

576
 First of all, I shall discuss in more detail what I men¬
tioned in passing last time.
I have in mind a chapter in Woodworth’s book devoted to
Gestalt psychology. It is entitled “Insight Essential in Learn¬
ing According to Gestalt Psychology.’’ Learning, the con¬
cept of learning—such is the fundamental subject. I shall
read a few excerpts.
“The trend of psychological theory, from the day of Eb-
binghaus had been in the direction of a mechanical concep¬
tion of learning.’’
And he adds: “On the other side, the work of Pavlov, and
the enthusiasm with which psychologists took up the idea
of the conditioned reflex, reinforced the old lassociationist
conception of learning as consisting of linkages formed be¬
tween .. . stimuli and responses.’’
“The Gestalt psychology is the chief opponent of associa-
tionism. It has no faith in these elementary linkages, wheth¬
er native or acquired. Not that it dislikes brain mechanics—
or dynamics; but it believes the brain to work in large pat¬
terns, by ‘closing gaps’ (I shall explain this later), etc.,
rather than by the operation of. nerve paths linking this and
that little centre in the brain.’’
What is meant by the phrase: “it believes the bfain to
work in large patterns, by ‘closing gaps’?’’
You will remember—I mentioned this last time—they took
into consideration the fact that we distinguish cortical phe¬
nomena as a whole, and that if there is any hint indicating
the existence of certain gaps, we fill the giaps ourselves.
From this they have deduced a rather peculiar principle
which they call “closing gaps.” 'Koffka, one of the gestaltists,
has written a book entitled The Growth of the Mind. Now,
I ask those of you who are fluent in English, to tell me what
the word “growth” means: does it mean increment or
origin? According to the dictionary, it has both meanings.
But there is a world of difference between thern.*’^
Discussing the problem of learning, Koffka bases him¬
self exclusively on the anthropoid studies of Koehler. He

37—773 577
comes to the conclusion that all learning consists in insight,
and that Thorndike’s supposed learning by trial and error
is simply a mistake, one may even say, a misunderstand¬
ing. How do you like that?
Further he states: “Thorndike had pointed to the gradual
improvement shown in his learning curves as evidence
against any sudden insight.’’
Thorndike, just as we did in our experiments, kept his
cats in cages; they learned to open the door, etc. Naturally,
with the passage of time they performed this act more
rapidly. And this is his learning curve. He finds that the
fundamental learning curve, i.e., ability to open the door
grows, improves quickly, and becomes more and more pre¬
cise. That is why he says that there is no sudden insight,
but gradual learning.
iKoffka re-examined Thorndike’s experiments and found
that in some cases the solution was of a sudden nature. He
cavilled at this point. Thorndike himself admits that many
things, naturally, complicate the task. The learning and
the final goal of learning can be attained at times more
rapidly, at others in a more gradual way.
Further, Koffka gives his own exposition of the entire
method employed by Thorndike and comes to the conclu¬
sion that “there is no learning except through insight.’’
Insight, he says, does not simply exist alongside of trial
and error as an additional mode of learning. The trial and
error principle is merely displaced.
As Koffka sees it, Thorndike’s trial and error principle
means in the first place that nothing new can ever be learnt
by the animal. The elimination of unsuccessful movements
and fixation of the successful ones (according to Koffka)
must go forward without any participation on the part of
the animal. You see how preposterous his deduction is!
The animal has not the slightest notion why its behaviour
is being modified. The entire process, in which the success¬
ful acts are preserved and the unsuccessful ones gradually
eliminated, is purely mechanical.

578
 That is how Mr. Koffka puts the matter in his exposition
of Thorndike’s trial and error principle.
He seizes on an inexact expression of Thorndike’s and
traps him. In reality Thorndike says something altogether
different:
“When put into the box the cat would show evident signs
of discomfort and of an impulse to escape from confinement.
It tries to squeeze through any opening; it claws and bites
at the bars or wire; it thrusts its paws out through any
opening and claws at everything it reaches; it continues its
efforts when it strikes anything loose and shaky.”
This is something quite different from what Koffka pic¬
tures, with the result that he wages a struggle not against
the real Thorndike, but against an imaginary one, i.e.,
created by himself.
Such is the attitude of the gestaltists, as represented by
Koffka, towards the object of learning.
Further, Woodworth has recourse to a proposition wihich
they advanced with real success against associationism. I
learned of this long ago from my correspondent in Paris,
who acts as my liaison with Paris physiologists. There is
much talk there to the effect that the gestaltists have
adduced very serious and strong arguments against asso¬
ciationism. These arguments are based on the fact that con¬
ditioned reflexes are supposedly elaborated only to isolated
stimuli, but not to relations between objects.
I reproduced this experiment jointly with S. and
we found that a conditioned reflex could be elaborated to
a relation as successfully as to an isolated stimulus.
Their experiment consists in the following. They take two
grey boxes, one of them having a darker shade than the
other. Food is placed in one of the boxes, say, the one of a
lighter shade. At first the animal confuses the two boxes;
then, on the basis of the usual procedure of conditioned
reflexes, it moves towards the box of lighter shade.
After that they take some other shades of grey, and the
animal rushes towards the lightest of them, although this

37* 579
 is not the same stimulus that acted in the experiment with
the first two boxes. Consequently, a reflex to a relation has
been elaborated in the animal. And this, in their view, is
a strong argument.
However, the substance of the experiment refutes their
conclusions.
Together with S. V. Kleshchev we verified these facts
on dogs. We elaborated a reflex to two tones with an inter¬
val of a quint. Then we began to differentiate other pairs
of tones, some of them separated by a quint and some—by
a third. It turned out that the pair of tones separated by
a quint became differentiated more rapidly. Thus, a relation
may of itself become a conditioned stimulus. There is
nothing special in this. They, however, decided that on the
basis of this experiment all the older theories of learning
should be rejected and, consequently, that Thorndike’s
interpretation of his experiments should likewise be
rejected.
The next section is devoted to the theory of learning itself.
I am compelled to enter the lists against the author.
The title of one of the paragraphs reads: “The Theory of
Learning More Uncertain than Ever.” I am most grateful
to him. Because this means that he himself acknowledges
his bankruptcy.
He affirms that there are now three theories: our theory
of conditioned reflexes, Thorndike’s theory, and the Gestalt
theory. Each of these theories explains some of the facts;
each is justified to a degree by corresponding experiments,
but this justification is not sufficient to elucidate the ques¬
tions raised by others.
I shall cite now his final conclusion: “We can certainly
recognize in the Gestalt psychology a strong and valuable
addition to the varieties of psychology.. .. There is prob¬
ably profound truth in their contention that besides sensa¬
tions and motor responses and bonds between them—be¬
sides and including all these—there is the process of
“dynamic organization.”

580
 What do you think of it? Besides sensations, besides re¬
sponses and bonds, there is a dynamic organization. This is
a connection, and if not, then it is the soul which you con¬
sider, that is, something imperceptible, something you can¬
not feel with your hands. The connection is nothing
else but this dynamic organization. I say that this idea
of imperceptibility, of the soul, is ingrained in all of
them.
I have told you what he says in his book.
Now for our interpretation of the question.
It must be assumed that the formation of temporary
connections, i.e., of associations, as they are usually called,
precisely represents this insight, knowledge, or the acquisi¬
tion of new knowledge.
When a connection, or an association, is formed, this
undoubtedly represents the knowledge of the matter, knowl¬
edge of definite relations existing in the external world; but
when you make use of them the next time, this is what is
called insight. In other words, it means utilization of
knowledge, utilization of the acquired connections.
Consequently, gentlemen, the gestaltists start not at the
beginning, but at the end.- There are inborn connections;
but when it is a question of a connection that is not inborn,
it proves that if one thing follows another, you can estab¬
lish such a connection. This is absolutely clear. All learn¬
ing consists in the formation of temporary connections, and
it is this which constitutes thought, thinking, knowledge.
Thus, association, thinking, are the fundamental factors;
this has long been known and has been properly appraised
by some psychologists. The significance of the Gestalt
psychology, which denies associationism, is wholly nega¬
tive; it contains nothing positive.
I draw your attention to one idea to which the gestaltists
stubbornly cling. In the concluding paragraph we find the
following words:
“Where the existentialists are interested in sensory
analysis, and the behaviourists in motor performances, the

581
 Gestalt group stress the importance of the topic that has
usually been called perception, neglected by the behaviour¬
ists and handled very meagrely by the existentialists.” The
whole of this sentence discloses absolute incomprehension
of the matter. What does the word perception mean here?
The connection between the kinesthetic stimulation of the
cell land all other stimulations, etc. All these are percep¬
tions, and all of them develop in the brain. It would be
absurd to suspect Woodworth of believing that it is the
contracting musculature itself which participates in the proc¬
ess of perception. Clearly, this takes place in the brain.
I am fully convinced that thinking is an association and
I challenge anyone who disagrees with me to prove the
contrary. Association is knowledge, it is thinking, and when
you make use of it, it is insight. But beyond this there is
considerable confusion.
The essence of the question is: how can the experimental
forms of Thorndike be brought into line with ours? We
apply the conditioned reflexes in a way that first a certain
conditioned stimulus is put in action and then the uncon¬
ditioned reflex is added. Thus, the stimulation produced by
us is a signal of this unconditioned reflex. In the brain there
takes place a prolongation of the path between the cells of
the external excitation- and the cells of the unconditioned
reflex. That is our understanding of the matter.
Thorndike’s experiments are quite different.
They are carried out in the following way. A oat is placed
in a cage the door of which is bolted in a certain way. The
cat tries to get out, prompted by the desire to be free, just
like any other animal kept in confinement and whose move¬
ments are restricted, or possibly it is excited by the food
placed outside the cage. How does it act? It makes numer¬
ous chaotic movements, and then, by chance, in the course
of these movements, contacts the bolt; the cat acts on it
mechanically also in an accidental way. Finally the door
opens and the oat escapes.
It is clear that in this case a connection is formed between

582
the definite contact with the object and the mechanical
pressure on it, say, the latch or bolt and the opening of the
door. This is an association. The association consists in
nothing but this, thus it is knowledge which the cat will
use next time; this is comprehension of the relations
between objects in the external world.
In the given case the cat was attracted by a piece of meat.
But our ape “Rosa,” who displays little interest in food,
would do the same thing solely for the sake of escaping
from the cage. In this case the connection is different. If,
for the sake of getting a piece of meat, la dog or a cat suc¬
ceeds in unbolting a door, it will act in the same way when
satisfied, when it wants to be free. .. .
Ho.w should these facts be interpreted? It is necessary
that lat the given moment the brain should be in an active
state, in a state of certain excitation. There is no doubt
that the longing for freedom or for food is a reflex. It is
a manifestation of the instinct. Take any animal, even the
lowest, in which it is impossible to admit the slightest
degree of intelligence, it will not turn away from food, on
the contrary, it is attracted by it. And in exactly the same
way it will not move towards any noxious agent, fire, for
example. This is an unconditioned, inborn connection. When
a dog reaches for meat or longs for freedom, this is an
unconditioned reflex, an inborn instinctive connection. When
the brain is in such an active state, an association is bound
to arise, and this is intelligence, thinking, intellectual activ¬
ity. At first it may be of a minimum degree, but subse¬
quently it becomes more considerable owing to the forma¬
tion of a connection. From this moment on thinking and
comprehension make their appearance. Thus, it is associa¬
tion which underlies all these phenomena. It is in this way
that our experiments must be compared with those of
Thorndike. Precisely here lies the essence of the matter.
In our experiments with artificial and alimentary condi¬
tioned reflexes, when connections are formed which act as
alimentary signals and signals varying in accordance with

583
the conditions of the experiment, the connections are purely
temporary, hearing the character of signals. In Thorndike’s
experiments the connections are of a more permanent
nature. This is already the beginning of scientific knowl¬
edge, since it is a question of more constant connections.
At the beginning they m;ay be rather accidental, but science
in general has at first a superficial character and subse¬
quently becomes more land more profound, getting rid of
everything accidental.
According to the mechanism of formation this is the same
connection, the same association, but of different signifi¬
cance.
When you repeat one after another two words taken at
random and having no definite meaning, one of the words
finally begins to evoke the other. The mechanism respon¬
sible for the elaboration of this connection is the same—
the formation of a path between definite cells. The gestalt-
ists deny this. It follows that genuinely profound analysis
is absolutely beyond them. In their eyes the matter is so
complicated that one must not even touch it, must not try
to analyse it....
I shall pass now to our experiments on apes. Here it
becomes even more clear that this “insight,” this “thinking”
(obviously one and the same thing) at first consists exclu¬
sively of elementary associations and then of connections
between elementary associations, i.e., of complex asso¬
ciations.
We suspend a fruit at a certain height in “Raphael’s”
chamber. The connection established between him and the
fruit is an unconditioned reflex, an instinct. He is attracted
by the fruit, but the considerable distance between him
and it is an obstacle. There are boxes on the floor. After
a number of unsuccessful attempts “Raphael” soon notices
the boxes. At first , he stands on one of them and tries to
reach the fruit, but the distance is still too great. Then he
rejects this box as unsuitable and begins to pile one box
on top of the other.

584
 It must be granted that in this case the lape very likely
proceeds from previous life experience. This is probably lan
old connection elaborated by life....
As to the given association it can be assumed that either
this experience existed previously, i.e., the ape already knew
ho.w to go about the matter, or being in a state of strong
motor excitation, he seized one box, threw it accidentally
on top of another and, standing on them, came nearer to
the aim. Consequently, this is the same method of trial and
error. Indeed, it is impossible to admit that the new con¬
nection was formed of itself, from things never seen by the
ape before. In future we shall observe the actions of another
ape right from the beginning.
The first association was thus established. In order to
diminish the distance between himself and the bait, it was
necessary to place one box upon another. The ape could
do this in a firm and stable manner, or, on the contrary,
he could place the upper box on the edge of the lower box.
A truly useful association is obtained solely by the method
of trial and error. Should the ape place the upper box on
the edge of the lower, that is, without making their surfaces
coincide, nothing would result. And this is another associa¬
tion. A connection must necessarily be formed in the head
between the positions of both boxes. “Raphael’s” compli¬
cated task consisted in piling six boxes one upon another in
order to reach the fruit. Now he is able to accomplish this
task. All these particular associations were elaborated by
the method of trial and error. When the connection coin¬
cided with achievement of the aim, it was reinforced and
fixed. In the final analysis, it is quite clear that different
connections arise. This is clear to all.
In Koehler’s experiments all the apes were kept together.
In some of them the association was elaborated rapidly, in
others—slowly, in still others it could not be formed at all;
everything depended on the physiological properties of the
brain.
Besides these constant connections, even if consisting of

585
various associations, one more important association is
required: to place the box directly under the fruit.
When one of the apes reached the fruit, all the others
saw it, and one of the most sluggish of his companions,
directed by the imitation reflex, also piled the boxes one on
top of the other, not, however, directly under the fruit, but a
little to the side; thus, he made a fool of himself. When he
climbed on to the boxes the apple was beyond his reach.
Evidently this is the elaboration of isolated associations.
Along with the elaboration of such isolated associations,
there must also be formed a chain of associations, linking
one association with another. Thus, the entire mechanism
of thinking consists in the elaboration of elementary asso¬
ciations and in the subsequent formation of chains of asso¬
ciations.
The importance of imitation must also be emphasized.
One of Koehler’s apes did not practise the method of trial
and error—he simply watched the work of another ape. In
this way he elaborated new connections, so to speak, at the
expense of the work of another ape.
An amusing incident took place one day with “Rosa.”
“Rosa” is cleverer than “Raphael.” She has a fairly high
degree of “intelligence,” while “Raphael” is simply a glut¬
ton. Food is the only thing that attracts him. With “Rosa,”
on the contrary, food is of minor importance. She often
manifests an overwhelming desire to play, or even to “con¬
trive”—to open a small box, etc. When she is busy with
something or other, she rejects the food you offer her; the
aim of her work is quite different. Unfortunately, this entails
certain complications since the use of food is the simplest
method.
In one of our experiments we utilized her playing instinct.
We wanted to reproduce the experiment with boxes. For
this purpose we constructed in a warm chamber a kind of
a well. A limited space was surrounded by high walls.
“Rosa” was brought in through a door. She wanted to play,
but there was absolutely nothing in this space, except high

586
walls and a few boxes on the floor. And so the natural
impulse of breaking loose came to the fore. She acted in a
very curious and .amusing way, just like iKoehler’s ape
which, reproducing only part of the associations, made a fool
of himself—he succeeded in constructing something but not
in the right place. “Rosa” observed the door through which
she had been let in. At first she simply tried to open it, but
without success, since it was tightly bolted. She then dis¬
covered a tiny hole in the door, and availing herself of an
old association, inserted her digit into it and made several
attempts to force the door. However, these attempts, too,
were in vain—the door was solid.
Then, picking up one of the boxes she carried it to the
door, climbed on to it and putting her digit into the hole,
began to tug at the door.
What is the significance of these actions? The signifi¬
cance is that in the large cage in which “Rosa” was kept, she
frequently watched “Raphael” solve his problem. One of
the elements of this solution was familiar to her, and she
“thought” that it would help her to open the door. That
was her aim, but she had seen “Raphael” reach his goal—
the suspended apple—by carrying the boxes and piling them
one on top of the other. This temporary connection was fixed
in her, and she used it, but without success. Such is the
explanation, such is the sole meaning. The ape performed
this action once, and then repeated it. That is how I under¬
stand the matter.
This means that up to a point thinking is nothing else
but associations; at first these are elementary associations
connected with external objects, and subsequently they
become chains of associations. Thus, each slight associa¬
tion, including the very first one, is the moment of the birth
of thought. As I said at our previous gathering, these associa¬
tions grow and increase in number. We then say that the
thinking becomes more profound, more extensive, etc.
However, this is but half the process of thinking. It is
what the philosophers, including Locke in his work on the

587
human mind, call synthesis^'' And that is exactly what it
is. It is, indeed, a union of impressions produced by two
external objects and the subsequent utilization of this union.
But in addition to this association another process sets
in—the process of analysis. As you know, the analysis is
based on the analysing capacity of our receptors, and
besides, on the disintegration of connections, which is also
effected by the cerebral cortex. We know this process per¬
fectly well from our experiments with the conditioned
reflexes. If in experimenting with a dog you elaborate a
temporary alimentary connection to a definite tone and then
apply other tones without reinforcing them by food, the first
thing observed is a temporary irradiation bringing the
adjacent points to a state of excitation. We call it general¬
ization. When the connection with the other tones is not
justified by reality, the process of inhibition takes a hand.
In this way the real connection becomes more and more
precise.
The same thing applies to the process of scientific
thought.
The habits of scientific thought consist, above all, in
obtaining a more constant and precise connection and in
the subsequent rejection of all accidental connections. From
this point of view everything can be easily understood. The
process of thinking begins with associations, with the syn¬
thesis; then the analysis joins in. The latter is based, on
the one hand, on the analysing capacity of our receptors,
of the peripheral endings, and, on the other hand, on the
process of inhibition which develops in the cerebral cortex
and sorts out that which does not correspond to reality
from that which does. That is how I understand the matter,
basing myself on the data of our research.
Gentlemen, if any of you would like to add to what I have
said, or to amend any of the points, you are welcome!
From my point of view, the Gestalt psychology is one of
the most unsuccessful essays of the psychologists. Its role,
I should say, is definitely negative. Indeed, what has it

588
contributed to the knowledge of the subject? Absolutely
nothing. On the contrary, it is destroying that which is
most essential and most correct—lassociationism, synthesis,
connection. Such is my attitude to this Gestalt psychology.
In any case, you should give thought to the matter, since
it is of vital interest to us. All of us are studying the prob¬
lem of the higher nervous activity, and you, our “condition-
ists,” are taking part in solving it. I would recommend you,
therefore, to concentrate on it, to consider all the pros and
cons and to express your views, since this is the only way
to establish the truth.
I think that the point of view which I have just expressed
fully accords with reality. I cannot think otherwise now....
If you have no points to raise at the moment, keep the
subject in mind and think it ov„r. It is a fundamental ques¬
tion. Psychology is covered here by physiology, the subjec¬
tive is interpreted in a purely physiological, objective way.
And this is a great gain. We are beginning to understand
the process of human thinking, which has been the object
of so much talk and of so much twaddle.
In any case, I am grateful to this book: it made me con¬
sider all these questions anew, in a more profound way and,
in the end, enabled me to reach the conclusion I have laid
before you.

[CONCERNING THE ARTISTIC AND THINKING HUMAN TYPES]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON JANUARY 9, 1935

Academician I. P. Pavlov: ... Now, gentlemen, let us

turn to the following question. When we analysed nervous
patients in the neurological clinic, I came to the conclusion
that there are two specifically human neuroses—hysteria
and psychasthenia; I related this conclusion to the fact that
man offers two types of higher nervous activity, namely,
the artistic type, consequently analogous and close to that
of animals which also perceive the external world in the

589
 form of impressions exclusively and directly by means of
receptors, and the other, intellectual type which functions
with the help of the second signalling system. Thus, the
human brain is composed of the lanimal brain and of the
purely human part relating to speech. It is this second sig¬
nalling system which is beginning to prevail in man. It can
be assumed that under certain unfavourable conditions,
when the nervous system is weakened, this phylogenetic
division of the brain takes place anew; then probably one
individual will use predominantly the first signalling sys¬
tem, while the other will use predominantly the second, sig¬
nalling system. And it is this that divides men into artistic
natures and purely intellectual abstract natures.
In unfavourable conditions when this divergence attains
,a high degree, a morbid manifestation of this complexity
of the higher human nervous activity takes place in the
form of, so to speak, exaggerated artists and exaggerated
thinkers (pathology). I think that the former are related to
hysterical persons, and the latter to psychasthenics. I have
seen many neurotics. As to the unsuitability for life or
inactivity of these patients, it must be said that the psy¬
chasthenics are particularly feeble compared with the hys¬
terical persons. This is confirmed by facts. Many hysterical
persons become “prominent public men” (for example, the
American lady who, being a typical hysterical person,
founded a new religion, amassed millions and became
famous.”® On the contrary, psychasthenics, who limit them¬
selves exclusively to words, are in most cases unsuitable
for life and absolutely helpless. Of course, there are also
hysterical individuals whose activity becomes so chaotic
that they, too, cannot find their proper place in life, and
who are nuisance both to themselves and others.
I put myself the question: and what about our animals?
The existence of psychasthenics among animals is excluded,
since they do not possess the second signalling system. In
the final analysis, all complex relations in man have passed
into the second signalling system. Verbal and abstract

590
thinking has been elaborated in us. The second signalling
system is the most constant land ancient regulator of human
relations. But there is nothing of the kind in animals. Their
entire higher nervous activity, with its supreme manifesta¬
tions, is included in the first signalling system. In man
the second signalling system acts on the first signalling
system and upon the subcortex in two ways: in the first
place, by inhibition which is greatly developed in it, and
is absent or almost absent in the subcortex (and which, it
can be assumed, is less developed in the first signalling sys¬
tem); in the second place, by its positive activity—by the
law of induction. Since in man the activity is concentrated
in the region of speech—in the second signalling system—
its induction must act on the first signalling system and
the subcortex.
Such relations cannot exist in animals. But they can
assume this form when the inhibitory process in the first
signalling system (which in animals stands above the sub¬
cortex) is weak. Since the first signalling system in ani¬
mals is also the regulator of the subcortex, a relation essen¬
tially similar to that in hysterical persons may arise; if the
inhibitory process in the first signalling system of the
animal is weak, the subcortex falls into a state of violent
excitation and its activity does not correspond to the action
of external stimuli. Consequently, something analogous to
hysteria may also take place in animals. While in man we
meet with pressure of the second signalling system on the
first signalling system and on the subcortex, in animals it
is the first signalling system which exerts pressure on the
subcortex. Essentially this is the same thing, but in the sec¬
ond case there is a single source of inhibition, while in the
first case there is a double source (partly the positive sys¬
tem and partly the intense activity).
This thought occurred to me when observing one of the
dogs in Koltushi; this was “Verny,” a truly violent, impetu¬
ous dog, a typical watch-dog, which would not let anyone
but his master approach him. He also exhibited a violent

591
alimentary reflex. For a long time we have not been able
to obtain in him a more or less stable system of conditioned
reflexes. This is similar to what wias observed in castrated
dogs by M. No dependence on the intensity, no com¬
plete differentiation, and quite often manifestation of the
ultra-paradoxical phase. The course of reflexes in the period
of retardation, i.e., in the period of the isolated action of
Ihe conditioned stimulus, is also of definite interest. During
the first five seconds the dog exhibits an abundant secre¬
tion of saliva, and during the subsequent five seconds—
complete absence of salivation (zero). I am ready to affirm
that this is a hysterical dog, in which the first signalling
system regulating the nervous system and the energy of
the subcortex is absolutely feeble. There is no correspond¬
ence here between the action of the signalling system and
the emotional fund of the subcortex. This is proved by
the fact that when we reinforced the inhibition in the first
signalling system (by means of bromide), a certain order
began to set in. The administration of a large dose of
6 grammes resulted in the elimination of the chaos to a
very considerable degree.
And so it is possible to regard “Verny” as being a really
hysterical dog, since he does not possess in any sufficient
measure the vital regulator of the subcortical emo¬
tional fund.

[EXPERIMENTS ON APES AND CRITICISM

OF KOEHLER’S CONCEPTS]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON JANUARY 9, 1935

Academician I. P. Pavlov: ... Now I shall busy myself with

Koehler and our apes. The point that Mr. Koehler fully dis¬
regarded is to us, on the contrary, of special importance.
The way in which the ape makes acquaintance with the sur¬
rounding world is of no interest to him. He ignores this,
while we concentrate on it. When the ape sits without doing

592
anything, he is, probably, resting, but not meditating, as
Koehler has it. We see how “Raphael” makes expedient
acquaintance with the surrounding medium. Under the
influence of alimentary excitation he explores the condi¬
tions of the external environment.
“Raphael” was solving a rather complicated problem—
the piling up of boxes of different size with the object of
reaching suspended food. The dimensions of the boxes
varied in the proportion of 1 to 16. The boxes had to be so
placed as to form a kind of stable stairway. The structure
was a fairly high one—three and a half metres. But
“Raphael” solved this problem before our eyes. He realized
that the surfaces of the boxes should coincide as much as
possible, and that the boxes should not be placed on their
edges or angles. He assembled them by the method of trial.
The experiment lasted about two months. Now “Raphael”
builds quite well. The structure must be erected at the place
where the fruit is suspended. And “Raphael” builds directly
under the suspended pear, placing all the boxes in the proper
order: the first, then the second, etc. When the boxes are
scattered, he reassembles them and places them in the
required order. Can there be any doubt that this is similar
to our thinking? Koehler, however, ignores this.
Carried away by our experimentation, we are now enlarg¬
ing in every possible way “Raphael’s” “naturalist re¬
searches”; our assistance takes the form simply of diminish¬
ing the adventitious elements, that is, in creating certain
favourable conditions.
We experiment with a fire which bars the ape’s way to
the food. “Raphael” rapidly considered the situation; he
burnt and licked himself at the first unsuccessful attempts.
His method was quite clear: he made use of various solid
objects, chips, nails, etc. When the food was placed in the
centre of a circle formed by burning candles, he knocked
the candles over or blew them out. Recently he has learnt
to extinguish fire with the help of water. Here is how he
did it.

38—773 593
 A vessel containing wiater was placed in a box. A tap con¬
nected with the vessel was attached to the top of the front,,
part of the box. Fruit was placed in this box and was visible
through an opening in the front. Just below the opening
there was another small oblong vessel resting on a support,
spirit was poured into this vessel and a match applied to
the wick. The flame prevented the ape from getting the fruit.
“Raphael” had to extinguish it. He tried one way, then
another, and still another. Finally he noticed the tap, seized
it and turned it. Water poured from the tap—the opening
was so arranged that the water flowed direct on the vessel
containing the spirit. After one or two repetitions “Ra¬
phael” began immediately to turn the tap at the right
moment. In this way we came to his aid. When he turned
on the tap for the first time he did it not with the purpose
of setting the water in motion. However, he subsequently
related the action of water to the extinction of the flame.
And when the tap ran dry he took a bottle with water
and poured ,it on to the flame. Is not this convincing
enough?
In this way we shall acquaint “Raphael” with the prop¬
erties of different phenomena and with the relations between
them. And he will be able to make use of them. 'Koehler,
however, ignores this, although it is the essence of the
matter. This is the genesis of our thinking, which enables
us to function. What distinguishes “Raphael’s” experience
from our own experiments, when we try now one way, now
another until, finally, we establish the proper connection.
Is there any difference? In my opinion, there is none.
After reading about the intellect of anthropoids, and wit¬
nessing these experiments I cannot understand how a psy¬
chologist, a man who deals with the problems of thinking,,
can overlook all this, and at the same time advocate the
nonsensical idea that when the ape stops working he medi¬
tates just as we do. Is not this a peculiar way of thinking,,
of treating the subject? Yet, that is the way things are, and!
that is the way they remain. For some reason, our phys-

594
iological interpretation of these phenomena does not con¬
cern the psychologists in the least.
Koehler’s latest book appeared in 1933, under the title
Psychologische Probleme}'''’ I have not read all of it. Part
one is entitled “Behaviourism,” part two—“Psychology and
Natural Science.” Koehler delivers broadsides against
behaviourism. He mentions in passing that the behaviour¬
ists have accepted our conditioned reflexes with great
enthusiasm. He makes this reference to conditioned reflexes:
“I presume that the research carried out by Pavlov and
his school is known.” Just a single line! Thus, although
he knows of our experiments, he does not say a single word
about them; on the contrary, he vilifies them in every pos¬
sible way.
He violently attacks the behaviourists. He affirms that
the latter are guided by two commandments: “In science
one must never admit any phenomenal world!”, that is,
must not admit our own manifestations as subjective phe¬
nomena. And further: “In the nervous system one must never
rely on any functions except reflexes and conditioned
reflexes.” I am not sure whether he deliberately exaggerates
this or not. But here is something which concerns us: “Ob¬
servers are unlikely to find the reflexes and conditioned
reflexes closely related to the study of complex forms of
behaviour of animals and men or worthy of attention.”
How do you like that? This means that they are so remote
from the study of the behaviour of animals and man that
he can hardly them “in Betracht nehmen” or consider them
to any degree “nachst liegender”—closely related.
What strange blindness to affirm that this is not “nachst
liegend” and “nicht in Betracht nehmen,” when everybody
knows that all the habits, all the connections (omission in
text of the stenographic record)....
... “But those who are firmly convinced (he implies the
behaviourists and us) that the original theory of conditioned
and acquired reflexes is the whole truth (we have never
claimed this for the nervous system), have no grounds

38* 595
whatever for observing natural behaviour. They will have
to begin a new study; they have no other functional notions.”
How absurd! How can a professor of Berlin University,
not an old man living out his days but a young man in the
prime of life, talk such nonsense!
Whereas every one of our experiments is aimed at enlarg¬
ing our concepts, he thinks that our knowledge of reflexes
precludes any aspiration for further knowledge. This is
strange, something truly amazing! And yet he pretends to
know our conditioned reflexes. What is one to make of it?
For some inexplicable reason our way of interpretation is
regarded as being “conservative.” But how is that? How
can it be “conservative” if lots of people argue with us and
show no desire to comprehend our viewpoint? They regard
our views as something monstrous, something they can¬
not accept.
“On the other hand, these conservative ideas are upheld
and protected by the adherents of Pavlov and by all behav¬
iourists, since they limit observation.” This means that
nothing more is desired by us. How could he reach such an
absurd conclusion? “All the reactions of the animal nervous
system are reduced to a couple of reactive forms—to con¬
ditioned and unconditioned reflexes.”
Such is his attitude towards our conditioned reflexes.
Please, tell me what it all means. As for me, I don’t under¬
stand it. I have learnt from F. P.^’® that the author lectures
on psychology at the theological faculty of Berlin Univer¬
sity. Evidently that is not a place where our point of view
is likely to be accepted. And that, I think, is the sole
explanation of his thoughtlessness.
There are even more amazing and still less comprehen¬
sible things. In the chapter “Psychologie und Naturwissen-
schaft” he regards the naturalist hypothesis as a working
hypothesis only, but, at the same time, audacious. He begins
with the statement that our subjective world and
our emotions can and must be subjected to observation, but
it is useful to systematize them, and then, on the basis of

596
physiological data, somehow to superimpose the system of
our subjective emotions of this objective system of phys¬
iological facts concerning the physiology of the nervous
system. That is quite correct. Our aim is to study the objec¬
tive, purely physiological facts, whereas the aim of psychol¬
ogy, if only it is capable of considering and comprehending
this subjective world, is to superimpose one system on the
other, which is what we are trying to do. We explain the
phenomena of our subjective world on the basis of our phys¬
iological data. But imagine, his system is exactly the same.
For he says that he has every ground to observe our emo¬
tions, our subjective states, to systematize them, to super¬
impose them on a corresponding physiological system and
to establish a connection between them. Apparently he is
aware of our research, since the results have been pub¬
lished in foreign languages. Nevertheless, for him all this
is but a working hypothesis, an audacious hypothesis, and
he adds the following, which seems to be his criticism:
“We only see how on the basis of general ideas it is pos¬
sible to deduce the real system of personal emotions super¬
imposed on the structural properties of corresponding cere¬
bral processes.” This, it appears, is his criticism. But with
us this is a constant fact; we Tcnow plenty of subjective
manifestations that can be connected with objective data.
Even in conversation during a private visit to' him I told
him how I interpreted the fact cited by him about a dog
kept in a cage but within sight of meat which was placed
beyond the grille. When the meat was placed at a distance
from the cage, the dog immediately found a way out of the
cage and took the meat. But when the meat was placed
near the cage and greatly excited him, he behaved stupidly,
trying all the time to get the meat through the grille: This
means that a strong stimulus apparently produced negative
induction. But for Koehler that is but an audacious hypo¬
thesis. He concludes: “... The system of personal emotions
superimposed on the structural properties of corresponding
cerebral processes, which are of decisive importance for the

5P7
 interpretation and observation of the behaviour” ... and
ladds: “doch solang bis jetzt nicht beobachtet worden,” i.e.,
which so far, however, have not been observed. What does
this mean? Please e.xplain it to me. I simply cannot under¬
stand him. The only possible explanation is that the tor¬
ments of animism, deeply rooted in him, make him incon¬
sistent, slow-witted and contradictory. There can be no
other reason. I have met any number of medical people
who were simply incapable of realizing that the entire
behaviour of a patient could be explained without recogniz¬
ing the active and independent role of the inner world. They
could not understand how it was possible to take into con¬
sideration exclusively the influence of external stimuli, their
summation, etc. This, I think, is the sole explanation of his
highly inconsistent conduct.
Gentlemen, I recommend those of you who know German
to read this book and express your opinion. I can under¬
stand this only as the torments of an animist obliged to
adopt a scientific point of view. The spirit of the times
demands it of him, but he lacks the necessary inner
resources....
When I visited Koehler in Berlin I was astonished at the
reluctance with which he acceded to my explanations of
the behaviour of his dog: “Yes, yes,” he murmured miaking
an obvious effort.
There is no need, however, to look for examples so far
away. I had a close friend, a psychiatrist, to whom I
ardently demonstrated our principles. I used to visit him
on Sundays after my laboratory work. This lasted for
several years. However, up to his death he was convinced
that we were committing a grave error, since we did not
take the inner world of the dog into consideration. And this
man was a psychiatrist who knew very well how our soul
changes and breaks when the brain is disordered. Such is
the force of a habitual point of view.
This can be explained only by the fact that in the present
case a fierce struggle takes place against the deeply-rooted

598
prejudices of human thought in the form of dualism. It is
an interesting book, don’t fail to read it. It contains glaring
contradiction and inconsistency. Many interesting things
will come our way when our interpretation of the behaviour
of apes is published.

[CRITICISM OF KOEHLER’S IDEALISTIC CONCEPTS]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON JANUARY 23, 1935

Academician I. P. Pavlov. ... Now, gentlemen, we

shall pass from peaceful laffiairs, if we may say so, to mat¬
ters of war, to Mr. Koehler. We are at war with him. This
is a serious struggle against psychologists. Koehler is pro¬
fessor of psychology at Berlin University. A scientist of
minor authority would hardly be elected to la chair in Ber¬
lin University; they respect hierarchy there. They look on
Koehler as an outstanding psychologist. I have been in
his laboratory which is located in Wilhelm’s palace. Don t
trifle with it!
When I read his Psychologische Probleme published in
1933. I was about to write an article on our experiments
with apes. It was my intention to say something in the
preface about the Gestalt psychology, and I even wrote, on
this subject.
Here it is:
“The most important and indisputable of the oldest acqui¬
sitions of psychology as a science is the establishment of
the existence of connections between subjective phenom¬
ena—the association of words, the most obvious phenom¬
ena—and then the connection between thoughts, emotions
and impulses to action. One cannot but be surprised, there¬
fore, that nowadays this scientific merit of psychology is
depreciated or greatly belittled by a new fashionable trend
in psychology—the Gestalt psychology. The fact of associa-

599
 tion, established by the psychologists, becomes all the more
important since it fully coincides with the physiological
fact of temporary connection, the formation of paths
between different points of the cerebral cortex; thus, it rep¬
resents a fundamental case, la moment of contact, or to be
more precise, a synthesis, identification of the psychical
with the somatic, of the subjective with the objective. This
is an event of great significance in the history of human
thought, on the horizon of the single and exact human
knowledge. The attitude of the Gestalt psychology is an
obvious misconception.”
Such was my opinion when I read his book.
That which is correct in the book is as old as the hills.
It is doubtful if the psychologists-associationists ever num¬
bered in their ranks anyone who regarded the world of sub¬
jective phenomena with their endless interconnections as a
sack filled with apples, cucumbers and potatoes which do
not exert any action one upon another. The psychologists-
associationists know very well that different combinations
of three elements alone—oxygen, hydrogen and carbon—
originate countless systems in the form of different sub¬
stances, each with its peculiar properties. And the eduction
of elements together with their diverse synthesis enable the
chemist to penetrate deeper and deeper into the structure
of our planet as a gigantic whole. The animal organism,
ours included, is, in like manner, a closely interconnected
whole. Is not its study made possible thanks first and fore¬
most to its decomposition into larger or smaller units and
to their subsequent intermittent composition? Why, then,
should the product of the higher animal organism, the phe¬
nomena of our subjective world, be studied by other methods
which exclude decomposition and analysis? Precisely for
this reason the new trend in the Gestalt psvchology, its
violent opposition to associationism, is an obvious scientific
error. The unmerited success of this psychology among
modern psychologists is to be explained solely by the fact
that dualism still makes itself felt in their midst; dualism

60i0
is manifested in the form of animism which admits the ex¬
istence of a peculiar substance opposed to the rest of mature
and therefore requiring special treatment on the part of
researchers compared with material phenomena.
My following categorical statement also bears la. direct
relation to this subject: “There is but one way to a truly
scientific comprehension of phenomena in psychology—
the way of analysis.”
That is my opinion of the Gestalt psychology. Thinking
it over, it struck me as being a very harsh view, since the
conclusion might be drawn from it that that which is old
is true, while the new is worthless. So I resolved to re-read
the book. As is my habit, I carefully read over and over
again the chapter specially devoted to association.
And I must say that this chapter greatly perplexed me.
In my view it reveals utter thoughtlessness and incon¬
sistency. ...
Undoubtedly, close contact has been established between
our physiology of the higher nervous activity, in the form
of the theory of conditioned reflexes, and psychology. We
are studying one and the same problem. Of this there can
be no doubt. But whereas from the factual point of view
our concepts and notions are fully grounded, practically
indisputable, theirs are not. I should like to attach great
importance to this fact, clearly emphasizing that in some
things physiology at present offers more truth than psy¬
chology, that is, if iKoehler is to be regarded as a serious
psychologist.
Koehler considers the entire problem in its historical
aspect. He focuses attention on the fact that it is much more
difficult to memorize a series of meaningless syllables than
those which make sense. He is unable to deny this fact. It
has been affirmed by competent psychologists whose author¬
ity is beyond all doubt. Unable to refute this fundamental
fact, he switches to the factors which contribute to this
association. There are many of them. Since connections are
ready to hand, the association is either found at once or

601
fixed quite easily. 'Koehler bases all his objections on the
fact that the existing connections contribute to the forma¬
tion of the given connection.... But that goes without say¬
ing. The old connections constitute, according to Koehler,
a gestalt, i.e., a system of organization.
Summing up we can say that wherever there is a solid
organization, combination or a gestalt right from the out¬
set, there is, naturally, a ready association. But where there
is no proper organization from the outset, the association
is absent; it must be elaborated.
Koehler then passes over to physiological notions. Gen¬
erally he admits the formation of paths between two excited
centres of the cortex. “This hypothesis may enable us to
understand why the excitation, after some repetition, takes
such a definite direction and thus augments the conductiv¬
ity of the connected fibres. On the contrary, one cannot
see—‘Sieht man gar nicht’—why the stimulus takes this
direction from the very first.”
Why does it take this direction from the very first? What
do you think of that?
It reminds me of a passage from Nedorosl* where Pro-
stakova begins to argue with the tailor; when the latter
explains that he spent much time in mastering the art of
tailoring, etc., she counters with the peremptory question:
“Tell me, then, who taught the first tailor?”
What does this mean? How is it that an intelligent man,
a professor of psychology, cannot grasp the matter, can¬
not comprehend it? His attitude differs in no way from the
question “Who taught the first tailor?”
Can any of you, gentlemen, dispute this? How can one
say that no coincidence is required, that the gestalt is
formed of itself, at one stroke!
And here is another of his stunts.
He says that the idea of a path formed as a result of

♦ Comedy by Fonvisin, 18th century Russian satirist.—Tr

602
numerous repetitions is obsolete, that now there is a new
hypothesis; when two centres somehow fuse, the tonus of
one cell is communicated to the other, and this forms la
Gestalt system, an organization—instead of two systems
there is now one. But this means that the association forms
the gestalt and not vice versa.
He, however, draws the conclusion: “The new concepts
of Woodworth are invalid. Association as a special inde¬
pendent and theoretical notion loses all significance.” What
do you make of all this? Explain it if you can.
It is precisely the process of association that 'Koehler de¬
scribes. The activity of two cells, previously detached, is
fused into a single system because of a coincidence in
time. Consequently, this is association. But according to
Koehler, there is no. association at all.
In my opinion this is complete misconception. I fail to
see in it any sensible human thought, any impartiality and
logic.
Further, he cites the example of meaningless syllables,
which, when repeated one after another, are connected and
memorized with great difficulty, while many other things
are grasped in a flash and retained in the memory. But
everything depends on the conditions, as well as on the
old connections. Is there anything incomprehensible in it?
The next point directly concerns us and is, therefore, of
special interest to me. I would ask you to look at it closely
and to try to understand it.
“From our point of view conditioned reflexes would sound
better than associations. However, I cannot regard this
notion as being more fundamental than the notion of asso-'
ciation. It can even be said that the so-called conditioned
reflexes are simply particular cases of association.”
But that is exactly the case; this is not something that
can be said, but which must be said,—“since, evidently, the
stimulus indirectly connected with the reflex reactions
becomes a stimulus only when it begins to act in connec¬
tion with an adequate stimulus evoking the same reflex

603
 in a natural way. Thus, an association of two sensory proC“
esses takes place.”
So far his point of view coincides with ours.
Further, we read: “This association can become so strong
that in the final analysis the new stimulus might be fit
only to follow the trace of the adequate sensory process, but
not to evoke it.” What does this mean? What do you think
of this Egyptian enigma? And how are we to understand
his words that the new stimulus is fit only to follow
the trace of the adequate stimulus, but not to evoke
it? Can you explain this physiologically or in any other
way?
jV. a. Podkopayev: Maybe he wanted to say that the
conditioned stimulus does not wholly reproduce the picture
evoked by the unconditioned stimulus, that its effect is
somewhat weaker, land the reaction not so intense.
^ literally says: “nicht diese nach-
rufen. He speaks of our facts but in a way that it is impos¬
sible to comprehend him.
E. A. Asratyan: Perhaps he wants to say that an
extraneous stimulus no longer evokes the orienting reaction,
previously evoked by it, but a conditioned reflex.
I. P. Pavlov: He mentions a true reaction, conditioned
by lan adequate stimulus, and says that it follows the trace
of the adequate stimulus, but does not evoke it.
E. A. Asratyan: Maybe it is a misprint. {Laughter.)
/. P. Pavlov: That’s a pretty poor defence. This is truly
astonishing!
Nevertheless, fundamentally the question is of definite
importance. This is a real struggle between psychology and
the physiology of the higher nervous activity.
I should like to see this book translated. We would then
be able to circulate it widely and invite the psychologists
to read it. Let them come here and defend one of their
leading men. Is Zeliony here? (Voice: He is absent.) What
a pity. I’d have given it to him.
E, A. Asratyan: The thing is really absurd.

604
 /. P, Pavlov: Our task is a very definite one; we clearly
see that due to association a system, an organization, or,
in Koehler’s terminology, a gestalt, arises. Consequently,
it is the associations which form the gestalt and not the
gestalt which forms the associations. The latter concept is
absurd. Recall, for example, our delayed reflex. Is it not a
gestalt, a system, in which one and the same stimulus first
acts in an inhibitory way and afterwards positively? This
is a gestalt, a system, and we know how it was formed.
Then take our dynamic stereotype. We apply our stimuli in
regular succession. They become connected and, as a result,
a gestalt arises, a system, formed by us on the basis of
associations. How, then, can anyone deny such an obvi¬
ous fact?

[CONCERNING THE ANIMISM OF SHERRINGTON AND

THE CONSERVATISM OF ENGLISH SCIENCE]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON FEBRUARY 6, 1935

Academician I. P. Pavlov: ... Here is another interest¬

ing fact concerning the general significance and interpreta¬
tion of our work. When the German edition of my lectures
on the higher nervous activity appeared, a characteristic
notice, written by one of Sherrington’s adherents, appeared
in the English magazine Nature. It begins with different
compliments and then says that the correctness of the inter¬
pretation accorded this vast and grandiose material is open
to doubt. For this reason, it continues, some people doubt
whether the Pavlovian terminology can contribute to clear
understanding of the matter. It is possible that in view of
the present state of our knowledge it would be more advan¬
tageous to interpret these discoveries in psychological
terms, such as association, distraction, interest, conscious¬
ness, attention, memory, etc.
What do you think of that? They themselves erect this
structure, fully convinced that they are doing useful work.

605
 Sherrington himself investigated the reflex activity of the
spinal cord, but he is decidedly against attributing this
activity to the higher parts, to the brain; in the latter case
this structure becomes in their eyes hypothetical.
This is animist reasoning. Sherrington has built a nest
of animism. This is proved by the fact that he doubts
whether the mind has any relation to the nervous system.
Hence the mind is something beyond and above the nervous
system, something that can be detached from the nervous
activity altogether.
I can understand the influence usually exerted by a
teacher on his pupils. But must all the pupils necessarily
be animists if their teacher is an animist? Is there really
such intellectual serfdom among Englishmen? How are we
to understand this reasoning? The man who makes it is
one of Sherrington’s adherents; he also cites his colleagues.
And he affirms that it is better to systematize from the psy¬
chological rather than from the purely physiological point of
view. This is all the more astonishing in view of the fact
that the conditioned reflexes have won particular success in
England, where they are even included in the programmes
of the secondary schools.
In my view the stand taken by Sherrington is manifestly
harmful, since he trains such disciples. He is at liberty to
think as he pleases, but why should be confuse others?
No, we can confidently rely upon our conditioned reflexes.
Good-bye.

[CONCERNING THE IDEALISM OF PIERRE JANET]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON FEBRUARY 20, 1935

Academician I. P. Pavlov: ... I read now Pierre Janet’s

latest book The Sources of the Intellect. Pierre Janet is a
remarkable man. He is not a physician, but a psychologist,
and at the same time a celebrated neurologist. He is,

606
undoubtedly, an outstanding personality. I shall deal with
the essence of his book next Wednesday. The book itself,
in conception and analysis, is most interesting. I shall
devote more time to it, since it deals with the highly
important problem of correlations between the physiology
of the higher nervous activity and psychology.
I am waging a violent war against Pierre Janet as a psy¬
chologist. And in my next talk I shall do all in my power
to deal him a shattering blow. But as a neurologist he is
of great interest. He has collected a considerable quantity
of extremely interesting and important pathological cases.
I am sure that as a neurologist he will always remain in
the memory of science, but as a psychologist, I think, he
will be discarded as a result of our work, the work of the
physiologists of the higher nervous activity.
Janet describes two extremely interesting pathological
cases of which the first is as follows.
It relates to a lady who was in a state of great exhaustion
after the pains of childbirth. While travelling by train to her
destination she was tormented by the thought that she was
going in the opposite direction, although there were
no grounds whatsoever for this, and her fellow-travellers
confirmed that the train was going in the right direc¬
tion.
What does this signify? This is a pathological phenom¬
enon, a kind of obsession. It is one of the variants of the
series mentioned earlier. Suppose, for example, that the
patient wants to be respected, but he has the impression,
without the slightest reason, that he is being insulted. Or
he wants to be alone and secludes himself, but is convinced
that there is someone in the room. As I have already
explained, this is the ultra-paradoxical phase. And all these
phenomena are categories of opposition. We have here a
fundamental stimulus in the form of the idea: I am travel¬
ling in a definite direction; then comes the hypnotic phase;
the monotony of stimuli acting in the car. Exhaustion of
the nervous system as a result of a difficult delivery is also

607
 in evidence. All this brings on the ultra-paradoxical phase
and the rise of an opposite idea, or distortion of the funda¬
mental idea. For example, the idea: I am alone, becomes
reversed: I am not alone; the idea: I am respected or I want
to be respected, turns into its opposite: I am not respected.
The thought: I am going in the right direction, assumes a
contrary meaning. In my open letter to Pierre Janet I gave
my interpretation of this phenomenon. It is an old story
and there is nothing special in it.
The second case interested me particularly.
It concerns a French officer who during the war was
wounded in the occipital region of the brain. The bullet
passed through the posterior cerebral part and became
embedded in the opposite side. For some reason or other it
was impossible to remove it.
The officer lost his sight. It was restored later only to
be followed by the so-called “physical blindness.” He
could see, but could not understand; this is the so-called
“Munk blindness.” At a later stage he began to comprehend
everything he saw, namely, that a man is a man, a table
is a table, etc. Thereafter his visual comprehension became
extremely concentrated, and the following occurred. I quote
Pierre Janet: “The patient enters my consulting room lean¬
ing on the arm of a soldier, since he is convinced that he
cannot walk without assistance. He recognizes me, greets
me amiably and correctly, seats himself in an armchair and
immediately begins to complain, unburdening himself of
an “extraordinary grievance.” This is what he said: “I am
most miserable, because I have lost the ability to orien¬
tate myself in the world. I never know where I am.” These
are his exact words. They mean complete absence of orien¬
tation in space....
This is an extremely interesting case, but how to inter¬
pret it? Basing myself on our observations I made two sup¬
positions. This, apparently, is a matter of the occipital
region, of the patient’s visual relation to the surrounding
world.

608
 The same phenomena iwhich we observe in our “Rebus”
are manifest in his visual region: this region is inhibited
to such ;a considerable degree that it cannot endure two
simultaneous stimulations. You will recall that “R^bus”
was unable to form more than one conditioned reflex—a
stronger reflex destroyed the weaker one, for example, the
defensive reflex destroyed the reflex to acid and the latter
destroyed the alimentary reflex.
Consequently, the visual region of the brain has such a
low tonus of excitation that it is able, influenced by the
given stimulus, to concentrate its activity at one point only,
while all other points remain as if they were non-existent.
Hence, the patient sees a distinct person, a distinct object,
but he is unable simultaneously to perceive anything else,
since the notion of space escapes him. Everything is con¬
fined to the point which is stimulated at the given moment.
There are no traces whatever and that is why the patient
feels “lost in the world”. .. .
The fact that there is a complete or almost complete
absence of traces in this officer is very interesting. Due to
a low cortical tonus, only the existing stimulations are
effective in him; when he is subjected to certain stimula¬
tions, the inhibition spreads to the other parts of the ana¬
lyser. The remainder disappears from his consciousness.
And this is what gives him the feeling of being “lost in
the world.”
In the few minutes left to me I shall tell you something
that may interest you. Next Wednesday I shall make a gen¬
eral attack upon Pierre Janet; today I shall confine myself
to la brief statement about him.
Of course he is an animist, i.e., he believes in a specific
substance which is not subject to any laws and which is
unknowable. In his explanations he refers to Bergson,”® a
rather violent French philosopher.
He writes: Bergson has presented us with a very beauti¬
ful model in order to make us understand how nature could
create such a miracle as the eye. To us the eye seems to be

39—773 609
extremely complicated, and we are inclined to think that
in order to comprehend it we must accumulate fact upon
fact and combine them in various ways. However, .when
I want to lift my arm, it is not necessary for me to analyse
this or that organ, this or that nerve or muscle in order
to have the desire to do something with its help. All that
is needed is the desire to act and everything fits into place.
The living substance longed for light, wanted to grasp
light, and this desire took shape in the eye.
He literally states: “This desire took shape in the eye.”
“This is a creative force, a substance of great power.”
And further; “We have lost much of this primitive power,
but we still use some of it in our imagination.” We use the
negligible remnants in our imagination! Does he, then,
resemble us? Is it possible to agree with him? Of course,
not. According to him, the imagination is a particle of the
creative force which has resulted in my eye!

[EXPERIMENTS WITH “RAPHAEL”]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON MARCH 6, 1935

Academician /. P. Pavlov. .. . Now I should like to say

a few words about our apes.
As you know, “Raphael” has added greatly to his knowl¬
edge of the surroundings. He has learned to open locks with
the help of the corresponding tools. This is an old accom¬
plishment, but he has become quite proficient in the art. He
has learnt to appreciate the significance of the keyhole, to
insert the key and to turn it. Now he does this quite easily.
He has learnt to put out fire by means of water—his otwn
“scientific invention.” He is now able to construct a tower
with the help of cubes, arranging them in the form of a stair¬
case, and to climb it. This was not acquired at once; many
difficulties had to be surmounted.

610
 He has elaborated numerous more or less elementary as¬
sociations. Now he has been given the more complicated
task of forming an association of associations.
This involves opening the door with the key, entering the
room, extinguishing the fire blocking the way to the land¬
ing; then he must get out of the room and build a tower on
the landing in order to reach a suspended fruit. In this way
he is called upon to effect an association of associations.
It is interesting to note that he usually performs all the
operations without a hitch until he gets to the landing where
he sprawls on the boxes and only after some time does he
begin to build the tower. This repeats systematically. Obvi¬
ously it is a difficult mental effort for him and greatly fa¬
tigues him. Hence, rest is necessary. This fact is absolutely
clear.
We have known for quite a long time that our conditioned
reflexes also represent nervous work. We know also that a
dog which prior to castration responds perfectly to our com¬
plex system of conditioned stimuli, is unable to cope with
the same system after castration. It needs rest.
Thus, you see that we are penetrating deeper and deeper
into the higher nervous activity, and we are now dealing
with its rather complex manifestations.

[CRITICISM OF CLAPARfiDE’S BOOK THE GENESIS

OF THE HYPOTHESIS]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON MARCH 27, 1935

Academician /. P. Pavlov. ... Now, gentlemen, let us

turn to the psychologists. They are, assuredly, experts at
playing with words. But they fully disregard facts, and are
an exceptional type of thinking people.
I have received from a very amiable psychologist a copy
of a new book. The author, whom I have met on several oc-

39* 611
casions, is the permanent secretary at all international
psychological congresses. His name is Ed. Claparede—Ge¬
neva psychologist. He has sent me his book, The Genesis of
the Hypothesis. I have read those parts which directly con¬
cern us. What a strange thing it is to use the word “mind”
without having any idea as to what it actually signifies!
How can I speak of the mind if I do not know its real
meaning?
He begins with the words: “According to different au¬
thors, the essence of mind . ..” and then he enumerates the
definitions of mind given by different authors.
One psychologist regards mind as the knowledge of the
aim to be attained, another as ability to combine, a third as
the power of abstraction, a fourth as ability to form a cor¬
rect judgement—the latter being a particularly clever def¬
inition, etc. It is also defined as the formation of a general
idea, as the faculty of analysing and synthesizing, of com¬
prehending, inventing, making tools, utilizing experience,
learning, giving the right answers from the point of view
of the truth, predicting with high precision, knowledge of
the relations between phenomena, and so on—there is no
end to the definitions.
“If we'wanted to come to common understanding about
these definitions (not counting all others), we should never
be able to do so; moreover, we should never begin the em¬
pirical study of the act of intelligence.” This is interesting,
but the author himself could not refrain from giving a new
definition; “The concept of the new situation” seems to me
to be essential to the definition of mind; if the situation or
the problem which is to be solved were not new, there
would be no question of mind, but of some other process;
memory, habit, routine, repetition, etc., in brief, automat¬
ism. “Our definition is in close harmony with the general
usage which opposes the mind to instinct and habit.”
' He then begins to expound his definition w'hich for some
reason or other he considers better than all others. It is
really amazing: They heap up words and cannot agree on

612
 their meaning. I am greatly surprised at this because I
happen to know that many years ago the Americans dis¬
played purely American daring land wanted to compose a
psychological dictionary. But, as conditions were then, this
was an impracticable task. For a long time no progress
was made with the dictionary which passed through the
hands of different editors. Finally, an energetic man was
found; this was Warren, he is now dead, I think. Warren
completed the editing of the dictionary, but it is not worth
spending money on it. It is no good, being a complete
failure.
I shall read to you the author’s judgement on our condi¬
tioned reflexes. You will see his lamentable juggling with
words. One cannot but shrug his shoulders in amazement.
First of all, he coined a new term to designate our con¬
ditioned reflexes. I do not know whether he uses the term
implication for the first time or whether it has been used
by others as well. This is a Latin word. In his terminology
our conditioned reflexes are not associations but implica¬
tions.
Here is what he writes. I shall take up some of your
time, gentlemen, because he devotes three pages to the
point.
“Implication is a process which is indispensable to our
needs of adaptation. Without it we would not be able to
avail ourselves of our experience. Our life would resemble
Sisyphean labours: no acquisition would help us properly
to choose the mode of further behaviour. Indeed, what would
actually occur if we did not tend to ascribe necessity to the
combinations and connections which arise before us, if we
were not inclined to regard as indispensable attributes the
qualities of the object we meet for the first time? How would
we react to it if we met it a second time?”—Do you get
the point?—“For example, we find a fruit in the forest and
taste it. It is sour and unpleasant. Our spirit does not limit
itself to associating the acidity with the form and colour of
the fruit to a degree that would evoke memory of the acid-

613
ity upon meeting the fruit again.” Thug, you see, for some
reason it does not limit itself. It would seem that this is
precisely what happens, that we do recollect that tne sour
taste is connected with the appearance. But Claparede af¬
firms that it “does not limit itself.”
What does this mean? How can this be brought into
accord? We recall that the acidity in question is connected
with the form and the colour; however, according to Clapa¬
rede, the matter is nqt confined to this.
Further, he states: “If this implication were not itself im¬
plicated in the first relation e.xperienced by us, then what
basis would there be for a reaction in future?” What is
this? Word-play? Instead of saying that these phenomena
are interconnected, he affirms that if they were not impli¬
cated in this relation we should have no basis for further
reaction! This is something incomprehensible.
A veritable deluge of words follows.
“Implication is based on the law of reproduction of the
analogous which expresses the fact that the individual tries
to repeat the previously favourable reactions of the past, to
repeat them under identical or analogous situations. At the
same time implication is a principle of generalization and
induction which takes place in accordance with the law of
reproduction of the analogous.”
Reading this one would say: “Good gracious! What pro¬
found wisdom! It passes my comprehension.” In reality,
however, this is sheer nonsense, nothing but a cloudy haze.
I beg your pardon, later on you will see this for yourselves.
The ordinary man would think: “Evidently I lack educa¬
tion. That is why I know nothing about this and cannot
understand it.” But my conviction is that this is simply
playing with words.. ..
“The reaction to a new situation on the basis of old ex¬
perience—‘experience meaning association’—clearly shows
us that implication roots in the motor layers of being.” What
is one to make of all this? {Laughter.) He neither explains
nor proves anything, all he does is to trot out a phrase!

614
 /

But there is worse to come: “One can say that life impli¬
cates implications.” Indeed, this is an intolerable word-play.
What does it mean?
. .. “Implication is not a tardy, evolved and superior phe¬
nomenon ... this is clearly demonstrated by the condi¬
tioned reflexes.” What do you think of that? Are not all con¬
ditioned reflexes gradually formed, developed and reinforced
before our eyes?
“Usually they are regarded as a peremptory argument in
favour of the doctrine of association.” He is most anxious to
uphold this association. And without a moment’s hesitation
our conditioned reflexes and associations are bundled into
implication, with the result that we get not association but
implication.
I have read the three pages and see no grounds for mak¬
ing any distinction between implication and association, es¬
pecially since he is speaking about our facts.
“While implication is determined by the notion of adapta¬
tion, it is governed by the need of adaptation, it produces a
certain action. To implicate means to await; and this, in its
turn, means to strive for that which you await.” Is not this
sheer twaddle? Gentlemen, there are many of you here. Who
can find in these three pages the slightest grounds for mak¬
ing any distinction between associations and these implica¬
tions? So far as I am concerned I fail to see any, although
I have read the passage more than once.
E. A. Asratyan-. The main thing is that he has not
understood the conditioned reflexes.
I. P. Pavlov: No, that is over-simplification. I cannot
agree with you.
... Undoubtedly, this is a special breed of people, a spe¬
cial sphere in which there is no place for genuine thought.
Where it is always buried in the devil knows what. That is
quite clear.
... No, here it is not a matter of lack of knowledge. It is
a matter of playing with words. These gentlemen never
bother about the real meaning of their words, they are

615
unable to give words a concrete sense. That is the main
point. They really have a specific tendency to play with
words, while ignoring reality. Our controversy with CLapa-
rede has been going on for twenty years. You probably
remember that Zeliony translated his first ideas and that
right from the very beginning I resolutely opposed zoo¬
psychology. Now the position is this: we accumulate a multi¬
tude of facts and systematize them, disregarding psychol¬
ogy completely. All this takes place before his eyes, and he
constantly studies it. No, lack of knowledge is out of the
question, since our controversy has been in progress for
more than twenty years.
It follows that psychological thought is quite a peculiar
matter; it does not regard words as signs and does not
observe the principle that in using words one must always
remember the reality implied by them. But Claparede does
not adhere to this rule and has no desire to do so. There
can be no other interpretation.

[CONCERNING KRETSCHMER’S BOOK

PHYSIQUE AND CHARACTER^^n

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON OCTOBER 23, 1935

Academician I. P. Pavlov. . .. Not long ago I took

another look at 'Kretschmer’s book Physique and Character.
I read it when it first came out; at that time I said more
than once that it puzzled me. Kretschmer committed an
error (despite the fact that he is a talented man, and pos¬
sibly even because of his artistic talent) by trying to reduce
all humankind, all the inhabitants of the globe, to two of
his clinical types: schizophrenics and cyclothymics. Of
course, this is a strange approach to the problem: why
should the types which predominate in certain disorders
and which sooner or later find their way to the psychiatric
hospital be regarded as the fundamental human types?

616
 Actually the majority of mankind has no relation whatever
to these hospitals. That is his obvious error; carried away
by the clinic he overlooked the rest of the world.
I failed to understand why all outstanding personalities
must necessarily be regarded either as schizophrenics or
as cyclothymics. I put the same question to others but
nobody could help me to attain comprehension; so I gave
up the attempt as hopeless.
Now, ten years later, when typology has made consider¬
able progress, I decided to read the book once more, but
the task proved impossible, I had to abandon the intention.
It is an absolutely fruitless occupation. His book cannot
be comprehended because it is permeated through and
through with his fundamental error: he wants to reduce
everything to his two types. However, even the dogs showed
us that there exist not two, but at least four types. Besides,
he never deals with normal individuals, does not think or
speak of them.
There is another strange thing about his book. He makes
no distinction between type and character, and that, too, is
a blunder.
Nowadays we firmly adhere to the view that man has
inborn qualities and, on the other hand, qualities that he
has acquired in the course of life. That is clear. Conse¬
quently, if we are dealing with inborn qualities, this would
be a matter of the type of nervous system, and if we are
dealing with character it would be a matter of a combina¬
tion of inborn inclinations and those acquired durini? life¬
time under the influence of diverse impressions.
Therein lies his error: he has confused everything; he
makes no distinction between the study of the inborn type
and the qualities acquired by man in the course of life.
Let us turn now to our dogs. We always relate the study
of types to three phenomena: to the strength of the opposed
nervous processes, to their reciprocal equilibrium (equi¬
librated and unequilibrated types) and, finally, to their
mobility.

617
 On the other hand, we also possess data indicating the
factors which constitute character.
Take, for example, the dog “Ratnitsa.” “Ratnitsa” belongs
to the strong type, but, las the experiments revealed, her
character prevents her from working in an ordinary cham¬
ber, since everything distracts her to no purpose.
We can point to another phenomenon of great importance
for the dog’s character and which imparts to it a strictly
definite physiognomy.
We encountered this phenomenon for the first time some
years ago. We had two dogs which exhibited a strongly
pronounced guarding reflex. They recognized only one per¬
son—their mistress—with whom they were most friendly,
and who could do anything she liked with them. To all
others they were ferociously hostile. But this connection
with the mistress manifested itself only under certain con¬
ditions.
Now let us take the dog “Ussach,” whose behaviour has
been thoroughly studied by us. When placed in the stand
in an isolated chamber with M. in front of him, no one
else could approach him. It was an ordeal to sit beside
M. K. and attend the experiment. The dog would bark furi¬
ously and gave the impression that he would tear me to
pieces were he to break loose.
But the moment it was led out of the room, its attitude
to people abruptly changed. What convincing proof of adap¬
tation to definite conditions! ^
At the rnoment V. has a similar kind of dog in his
laboratory, and none but he can treat it, since it is ready to
bite anyone who tries to approach.
Consequently, this is a particular dog and its behaviour
underlies a special trait in its character—its ferocity.
An interesting point is that there is a special condition
which reconciles the dog to V. K.—the noose of a rope
thrown around its neck with the end held by V. K. At first
nobody could approach this animal. Then the noose was
thrown round its neck through the grille of the cage, with

618
V. iK. holding the end of the rope. It was this act that gave
him potwer over the dog. From that time on he was able to
lead the dog, to make it obey orders, etc. Thus you see
to what a great degree this is specialized.
In this connection I recall la past impression. In the
courtyard of our house in Ryazan we kept a dog in a ken¬
nel. Since we wanted it to be a good watch-dog not every¬
body was allowed to approach it. The janitor alone was
accorded the privilege of chaining and unchaining it. It
was ready to tear anybody else who would try to approach
it. But a dog of this kind rushes at everybody only when
it is chained; the moment the chain is taken off, it pays no
attention to anyone, it simply enjoys its freedom.
Thus we have here, on the one hand, a pronounced trait
of the character, and, on the other hand, an acquired quality.
The guarding reflex is an excellent illustration of a trait
of character, but not of type. Similarly, the passive-defen-
sive reflex is not a trait of type, but of character, and is
acquired in the course of life.

[THE INFLUENCE OF THE IDEALISTIC WORLD OUTLOOK

ON THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENTISTS TOWARDS THE THEORY
OF CONDITIONED REFLEXES]

EXTRACT FROM THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE “WEDNESDAY,”

HELD ON NOVEMBER 6, 1935

Academician /. P. Pavlov: As you are aware—I men¬

tioned this in dealing with the history of the theory of con¬
ditioned reflexes—our conditioned reflexes encounter strong
opposition in the heads of those imbued with dualism. What
is taking place here is a collision between physiological law
and psychological law, between the dualistic conception and
the monistic conception of man. I am speaking of the fact
which I pointed out a long time ago and which I recently
included in my lectures at the Institute for Perfection of
Physicians. The attitude of some people to our physiology

619
of the higher nervous activity—land who will deny that this is
physiology?—is quite different. You probably remember that
in my first Laboratory for the study of conditioned reflexes
one of my colleagues resented our attempts, our
new methods of studying the behaviour of dogs. He is
still going strong and feels somewhat ashamed when we
meet.
On the other hand, the Englishman Sherrington displays
similar scepticism. In 1912, in the course of conversation
he said to me: “You know, your conditioned reflexes would
hardly be popular in Britain, because of their materialistic
flavour,” because they oppose the dualistic concept. There
you have the reason for his unbelief; this is confirmed by
the lectures*®'* which he delivered last year and in which
he manifested his dualistic concept by affirming that man
is a complex of two substances: the supreme spirit and the
sinful body. Strange as it may seem for a modern physiol¬
ogist, he clearly says that there is probably no connection
between the mind and the brain. ...
. . . We must understand that the conditioned reflexes
occupy an exceptional place in the world of physiology
because there is a dislike for them on the part of many who
have a dualistic world outlook. This is quite obvious. The
conditioned reflexes force their way to the forefront. They
wage a continuous fight against this dualism which, of
course, does not surrender.
This is seen in greater or lesser degree from the fact that
the conditioned reflexes are accepted by physiologists with
a certain reluctance. Strange as it may seem, many phys¬
iologists, authors of text-books, do not cite any data con¬
cerning our experiments with conditioned reflexes. Not long
ago Heber’s reputable manual was translated in Moscow;
this manual makes no mention of the conditioned reflexes.
In view of this, Prof. Shaternikov, the editor, specially com¬
missioned one of us to write .a chapter on the subject. The
same thing can be observed in other text-books where prac¬
tically no mention is made of conditioned reflexes. This

620
shows how deeply dualism is rooted in the minds of sci¬
entists.
In the category of such scientists one can include, for
instance, Mr. Bethe, a rather prominent German physiologist
from Frankfort on the Main. I think that his battle against
conditioned reflexes has led him to commit a serious error in
his work, although, generally speaking, he is an able man.
E. is now correcting him; this, naturally, will put him
to shame and make him remember that his general world
outlook should not be brought into scientific thought. For
the time being these are quite different things.
Bethe destroyed the extremities of dogs partially or fully
and in various combinations.
Naturally, after each mutilation the dogs were disabled
for a time, depending on the operation. Subsequently, how¬
ever, the disability was gradually obliterated, and the dogs
recovered their ability to move, sometimes even in a quite
satisfactory way; in other words, their locomotion was
restored.
But this can be observed in human beings. And, as I have
already said, these experiments were undertaken to no
purpose whatever. When Bethe described them in Stockholm
in 1926, I, sinner that I am, was indignant: what on earth
makes you mutilate the unfortunate dogs? It is of no value
at all and it does not prove anything.
The entire mass of human beings know this from their
own experience. Was it worth while then to cripple twenty
or thirty dogs merely for the sake of reproducing this fact?
Bethe’s analysis of this phenomenon as applied to dogs
is very simple. He ascribes everything to the plasticity of
the spinal cord. It is a well-known fact that any mutilation
becomes levelled out with the passage of time. But to this
he added the words: “This must be ascribed to some mysteri¬
ous property (since it is without further analysis) of the
spinal cord.” This is what all his works and all his talk
about plasticity is reduced to. I am likewise inclined to see
in this a manifestation of dualism. After all, what did he

621
achieve by his absolutely useless experiments? Nothing,
and yet he found some followers. There is no gain here at
all, only idle talk. The dualistic ardour directed against
monism, which manifests itself in our conditioned reflexes,
has clouded Bethe’s mind do the degree that the idea of the
necessity of devoting attention to the conditioned reflexes
did not even enter his mind. But, as a matter of fact, every¬
thing he said about the plasticity of the spinal cord is fully
applicable to our cortical conditioned reflexes as well. Con¬
sequently, the first thing that needed doing, had he not been
under the spell of the dualistic world outlook, and had he
paid attention to our conditioned reflexes, was to put the
question, after the dogs had learned to move again and
recovered their faculty of locomotion: will they preserve
this faculty if their cerebral hemispheres are removed? Had
he done so everything would have been reduced to the con¬
ditioned reflexes of the cortex. But he did not do that. E. A.
did so, and he proved to be absolutely right. All the dogs
recover their locomotion with the help of the cerebral hemi¬
spheres, i.e., with the help of the conditioned reflexes. If a
mutilated dog which has subsequently learned to move
anew, is deprived of the cerebral hemispheres, it will
become an incurable invalid.
So you see how Bethe plays on words, being fully satis¬
fied with them, how be uses the term “plasticity” and rests
content with it.
That is a very instructive fact....
NOTES AND COMMENTARY
 II

WORKS ON BLOOD CIRCULATION

AND THE TROPHIC ACTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

I. P. Pavlov’s works on the circulation of the blood relate to the

earliest period of his activity (1874-1889); they are of great interest
since they reveal true richness of observation, perfect technique of
investigation, as well as audacity and originality in formulating the
problems. In this experimental research the great physiologist, long
before many foreign scientists, elucidated new and still unknown
aspects of the reflex regulation of blood circulation. The fundamental
idea of this research was the concept of auto-regulation of blood circu¬
lation in the integral organism aimed at maintaining the blood pres¬
sure at a definite level corresponding to the given conditions. This
concept was confirmed by the discovery of centripetal nerves which
reflexly accelerate the cardiac activity and thereby increase the blood
pressure; their existence was first established in the work of I. P. Pav¬
lov and V. N. Veiiky. This discovery was an important addition to
the so-called depressor nerve (i.e., the nerve declining the blood
pressure) previously discovered by the Russian scientist Cyon and by
K. Ludwig, a nerve the excitation of which provokes in a reflex way
retardation of the cardiac activity and dilation of the vascular system.
It is worth noting that Pavlov’s first works on blood circulation
revealed his tendency to treat the organism as a single whole; they also
reveal the exceptional importance which he attached to the nervous
system in the regulation of the organism’s functions.
Pavlov’s ideas concerning the centripetal (sensory) nerves of the
vascular system and of the internal organs, first formulated in these
works, were, further developed in the works of his disciple. Academi¬
cian K. M Bykov and his colleagues.
’0 This abstract of a paper prepared by V. N. Veliky and I. P. Pav¬
lov was published in the Collected Papers of the St. Petersburg Society
of Naturalists, 1874, Vol. V, p. 66. The problem of a reflex intensifica¬
tion of the cardiac activity and of an increase of the blood pressure
was raised in this paper for the first time. In bis student days
V. N. Veliky (afterwards professor of the Tomsk University) worked
with Pavlov in the laboratory of the prominent physiologist and his¬
tologist Academician F. V. Ovsiannikov. p. 65
>' N. accessorius Wiliisi—the eleventh pair of craniocerebral
nerves. p. 65
*2 Ganglion steliatum—the star-shaped ganglion, a big sympathetic
ganglion from which the sympathetic nerves accelerating the cardiac
activity originate. p. 65

40—773 625
 » The inferior laryngeal nerve and the pneumogastric nerve, p. 65

H The article “Experimental Data Concerning the Accommodating

Mechanism of the Blood Vessels” was published in Pfluger’s Archtv
fur die gesamte Physiologie, Vol. 16, 1877, pp. 266-271. This wor
elucidates the idea of a reflex accommodation of the cardiac and vas¬
cular activity. The laboratory headed by Professor A. O. Ustimovich
wa-s one of the first Russian experimental laboratories m the sphere
of physiology. Already this work reveals Pavlov’s tendency, so char¬
acteristic of all his subsequent activity, to carry out investigations
“on non-intoxicated intact dogs.” P-
15 Karl Ludwig—outstanding physiologist-experimentalist of the
19th century. The object of his research was blood circulation. Many
Russian physiologists, among them I. M. Sechenov and I. P.
worked in his laboratory. P’
16 Curarization—a motor paralysis brought about by the Introduc¬
tion of curWe into the organism. Curare, a poison used by Indians on
thedr arrow tips, prevents the transmission of excitation from the
nerves of the muscles. P-
1^ N. ischiadicus—the sciatic nerve; contains numerous afferent, i.e.,
sensory, fibres. P'
18 The paper “Concerning Trophic Innervation” was read by Pavlov
at a session dedicated to the 50th anniversary of scientific and med¬
ical activity of A. A. Nechayev, held on December 31, 1920 at the
Obukhov hospital. It was published in the “Symposium of Scientific
Works Dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of Scientific and Medical
Activity of Prof. A. A. Nechayev,” Part I, Petrograd, 1922.
The theory of the trophic action of the nerves, i.e., of their capacHy
to increase or decrease the vitality of tissues, is closely connected with
the observations described by Pavlov as early as 1883 in his doctor’s
dissertation “The Centrifugal Nerves of the Heart.” He discovered that
along with nervous influences accelerating or retarding the cardiac
activity there are nervous influences of the state of the heart’s func¬
tional activity. Subsequently, the immense experience accumulated by
Pavlov as a result of his observations on the effects of operations per¬
formed o)n the internal organs of dogs (“trophic reflexes,” according
to Pavlov), as well as his numerous observations on the changes which
take place in the composition of the saliva under the influence of the
secretory nerves, confirmed the existence of a trophic influence of the
nervous system.
This theory greatly influenced the development of normal and
pathological physiology by Soviet physiologists and clinicians, p. 74

626
 Ill

WORKS ON DIGESTION

The present edition reproduces the first and the last chapters of
I. P. Pavlov’s classical work Lectures on the Work of the Principal
Digestive Glands. These lectures were delivered first at the Institute
of Experimental Medicine, and later repeated in a concise form at the
Military Medical Academy. Their publication in 1897 brought Pavlov
world-wide fame; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his
works on digestion—the highest scientific award of that time. Pavlov
was the first to apply strict asepsis in physiological experimentation
and to elaborate delicate surgical methods, as well as highly com¬
plicated operations on different parts of the digestive canal; this
enabled him to study the secretion of digestive juices in conditions
of normal activity of the animal organism, taking into consideration
the finest relations between the functions of the different organs and
the influence of the external environment. In the course of ten years
Pavlov actually created anew the modern physiology of digestion. At
the same time these works marked the beginning of a new surgical
trend in experimental biology. They have played and still play a
prominent role in the solution of important practical problems in
medicine and animal husbandry. Thanks to the application of Pavlov’s
methods, the Soviet physiologists have made a considerable contribu¬
tion to the knowledge of the laws of digestion and livestock feeding.
The first, introductory lecture describes the new methods of integral
study of physiological processes in conditions of a chronic experi¬
ment. The eighth and last lecture gives a profound theoretical inter¬
pretation of the material, shows the causal dependence of the secretory
and motor activity of each section of the digestive canal, the biological
expediency, and the adaptability of the glandular activity to the given
alimentary conditions.
The lectures distinctly reveal Pavlov’s constant tendency to link the
results of physiological research with the practical tasks of the clinic.
Briicke—a prominent German physiologist of the !9th cen¬
tury. p. 86
Claude Bernard (1813-1878)—celebrated French physiologist, one
of the founders of experimental physiology. The method of obtaining
pancreatic juice was described by him in his book Legons de physiologic
operatoire, 1879. p. 87
Rudolf Heidenhain—outstanding German physiologist who
devoted much attention to the study of digestion. In 1884-1886, while
on a scientific mission abroad, Pavlov worked in Heidenhain’s labo¬
ratory. Heidenhain actually repeated the operation of a permanent
pancreatic fistula which Pavlov had performed earlier. p. 88

40* 627
 22 The American physician Beaumont studied for nine years the
process of digestion in the organism of a Canadian hunter whose
stomach had an unhealable fistula as a result of an accidental wound^
His work was published in Boston in 1834. P-
23 In 1889 Minkovsky (jointly with Mehring) extirpated the pan¬
creas for the first time and proved the connection of diabetes with the
activity of this gland. Minkovsky also studied the external pancreatic
p. 102
secretion.
24 The operation of a fistula between the inferior vena cava and
the vena portae, or of the so-called Eck fistula, was proposed by the
Russian surgeon Eck in 1877. The method of the operation consists
in the formation of a communication between the two veins in ques¬
tion and in a simultaneous ligature of the vena portae above the fistula.
Owing to this, the blood current is transmitted from the alimentary
canal direct into the inferior vena cava, without passing through the
liver. Pavlov thoroughly studied the effect on the organism of the ex¬
clusion of the liver and made considerable improvements in the method
of the fistula operation; consequently, this operation must be actually
called the Eck-Pavlov fistula. (See the following works by I. P. Pavlov:
“The Eck Fistula Between the Inferior Vena Cava and the Vena Por¬
tae, and Its Effect on the Organism” (jointly with M. Gan, V. Massen
and M. Nentsky), Complete Works, Vol. V, 1949, pp. 3-25; “A Modifica¬
tion in the Operation of an Eck Fistula Between the Vena Portae and
the Inferior Vena Cava,” Ibid., pp. 34-35; “Remarks on the Eck Fistula
from the Surgical Point of View,” Ibid., pp. 36—38.) p. 102
25 Pavlov’s Nobel speech was first published in the symposium
“Les prix de Nobel en 1904,” Stockholm, 1905. This speech expounds
the fundamental principles of the physiology of digestion from the
integral biological point of view which became predominant in this
branch of science thanks to the works of I. P. Pavlov and his-school;
in addition, the Nobel speech is of considerable interest since it estab¬
lishes a direct succession between Pavlov’s study of the digestive
process and his passage in the beginning of the 20th century to the
study of the higher nervous activity. P- 129
23 In vitro—literally in glass, i.e., outside the organism. p. 130
22 pia desideria (Latin)—pious desires. P- 138
28 Markel Vilhelmovich Nentsky (1847-1901)—celebrated biochemist.
From 1891 to 1901 he was in charge of a division at the Institute of
Experimental Medicine. Pavlov, jointly with M. Nentsky, carried out
a number of investigations relating to the role of the liver in the
formation of urea in the organism. The works of M. Nentsky on the
chemical relationship between the blood pigment of animals—haemoglo¬
bin. and the vegetable pigment of plants—chlorophyll, were highly
appreciated by K. A. Timiryazev. P- 140

628
 IV
THE PROBLEM OF THE STUDY
OF HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY AND THE WAYS
OF ITS EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION

*9 This speech was delivered at a plenary session of the Interna¬

tional Medical Congress in Madrid, in April 1903. It was first pub¬
lished in the “Proceedings of the Military Medicai Academy” 1903
p. 103,
Having elaborated special methods for the study of reflex relations
in the organism and of the secretion of the digestive glands in a
practically normal animal, Pavlov already in his works on digestion
pointed out the possibility of “psychical secretion” along with the
secretion conditioned by purely physiological factors. At the end of
the nineties, Pavlov began his experimental study of the mechanism
of “psychical secretion.”
The famous Madrid speech contains the maximum programme which
the great creator of the theory of the higher nervous activity set him¬
self and which he consistently and steadfastly carried out in the thirty-
three years of his subsequent purposeful scientific activity. This
speech fully revealed I. P. Pavlov’s materialistic attitude towards
psychical phenomena: he considered psychical activity from the bio¬
logical, evolutionary point of view and rejected the “mechano-physical”
and vitalist views.
It is in-this article that Pavlov first gave his definition of the con¬
ditioned and unconditioned reflexes p. I5i

30 Teleology—a theory proclaiming that all phenomena existing

m the world are conditioned by the influence of forces which direct
them to predetermined ultimate goals.
p. 154
Animism—a theory recognizing the existence of souls in inanimate
objects. Pavlov considered animism equivalent to idealism. p. 154

V
METHODS OF INVESTIGATION
AND FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF DEVELOPMENT

** The “Lectures on the Work of the Cerebral Hemispheres” were

delivered by I. P. Pavlov at the Military Medical Academy in the
spring of 1924 for physicians and biologists. They were published in
1926 and republished without any changes in 1927 and 1937.

629
 In the preface to the third edition Pavlov characterized the “Lec¬
tures” as . a fundamental exposition of our facts, systematized for
the first time, it covers more than three-quarters of the entire period
of our work in the field of the physiology and pathology of the higher
nervous activity.”
In his "Lectures” Pavlov substantiated the physiological mecha¬
nisms which determine the properties of the higher nervous aetivity and
indicated the vast prospects of utilizing laboratory experience in the
neurological and psychiatric clinics. Since the factual material con¬
tained in these lectures was subsequently considerably supplemented
by further research, which was generalized by Pavlov in correspond¬
ing articles and papers, the present edition contains only the first two
chapters, brilliantly illustrating the history of the problem and the
Pavlovian method of studying the higher nervous activity. p. 171
Munk and Perrier studied the functions of different parts of the
cerebral cortex; they showed that the cortical zones, which do not react
to electrical stimulations, perform definite functions, confined to the
given region and connected with the reception of external stimuli (the
visual zone, the auditory zone, etc.). Munk was the first to establish the
existence of cortical regions with more complex sensory functions;
the derangement of their integrity leads to the so-called “psychical”
blindness or deafness when the patient sees the objects but can neither
recognize nor name them. See also the article “Summary of Results
of the Experiments with Extirpation of Different Parts of the Cere¬
bral Hemispheres by the Method of Conditioned Reflexes,” published in
this edition. p. 172
William James (1842-1910)—American psychologist, founder of
the philosophy of pragmatism. p. 174
®5 Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)—celebrated German physiologist
and psychologist. He advocated that in studying the psychical activity
of animals we should proceed from our own mental activity.
p. 174
®® Rene Descartes (1596-1650)—celebrated French philosopher and
naturalist, a mechanist in the sphere of natural science and an ideal¬
ist in philosophy. He was the first to establish the notion of reflex as an
automatic reaction of the organism to an external stimulation, a reac¬
tion which takes place due to the transmission of excitation by the
nerves to the brain. The mechanist nature of this notion was com¬
bined by Descartes with the concept of a human “intelligent soul.”
See also the article “Reply of a Physiologist to Psychologists” pub¬
lished in this edition. p. 174
 ” Charles Sherrington—English physiologist known for his re¬
search concerning the reflex function of the spinal cord. His philo¬
sophical outlook IS thoroughly idealistic. Pavlov’s attitude to Sherring-
563-69)! ^ “Wednesday” gatherings (see pp.

38 Magnus—well-known Dutch physiologist who showed that the

dispfacetnent of an animal in space (its “locomotor activity”) and the
distribution of tension (tonus) in the skeletal muscles are connected
with reflex reactions, whose centres are located in the brain stem and
the cerebellum. p J75
Comparative physiology is a branch of physiology which studies
the functions of animal organisms at various levels of evolutionary
development with the aim of disclosing the peculiarities of the unity
of the organisms and of the environment at different stages of evolu¬
tion, of ^ determining the fundamental factors of development and
reproducing the picture of evolution of physiological functions.

p. 176
The theory of animal tropism was elaborated by the American
physiologist-mechanist J. Loeb. According to. Loeb, an organism exists
in a medium with various lines of force (luminous rays, diffusive cur¬
rents in the case of chemotaxis, etc.). The symmetrical structure of their
bodies obliges the animals to orient them relative to these lines of
force; otherwise one of the sides would be subjected to greater
influence and this would lead to an intensification of physicochemical
changes on this side, and would provoke more intensified movements.
This is why animals always move to the source of stimulation along
the straight line.
Loeb did not limit himself to lower animals; he applied his con¬
cepts also to higher animals emphasizing the forced character of their
movements. He tried to explain the effect of a stimulus by its action
on the muscular system of one of the symmetrical sides through the
sense organs. Similarly he sought to explain by means of tropism
even more complicated processes, such as instincts and conditioned
reflexes, which he reduced to primitive physicochemical reactions, p. 176

Herbert Jennings—.American zoologist, known for his research

into the physiology of reproduction and behaviour of lower animals.
He was close to behaviourism, and his philosophical views approx¬
imated to pragmatism. Here, apparently, Pavlov has in mind his

631
 work published in 1906 and entitled Behaviour of the Lower
Organisms. P- 176
« E. Thorndike—American psychologist, one of the founders of
“behaviourism,” a trend in comparative psychology. (See note 44.)

Thorndike believed that apes and other animals solve any new
problems arising before them by the method of numerous “trials and
errors.” Definite appropriate movements, accidentally effected by them,
are fixed owing to associations which either persist or, on the con¬
trary, disappear, depending on subsequent e.xperience.
Pavlov had a high opinion of his research, which he regarded as
the first attempt by a psychologist to make an objective study of the
psychical activity of animals and as renunciation of the anthropomor¬
phic views which attribute human motives to the behaviour of animals
(see Pavlov’s statements at the “Wednesday” gatherings). However,
striving to give a single and universal explanation of habits, learn¬
ing and intellect at all levels of evolution, Thorndike equalized all
animals and denied the existence of specific properties of human
psychical activity.
p. 176

Concerning this episode Pavlov in his preface to Twenty Years

of Objective Study of the Higher Nervous Activity (Behaviour) of
Animals wrote: “I began to investigate the question of this (psy¬
chical—Ed.) stimulation of the salivary glands with my colleagues, Drs.
S. G. Wolfson and A. T. Snarsky. While Wolfson collected new and
important facts relating to the peculiarities of the psychical stimulation
of the salivary glands, Snarsky undertook to analyse the internal
mechanism of the stimulation from the subjective point of view, i.e.,
he assumed that the internal world of the dog (we performed our
experiments on dogs)—its thoughts, feelings and desires—is analo¬
gous to ours. It was this that brought us face to face with an incident
which had no precedent in our laboratory. We considerably diverged
in our interpretation of this internal world; further attempts failed to
bring us to a common conclusion, contrary to the usual laboratory
practice, according to which new experiments undertaken by mutual
consent generally led to a settlement of all differences and disputes.
Dr. Snarsky clung to his subjective interpretation of the phenomena,
while I, astonished at the fantastic character and scientific barrenness
of this approach to the problem, began to seek for another way out
from this difficult situation.” p. 177
Behaviourists—zoopsychologists who advocate behaviourism (a
derivative from the word “behaviour”). The theory of behaviourism
appeared as a reaction dgainst the hitherto existing anthropomorphic

632
notions of the psychical activity of animals. The behaviourists strove
to study the behaviour of man and animals by objective methods and
to exclude from their explanation of the behaviour all psychological
notions connected with consciousness (sensation, attention, will, etc.).
From the point of view of the behaviourists, consciousness is behaviour
and nothing else. They considered that their task was to study the
relations between the stimulus and the reaction to it. The behaviour¬
ists utilized Pavlov’s theory of conditioned reflexes; however, they
simplified it and rendered it primitive, since they did not take into
account the laws of the higher nervous activity disclosed by Pavlov
and connected with the peculiarities of the physiological processes in
the central nervous system. The behaviourists were equally incapable
of appreciating the Pavlovian concept of the second signalling system,
which qualitatively distinguishes the human psychical activity from
that of animals. p j^g

« The depressor nerve terminates in the walls of the initial part

of the aorta. Its excitation, as proved by the investigations of Cyon,
the Russian physiologist, provokes a reflex dilation of the vessels
and a decline of the blood pressure, i.e., a depressor effect. P-.181

« V. I. Vartanov (1853-1919)—outstanding Russian physiologist.

Professor at the Petrograd Women’s Medical Institute. p. 194

Bahnung—the formation of a path in the nervous system, the

facilitation of conduction of a certain reflex reaction as a result of
its frequent repetition. p 197

« Pavlov’s famous speech “Natural Science and the Brain’’, was

delivered at the plenary session of the Twelfth Congress of Naturalists
and Physicians in Moscow on December 28, 1909. It was first pub¬
lished in the Journal of the Congress of Naturalists and Physicians
in 1909.

In this speech Pavlov substantiated the necessity of an objective

approach to the study of psychics and brilliantly characterized the
significance of conditioned reflexes as a biological act which creates
the necessary conditions for a regular metabolism between the organ¬
ism and the external environment. In this speech, along with the
elucidation of the mechanism of a temporary connection, he also for¬
mulated the fundamental law of concentration and irradiation of the
process of excitation in the cerebral cortex.

63S
K. A. Timiryazev highly appraised Pavlov’s speech.
p. 206

« The notion of “unconscious conclusions’’ was introduced by

Helmholtz to designate the reactions elaborated as a result of repeat¬
edly evoking a definite situation forgotten by a man. Owing to this
the reactions penetrate unconsciously, against one’s will. Helmholtz
considered that the process of "unconscious conclusions," being the
most elementary in the nervous activity, underlies the process of think¬
ing. (See his book Physiologisctie Optik, second edition, p. 601.)
p. 215

5“ The article “ ‘Pure Physiology’ of the Brain” was a paper origin¬

ally prepared by Pavlov for the Congress of Psychiatrists, Neurolo¬
gists and Psychologists scheduled to be held in Switzerland in
August 1914, but postponed on account of the outbreak of the war.
The article was first published in the Russian magazine Nature, No. 1,
1917, pp. 27-38. p. 220

Edouard Claparede. Professor of Psychology of Geneva Univer¬

sity, was the president of the Organizing Committee of the Congress
of Neurologists and Psychologists which was to be held in 1914.
Pavlov refers to Claparede’s article “La psychologie comparee est-elle
legitime?” (“Is the Existence of Comparative Psychology Justified?”)
published in the Archive de Psychologie, Vol. V, 1905, p. 13. See
also Pavlov’s statement at the “Wednesday” gathering of March 27,
1935 (p. 611). 0. 220

The article “Relation Between Excitation and Inhibition, Delimi¬

tation Between Excitation and Inhibition, Experimental Neuroses in
Dogs” was published in the Skandinavische Archiv fur Physiologie,
Vol. 47, 1926, pp. 1-14, and was dedicated to the memory of Robert
Tiegerstedt, a well-known physiologist, professor of Helsingfors (Hel¬
sinki) University. The article appeared in Russian in the book
Twenty Years of Objective Study of the Higher Nervous Activity
(Behaviour) of Animals, 4th ed., 1928.
The article is of special interest, since it characterizes the evolu¬
tion of Pavlov’s views and gives a detailed, analysis of one of the
fundamental problems of the theory of conditioned 'reflexes, namely,

634
of the problem of the relations between the processes of excitation
and inhibition in the cerebral cortex. It also stresses the importance
of the law of irradiation of the inhibitory process in the cerebral cor¬
tex discovered by Pavlov.
According to Pavlov, it is precisely the relations between the
excitatory and inhibitory processes, or their equilibrium, which deter¬
mine all our behaviour, the normal and the pathological. p. 231
This refers to the Skandinavische Archiv fur Physmlogie. p. 231
5^ Pavlov implies here the centres in the brain stem and in the
cerebellum which regulate the displacement of the animal in space,
as well as the equilibration and distribution of the muscular tension
in the skeletal musculature. p. 243
Pierre Janet—French psychologist and psycho-pathologist. Pro¬
fessor of Psychology at the College de France, Paris. He showed that
the pathological phenomena which are observed in neuroses are of
a psychogenic origin, i.e., are not accompanied by pathologico-anatom-
ical changes. Janet was the first to establish the form of neurosis
known as psychasthenia and connected with the weakening of the
psychical tonus. In respect of his gnosiological views Janet is close
to the philosophy of subjective idealism. p. 243
Nikolai Evgenievich Wedensky (1852-1922)—brilliant Russian
physiologist, professor of Petersburg University. Studying the devel¬
opment of excitation in the nerve fibres he demonstrated that excita¬
tion and inhibition are stages of a single excitatory process in the
protoplasm of nervous formations both of a peripheral and central
origin. Wedensky’s classical work Excitation, Inhibition and Narcosis
was published in 1901 and marked the beginning of a new progressive
trend in the theory of the physiological nature of the inhibitory process
as a stage of development of a single excitatory process.
Although Pavlov did not agree with certain points of Wedensky’s
concept, he highly valued his researches. In one of his works {The
Latest Successes of the Objective Study of the Highest Nervous Activity
in Animals) Pavlov wrote: “...while investigating these deviations
in the direction of the preponderance of the inhibitory process and
the weakening of the excitatory, we found that one of the discoveries
of our distinguished, late physiologist N. E. Wedensky was absolutely
justified. Wedensky did much to advance the physiology of the nerv¬
ous system; he succeeded in bringing to light important facts, but
for some reason he has not received due recognition in foreign sci¬
entific literature. He is the author of the book Excitation. Inhibition
and Narcosis in which he described the changes in the nerve fibres
caused by strong stimuli and distinguished several phases of these
changes. It proves now that these peculiar phases are entirely repro¬
duced also by the nerve cells if there is an intense collision between the

635
processes of excitation and inhibition. I have no doubt that after this
the researches of Wedensky will receive the recognition they merit”
(I. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, Vol. Ill, 1949, pp. 331-332). p. 244
The article “The Conditioned Reflex,” written by Pavlov in 1934
for the Big Medical Encyclopedia, gives an exceptionally profound and
extensive review of the theory of conditioned reflexes, and shows the
tremendous general biological importance of the principle of temporary
connection, as well as the significance for psychology and psycho¬
pathology of the objective method of studying the higher nervous
activity in animals. p. 245
See note 33. P- 246
The law of Weber and Fechner establishes a numerical inter¬
relation between the intensity of stimulation and the strength of sen¬
sation. According to this law,, the strength of sensation increases in
proportion to the logarithm of the intensity of stimulation and not
parallel to the variations of its absolute value. p. 246
See note 35. p. 246
See note 42. p. 247
See note 47. p. 249
See article “Open Letter to Pierre Janet.”
p. 265
See note 83. p. 265
«5 See note 138. p. 266
See note 87. p. 266
The term circularity is usually employed to denote a peculiar
constitution of the psychics which manifests itself in periodical fluc¬
tuations of mood. When these fluctuations overstep the normal limits,
disorder sets in—the manic-depressive psychosis (see note 86). p. 269
See note 84. p. 269
See note 86. p. 269
^® The article “Physiology of the Higher Nervous Activity”
represents Pavlov’s address to the Fourteenth International Congress
of Physiology in Rome on September 2, 1932. p. 271
The German physiologist F. Goltz, for the first time on record
(1892L succeeded in keeping alive several dogs in which both cerebral
hemispheres had been extirpated. The animals were able to move and
to eat; they preserved their sense of smell, hearing, cutaneous sensi¬
bility and the muscular sense. They reacted to light but did not distin¬
guish the objects. In 1912, at Pavlov’s request, an operation for the
removal of both cerebral hemispheres in dogs was carried out in
his laboratory by G. P. Zeliony. The experiments proved that elabora-

636
tion of conditioned reflexes in such animals after complete recovery
from the bilateral extirpation of the cerebral cortex, was impossible.
p. 272
The case of the “famous patient” was described by Dr. Striimpel
of Leipzig. I. M. Sechenov cited this case as proving the fundamental
idea of his brilliant work Reflexes of the Brain, according to which
“all acts of conscious and unconscious life are reflexes by the nature
of their origin.”
In 1900 Sechenov wrote: “A case of this kind was recorded by
physicians in Germany. It concerned a young man all of whose sense
organs, with the exception of one eye and one ear, no longer func¬
tioned, the intact eye and ear being his sole means of communication
with the external world. So long as the eye could see and the ear
hear, he remained in an alert state. But whenever the physicians,
in the course of experimentation, closed his intact eye and stopped
his ear, he rapidly fell into a sleeping state from which he could be
awakened by means of sensory influences upon these very organs.”
Sechenov cited a similar case related to him by S. P. Botkin. “The
patient, a woman of education, retained only the sense of touch and
the muscular sense of one of the arms. As testified by the personnel
of the hospital, she was almost continuously in a state of sleep; she
communicated with other people in the following way: a pillow was
placed on her abdomen, then someone would take her hand which
preserved sensibility and passing it over the pillow made her write
the question to which she had to give an answer.... Is it possible,
then, given these facts, to doubt that a wakeful state, wdth the inter¬
change of all kinds of sensations which inevitably accompany it, is
maintained by luminar, acoustic, thermic, olfactory and often mechan¬
ical, external influences upon the sense organs?... The loss of all
senses must necessarily result in complete loss of consciousness,
since consciousness is expressed by none other than sensations of
which the individual is conscious. Complete loss of the senses is
bound to be followed by deep dreamless sleep.” “The Participation
of the Nervous System in the Human Working Movements,” 1900.
I. M. Sechenov. Selected Works, Vol. I, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences,
1952. Moscow, pp. 511-512.
These views of Sechenov are in full accord with the propositions
advanced by I. P. Pavlov. p. 278
The notion of dynamic stereotype was examined in detail by
Pavlov in his article “Dynamic Stereotypy of the Higher Part of the
Brain” (see p. 448 of the present volume). p. 283
Pavlov has in mind his article “Essay on the Physiological Con¬
cept of the Symptomatology of Hysteria” (see p. 5-16 of the present
volume). P- 285

637
 VI
THEORY OF ANALYSERS, LOCALISATION OF FUNCTIONS
AND MECHANISM OF VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS

’•’> The paper “Summary of Results of the Experiments with Extir¬

pation of Different Parts of the Cerebral Hemispheres by the Method
of Conditioned Reflexes” was read in 1911 at a gathering of the Society
of Russian Physicians in Petersburg. It was first published in the
Proceedings of the Society of Russian Physicians in St. Petersburg,
1912-1913.
The combination of the method of conditioned reflexes with the
extirpation of certain parts of the cerebral hemispheres enabled Pavlov
to study the problem of localization of functions in the cerebral cortex
of the dog in quite a new way. An exposition of the principal results
of this study is given in the present article. p. 289
Gyrus sigmoideus, g.g. coronarius and ectosylvius—the sigmoid,
coronal and ectosylvian convolutions situated in the anterior part of
the cerebral cortex of the dog. Stimulation of these cortical zones by
means of an electric current makes the animal’s extremities or trunk
move. p. 294
” The article “Physiological Mechanism of the So-Called Volun¬
tary Movements” was published in the Collected Papers of the Phys¬
iological Laboratories of Academician /. P. Pavlov, Vol. VI, No. 1,
1936. p 306
Kinesthetic stimulations—signals entering the nervous system
from the skeletal muscles. By means of these signals we can judge
of the state of muscular contraction or relaxation, the position of the
extremities, the resistance which they have to overcome, etc. The
significance of the kinesthetic stimulations, which are also called
‘‘muscular sense,” was first demonstrated by Ivan Mikhailovich
Sechenov Kinesthetic cortical cells are those to which impulses are
transmitted along the paths conducting the muscular sense. p. 306
Numerous tricks with the so-called “thought transmission” are
based on this phenomenon. p 308

VII

THEORY OF TYPES

On the basis of the rich experience accumulated in the course of

almost thirty years of work on conditioned reflexes, Pavlov and his school
thoroughly elaborated the typology of the higher nervous activity in dogs.
As pointed out by Pavlov, this typology coincided with the four human
temperaments described by Hippocrates. Already in Pavlov’s Lifetime

638
investigation was started with the aim of elucidating the biological
importance of these types in dogs, as well as the problem of their
transformation and hereditary transmission. At present this work is
carried on at the Pavlov Institute of Higher Nervous Activity in the
village of Pavlovo (formerly Koltushi).
The article “General Types of Animal and Human Higher Nerv¬
ous Activity” was published in the form of a booklet in the series
Latest Papers on the Physiology and Pathology of the Higher Nerv¬
ous Activity, Paper No. Ill, 1935. p. 313
Hippocrates’ four temperaments are implied here. .4 more detailed
description of them is given on p. 340. p. 315
Stereotypy—uniform repetition of definite stimuli in one and the
same succession and of corresponding reactions to them. p. 337
Ernst Kretschmer—German psychiatrist, author of the well-
known book Physique and Character, a dualist in the interpretation
of the psychical activity.

Cyclothymics, according to Kretschmer’s classification, are indi¬

viduals of a sociable, jovial disposition, energetic, sometimes violent;
persons susceptible to manic-depressive psychosis usually belong to
this type (see note 86). p. 340
Schizothymics, according to Kretschmer’s classification, are
individuals of a reserved disposition, absorbed in their internal
world, fantasts; persons susceptible to schizophrenia belong to this
type. p. 340
Manic-depressive, or circular, psychosis—a mental disorder
characterized by interchange of periods of violent excitation and
depression. p. 340
” Schizophrenia—mental disorder which manifests itself in hal¬
lucinations, fantastic emotions, and split personality, however, with
the intellect remaining relatively unchanged. p. 34J

VIII
PROBLEMS OF SLEEP AND HYPNOSIS

The works included in this chapter are a striking example of the

useful role played by the Pavlovian theory in solving problems relat¬
ing to the physiology of the nervous system. Basing himself on labo¬
ratory observations in the course of the elaboration of conditioned

639
reflexes in dogs, Pavlov developed an original theory of sleep, regard¬
ing it as inhibition originating in the cortex and .spreading over
the lower parts of the central nervous system. At the same time he
showed that sleep and hypnosis are one and the same phenomenon,
differing only in intensity and extensity of inhibition,
The Paper “Some Facts About the Physiology of Sleep’’ was
read by Pavlov at a meeting of the Petrograd. Biological Society in
1915. It was first published in French in Comptes rendus de la Society
de Biologie, Vol. 79, 1916, pp. 1079-1084. The sleep of animals, which
had long been an obstacle to the experiments with conditioned reflexes,
itself became the object of investigation. It was found that both sleep
and hypnosis could be evoked in dogs by means of conditioned
reflexes. p. 345
The article "Concerning the So-Called Hypnotism in Animals”
was published as a supplement to the proceedings of the Physics and
Mathematics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of
November 9, 1921. p. 352
Experimentum mirabile—a “miraculous experiment,” which was
first performed in the 17th century by Athanas Kircher. A hen, sud¬
denly placed on her back, remains for a .long time in a state of stupor
and immobility p. 352
The article “Physiology of the Hypnotic State of the Dog” was
first published in the Collected Papers of the Physiological Laborato¬
ries of I. P. Pavlov, Vol. IV, 1932. ^ ' p. 354
Catalepsy—a state of stupor. p. 354

See note 149. p. 355

The subsequent works of Academician K. M. Bykov’s school

showed that the internal organs dispatch nervous impulses to the
brain, signalizing their state; on the basis of these signals it is pos¬
sible to elaborate conditioned reflexes, and the function of the given
organ can be modified by means of conditioned reflex regulation.

p. 363
The motor nerves stretching to the muscles originate in the nerve
cells of the anterior horns of the spinal cord. p. 364
»8 This is a reference to the article “A Brief Essay on the Higher

Nervous Activity” written by Pavlov in 1930. In this article he explained

why under hypnosis it is the strong stimuli which are subjected to
inhibition first (as, for example, in the equalization and paradoxical
phases). He stated that the exhaustion of the cortical cell always
results in the development of an inhibitory process in this cell. Thus
the inhibition irradiating from the cells continually stimulated by the

41—773 640
conditions of the experiment is summated with the inhibition of the
specially stimulated working cell proper and reaches here maximum
intensity” (I. P. Pavlov, Complete Wotks, Vol. Ill, 1949, p. 403). p. 366
A case analogous to war-time neurosis was described by
V. V. Rickman in his article “Disclosure of Earlier Traces of Stimula¬
tion in the Centres of a Defensive Reaction as an Analogue of
Traumatic Neurosis.” {Collected Papers of the I. P. Pavlov Phys¬
iological Laboratories, Vol. IV, 1933, p. 102.) This work shows the
prolonged and heightened excitability of the centres of defensive reac¬
tion after the action of a powerful destructive stimulus, as well as the
conditions which make this state manifest. Hypnotic inhibition of the
cortex is one of these conditions. p. 368
The paper “The Problem of Sleep” was read by Pavlov at a
conference of psychiatrists, neuropathologists and psychoneurologists
in Leningrad in December 1935. The stenographic record of this paper
was first published in the Complete Works of I. P. Pavlov, Vol. I, 1940.
p. 369
Narcolepsy—a periodically appearing overwhelming desire for
sleep. p. 376
1®“ Cataplexy—a state of stupor evoked in certain animals by
extreme fright or arising under the so-called animal hypnotism, i.e.,
when the animal is forcibly kept for a certain period in an unnatural
position. Some_ regard it as a state analogous to catalepsy which is
peculiar to human hypnotic sleep. p. 376

‘®i Fili olfactorii—olfactory fibres extending from the olfactory

bulbs of the brain to the olfactory conches and mucous membrane of
the nasal cavity. p. 375
i®2 Corpora geniculata—geniculated bodies, formations in the
brain stem which represent the intermediate, centres of the auditory
nerves (internal geniculated bodies) and of the optical nerves (exter¬
nal geniculated bodies). p. 379
1®® Encephalitic sleep—pathological sleep developing in a patient
suffering from epidemic encephalitis. p. 380
1®^ Hypothalamus—part of the diencephalon situated under the
optic thalamus and forming the bottom of the third ventricle of the
brain. In the hypothalamus are located the centres of many vegetative
functions of the organism: water metabolism, thermo-regulation, etc.
According to the data of Hess, obtained as a result of the stimulation
of this region by means of an electric current, the “centre of sleep”
is situated here, too. In epidemic encephalitis, which is accompanied
by pathological somnolence, certain changes of the nerve cells are
observed in this region. p. 38O
1®* Rapport—special faculty of a hypnotized person for perceiving

64!
in a selective way exclusively the words of the hypnotist without
maintaining any contact with the rest of the external world. Pavlov
showed that this state is not the exclusive property of hypnotic sleep,
and that it is sometimes also observed in normal sleep. p. 388

IX
PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY

Pavlov considered that the principal object of his study of the

higher nervous activity in animals was to disclose the physiological
laws of human psychical activity and to include psychology in the
sphere of natural sciences. In this, however, he was far from being
inclined to apply in a purely mechanical way to man the laws of
higher nervous activity observed in dogs; he pointed out that the
peculiarities of- the human higher nervous activity “sharply distin¬
guish man from other animals.” He wrote: “It would be the height
of presumption to regard these first steps of the physiology of the
cerebral hemispheres—complete in relation to programme but not to
content—as solving the grandiose problem of that supreme mech¬
anism of human nature.” (Complete Works, Vol. IV, 1949, p. 326.)
Towards the end of his life, Pavlov, basing himself on a thorough
study of human mental pathology and on a profound biological con¬
sideration of the problem of mental evolution, clearly formulated cer¬
tain fundamental physiological distinctions between the higher nerv¬
ous activity of man and that of animals. He wrote; “When the
developing animal world reached the stage of man, an extremely
important addition was made to the mechanisms of the nervous
activity. In the animal, reality is signalized almost exclusively by
stimulations and by the traces they leave in the cerebral hemispheres,
which come directly to the special cells of the visual, auditory or
other receptors of the organism. This is what we, too, possess as
impressions, sensations and notions of the world around us, both the
natural and the social—with the exception of the words heard or
seen. This is the first system of signals of reality common to man
and animals. But speech constitutes a second signalling system of
reality which is peculiarly ours, being the signal of the first signals.
On the one hand, numerous speech stimulations have removed us from
reality, and we must always remember this in order not to distort
our attitude to reality.”
It should be pointed out that objective study of the second signal¬
ling system was but begun by Pavlov. The articles in this chapter
indicate the ways of applying physiological methods to the study of
the laws governing human mental activity. At the same time Pavlov
vigorously combated the animism and dualism of psychologists who
denied the material foundation of the psychical processes.

41* 642
 The paper “Physiology and Psychology in the Study of the
Higher Nervous Activity of Animals” was read at a meeting of the
Petrograd Philosophical Society on November 24, 1916. It was pub¬
lished in the Journal of Psychiatry, No. 6, 1917, pp. 141-146. This
paper combines scientific exactitude with brilliant popularization of
the Pavlovian methods of objective study of the higher nervous activ¬
ity designed for an audience not familiar with biology. The above
journal also published the discussion which followed the reading of
this paper and in which the celebrated neurologist V. M. Bekhterev,
as well as the philosophers-idealists N. O. Lossky, A. I. Wedensky
and others, took part. p. 391

Modest Nikolaievich Bogdanov (1841-1888)—well-known Rus¬

sian zoologist and traveller. Professor of Petersburg University, p. 391

Retina—the part of the eye which is sensitive to light, p. 400

i®** The article “Reply of a Physiologist to Psychologists” was pub¬

lished in the magazine Psychological Review, Vol. 39, No. 2, 1932,
in connection with the works referred to in the text, naniely, the
article by Guthrie “Conditioning as a Principle of Learning” and
Lashley’s “Basic Neural MecTianisms in Behaviour.” In this article
Pavlov gave a particularly exhaustive for.mulation of the fundamental
methodological principles underlying the reflex theory—the prin¬
ciple of determinism, the principle of analysis and synthesis, and the
structural principle
In his reply published in Volume 41 of the same magazine (“The
Pavlovian Theory of Conditioned Reflexes”), Guthrie expressed his
idealistic concepts in even more distinct form, insisting that it is
impossible to disclose the nature of psychological processes by objec¬
tive physiological methods. p. 409

no Pavlov repeatedly pointed to the indispensable existence of inter¬

nal analysers (see his articles: “Summary of Results of the Experiments
with Extirpation of Dillerent Parts of the Cerebral Hemispheres by the
Method of Conditioned Reflexes” and “The Physiology of the Hypnotic
State of the Dog”) Whereas the external analysers link the organism
with the external world, the internal analysers, which receive signals
from all the organs and systems of the animal, enable the latter “to
analyse also that which takes place inside it.” , p. 412

m That is, proceeds not from experimental facts, but from a pre¬
conceived point of view. P- 419

643
 Receptor apparatus—the sense organs or the sensory nerve
endings. p. 423

11-' Afferent nerves—sensory or centripetal nerves conducting the

excitation to the central nervous system. P- 423

iis Efferent or centrifugal nerves conduct the impulses from the

central nervous system td the effector organs (muscles, glands, etc.).
p. 423

The central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord) con¬
sists of the white matter—the nervous fibres—and the grey matter
in which the nerve cells are mainly concentrated. The grey matter
forms the cerebral cortex, as well as the nuclei of the brain stem. p. 423

Cyto-architectonics—branch of the histology of the nervous sys¬

tem which studies the cellular structure of the cerebral hemispheres.
In animals and man there are different cortical zones which are dis¬
tinguished by their structure and cellular composition. p. 423

Ataxic patients—patients who suffer from tabes; owing to a

deranged conduction of the muscular (kinesthetic) sense in the spinal
cord, the normal co-ordination of movements is abolished in them.
Such patients can effect well-co-ordinated movements only when they
control them visually. p. 438

ii9 Fovea centralis—the region of the retina most sensitive to light.

p. 439

Wolfgang Koehler, Professor of the Berlin Institute of Psychol¬

ogy. Basing himself on his own experiments, Koehler stressed the
importance of integral structures in the behaviour of chimpanzees,
and attributed to the latter human-like intellectual faculties. Koehler
and his followers criticized associationism (i.e, the conditioned reflex
theory of behaviour) and behaviourism Koehler’s observations formed
the experimental base of the “Gestalt psychology.” His book Inves¬
tigation of the Intellect of Anthropoids was translated into Russian
and published in 1930. Pavlov subjected Koehler’s views to ruthless
criticism (see his statements at the “Wednesday” discussions imrluded
in the present ediion).

p. 443

644
 ‘*1 The article “Dynamic Stereotypy of the Higher Part of the
Brain” was a paper read by Pavlov at the Tenth International Con¬
gress of Psychologists in Copennagen on August 24, 1932. It was
published posthumously in the book Latest Papers on the Physiology
and Pathology of the Higher Nervous Activity, Vol I, pp. 33-39.
In his paper Pavlov for the first time substantiated the notion of
the so-called “dynamic stereotype” which, in his definition, i.s a well-
co-ordinated and equilibrated system of internal processes: he also
indicated the way to the study of the integral higher nervous activity
in animals. p. 448

The “literary inspirer,” to whom Pavlov alludes here, is

D. I. Pisarev, writer and sociologist. p. 452

This is an extract from Pavlov’s preface to the book by Prof.

A. G. Ivanov-Smolensky The Fundamental Problems of the Patho¬
physiology of the Higher Nervous Activity, published by the State
Medical Publishing House in 1933.
Paylov’s views on the “fusion” of the psychical and physjplpgical,
the subjective and the objective, reflected his consistent scientific
tendency to bridge the gulf created by the idealists between the
objectively existing material reality and the human consciousness.
Here again Pavlov expressed his fundamental idea of a material
base underlying all psychical manifestations and of the possibility
of making the higher nervous activity known by means of the method
of conditioned reflexes which he created, reflexes which combine the
features of subjective phenomena and those of an objective physiolog¬
ical process. Affirming the necessity of creating a scientific psy¬
chology based on the physiological laws of activity of the nervous
system, Pavlov wrote: “I am convinced that sooner or later the
physiologists studying the nervous system and the psychologists will
become united in their close and common work.... The more attempts
that are made in this direction, the greater the chances that we shall
finally come together to our mutual delight and benefit.” {Complete
Works, Vol. Ill, p. 359.)
A profound analysis of Pavlov’s views on the close connection
between objective and subjective phenomena was given in the report
delivered by A. G. Ivanov-Smolensky at the Joint Session of the
U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences and the U.S.S.R. Academy of Medical
Sciences, devoted to the problems of the physiological teachings of
Academician I. P. Pavlov (June 23-July 4, 1950). p. 454

See also corresponding statement by Pavlov at one of the

“Wednesday” gatherings, pp. 612-13, as well as note 180. p. 455

645
 X
EXPERIMENTAL PATHOLOGY
OF THE HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY

The articles included in this chapter reflect Pavlov’s tendency not

to rest content with the experimental study of conditioned reflexes,
but also to elucidate the causes of human nervous and mental disorders
by means of the physiological laws of the higher nervous activity
disclosed by him. The analysis of experimental neuroses gave rise to
Pavlov’s exceptionally fruitful notion of protective' inhibition a phys¬
iological mechanism protecting the weakened nerve cells from over-
excitation and lesion. Protective inhibition underlies many patholog¬
ical phenomena in mental disorders; at the same time, as demon¬
strated, artificial intensification of this process is a powerful ther¬
apeutic remedy in a number of nervous disorders.
Also of great value is Pavlov’s analysis of the action of bromide
and caffeine on the higher nervous activity, as factors which vary the
relative intensity of the inhibitory and excitatory processes. These
investigations make possible precise dosage of the above-mentioned
preparations and their higher therapeutic effect. Thus, just as in the
period of his research into digestion, Pavlov endeavoured to bring
together physiology and clinical medicine. “We must be able to repair
the damaged mechanism of the human organism on the basis of
exact knowledge of it’’—wrote Pavlov, and this was the motto of the
great physiologist.
A lecture delivered on May 10, 1934 at the Institute for Per¬
fection of Physicians in Leningrad published in 1935 as a booklet.
p. 459
126 See Pavlov’s statements on this subject at the “Wednesday”
gatherings, published in the present volume. p. 460
Extir.pation-^in this case removal of certain parts of the brain.
p. 460
128 Psychogenic diseases are those which result from psychical
traumatism, not connected with pathologico-anatomic -changes in
the organs. p. 468
129 Psychastheiiia—literally “mental feebleness”—a functional nerv¬
ous disorder pertaining to the group of so-called “psychoneuroses.”
It was first described by the French psychoneurologist Pierre Janet.
The typical symptoms of this disorder are: feeling of inferiority,
morbid diffidence, reasoning, obsessive ideas. Pavlov considered that
the symptoms of psychasthenia depend on a pathological rupture
between the first signalling system .and the second, as well as between
the latter and the subcortex. p. 469

646
 Hysteria—a functional nervous disorder pertaining to the same
group of psychoneuroses as psychasthenia. Its symptoms are: high
suggestibility and auto-suggestibility, leading to development of
diverse disturbances of physiological functions. p. 469
131 Pavlov was elected professor to the chair of pharmacology in
the Military Medical Academy in 1890 and occupied this position up
to 1895. p. 476
Involuntary repetition of the same movements in certain
diseases. p. 479
Perseveration—forcible repetition of one and the same syllable,
word or phrase as a result of certain disturbances of the cortical
zones connected with speech. p. 479
A paper on this subject was read by Pavlov on July 30, 19.35
at the plenary session of the Second International Congress of Neu¬
rologists in London; it was published in the book Twenty Years of
Objective Study of the Higher Nervous Activity (Behaviour) of Animals,
6th ed., 1938. p. 481
13® Convulsive contraction of certain groupings of muscles which
in hysterical persons sometimes lasts for months and years. p. 484
Phobia—pathological Imaginary fear, p. 484
Catalepsy—the petrifaction of the entire body or of its parts
in positions artificially imparted to them and a simultaneous loss of
ability to effect voluntary movements. It is observed in the state of
hypnosis, as well as in certain mental disorders (for example, cata¬
tonia). p. 484
Catatonia—a mental disorder pertaining to the group of
schizophrenia and accompanied by stupor, psychical depression and
negativism p. 484
A state of pathological excitation peculiar to the manic-depres¬
sive (circular) psychosis. p. 485
1®® The article “Fusion of Principal Branches of Medicine in Mod¬
ern Experimentation as Demonstrated by the Example of Digestion”
is a paper read by Pavlov at a special meeting of the Society of Rus¬
sian Physicians dedicated to the memory of S. P. Botkin in 1899.
It was first published in the Proceedings of the Society of Russian
Physicians, 1900, Vol. 67, November-December, pp. 197-242. p. 487

XI
PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
Pavlov regarded a disease as a state of the organism in which
specific relations arise between different organs and systems, and
which cannot always be reproduced in experimental conditions. Accord-

647
ing to Pavlov, . .clinical practice will always be an abundant source
of new facts. It is, therefore, quite' natural that the physiologist should
desire a closer union between physiology and medicine.” This desire
is expressed by Pavlov with particular force in his paper Psychiatry
as an Auxiliary to the Physiology of the Cerebral Hemispheres, read
in 1919.
Taking into consideration the specific property of the human higher
nervous activity, which distinguishes man from higher animals, Pavlov
by no means regarded the data obtained in the laboratory (experi¬
mental neuroses in dogs) as fully explaining the disturbances in
human mental activity.
He emphasized the existence “of specifically human neuroses”—
psychasthenia and hysteria. The latter circumstance gave him an
added interest in psychiatry, which, according to him, is an auxiliary
in the study of the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres and helps
to comprehend certain aspects of the higher nervous activity peculiar
to man.
The objective approach of the physiologist-materialist in studying
symptoms of mental disorders enabled Pavlov to elucidate a series
of pathological processes in man, proceeding from tfie fundamental
laws of the higher nervous activity previously disclosed in the course
of experimentation; it also enabled him to indicate new and effective
methods of treatment, now being successfully elaborated by Soviet
clinicians.
‘‘‘1 The article “Psychiatry as an Auxiliary to the Physiology of the
Cerebral Hemispheres”—originally a paper read by Pavlov at a meet¬
ing of the Society of Psychiatrists in Petrograd in 1919. It was pub¬
lished in the Russian Physiological Journal, Vol. II, 1919, pp. 257-260.
p. 499
i'** Tonic reflexes—reflex augmentation of tension in certain groups
of the skeletal muscles—one of the symptoms of catatonia. p. 501
Maurice Schiff (1823-1896)—Swiss physiologist, who made a
study of the central nervous system and the trophic action of the
nerves on the tissues. p- bOl

Decerebration—removal of the cerebral hemispheres and of the

anterior parts of the brain stem in animals by means of sectioning
the brain stem at the level of the anterior edge of the pons varolii.
In this connection the tonic reflexes, whose centres are situated below
the level of the sectioning, become intensified. p. 501

145 Progressive paralysis—an affection of the nervous system

accompanied by profound anatomical changes in the cerebral cortex
and developing in certain cases of syphilis. p. 505

648
 Thrombosis—obstruction of a blood vessel by a clot of blood,
or by the so-called thrombus. p. 5C5
The article “An Attempt of a Physiologist to Digress into the
Domain of Psychiatry’’ was published in the booklet The Physiology
and Pathology of the Nervous Activity, Moscow-Leningrad, 1930. Bril¬
liantly proving his idea of the unity of physiology and pathology,
Pavlov interprets the catatonic stage of schizophrenia as “chronic hyp¬
notic inhibition” protecting the cortical cells of the patient’s weak
nervous system, which are open to injury, trom further destruction.
p. 509
Hebephrenia—a form of schizophrenia characterized by impov¬
erishment of mental life and nonsensical silly mannerisms. p. 509
149 Negativism, or contralism—a negative attitude towards the
influences of the surrounding world; one of the fundamental symptoms
of catatonia and of other schizophrenic forms; it is also met with in
other mental disorders. p. SI!
1®" Echolalia—automatic repetition by the patient of words heard
by him. p. 512
1®^ Echopraxia—automatic repetition by the patient of the actions
of other people. P- 512
1®^ The article “Essay on the Physiological Concept of the Sympto¬
matology' of Hysteria” was published in booklet form by the U.S.S.R.
Academy of Sciences (1932, 36 pages). Professor A. V. Martynov,
to whom this work is dedicated, had operated on Pavlov for gall¬
stones. P- 516
1®® Concerning the centre of sleep, see “The Problem of Sleep”
in this volume. p- 521
154 Pierre Janet regarded hysteria as a derangement of conscious¬
ness, mainly as its splitting, which leads to the emergence of symp¬
toms characteristic of this state. Janet attributed great importance
to weakness of the nervous system and to emotions in the development
of hysteria. p. 526
1®® The German psychiatrist Prof. A. E. Hoche in an article “Ist
die Hysteric wirklich entlarvt?”, published in the Deutsche Medizini-
sche Wochenschrift, 58, p. 1, 1932, endeavoured to prove that no
progress had been made in the comprehension of hysteria (see p. 540).
p. 532
Anaesthesia is total loss of cutaneous sensibility (the opposite
state is hyperesthesia—heightened sensibility). Analgesia is incapacity
to feel pain. P- 533
1®^ Babinsky believed that suggestion and auto-suggestion play
the principal role in the developrnent of hysteria. p. 534

649
 158 Eudetism is a specific psychical phenomenon which is close to
the memory of images, i.e., when the image of an object persists long
after the disappearance of the object from the field of vision. Eudetism
is a normal phase in the development of memory, through which all
children pass at a certain age. P- 535
159 Puerilism—a form of hysteria characterized by a naive, puerile
conduct. P' 533
160 Paresis—incapacity to effect voluntary movements. p. 538
181 The article “Feelings of Possession (Les sentiments d’emprise)
and the Ultra-Parado.xical Phase” was published in the Journal de
Psychologic, Nos. 9-10, 1933, pp. 849-854. Pierre Janet was one of the
editors of this journal. p. 542
182 Ambivalency—a symptom of schizophrenia when the patient
simultaneously experiences diametrically opposed emotions (for
example, joy and sorrow, etc.). p. 546

XU

FRAGMENTS OF STATEMENTS
AT THE “WEDNESDAY” GATHERINGS
STRUGGLE OF I. P. PAVI.OV AGAl.VST IDEALISTS

Pavlov’s famous “Wednesdays” began in the spring of 1921, after

the termination of the civil war.
Twice weekly (on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 o’clock in
the morning till noon), with the strict punctuality lor which he was
renowned, Pavlov visited the small physiological laboratory of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, which he headed and which occupied
several rooms in the main building of the Academy overlooking Men¬
deleyev Avenue.
Taking part in the usual laboratory experiments of his small
group of scientific colleagues (there were only four of them), he at
the .same time acquainted them with the results of the experimental
research carried out in the other laboratories under his charge (at
the Institute of Experimental Medicine and at the Physiological Chair
of the Military Medical Academy).

650
 This practice remained unchanged after the reorganization of the
physiological laboratory into the Institute of Physiology in 1924, when
the latter was accommodated in the premises it occupies now (Vasiliev¬
sky Island, Tuchkov Quay, No. 2A).
The nu.*.bers attending the “Wednesdays” grew steadily not only
because of the increase in the staif of the Institute and the other
Pavlov laboratories, but because of the presence sometimes of many
physiologists and physicians who had received invitations.
Unfortunately, there are no records of the “Wednesdays” for the
period from 1921 to 1929. From the end of 1929 until May 1933,
V. K. Feodorov, one of the scientific workers in the Institute, regularly
recorded the Wednesday meetings. Afterwards from the autumn of
1933 up to February 27, 1935, the day of Pavlov’s death, these phys¬
iological discussions were taken down in shorthand. They are of great
scientific value, revealing as they do the very process of Pavlov’s
scientific creative activity, his everyday “thinking” in close personal
contact with numerous pupils and colleagues.
The present edition contains fragments of Pavlov’s statements,
mainly devoted to the interrelation of physiology and psychology, as
well as to his tireless struggle against the idealistic concepts of some
scientists abroad.
The stenographic records were edited in a manner that has preserved
the peculiarity of Pavlov’s expressions and turn of speech. The minutes
of the Pavlovian “Wednesdays” were published in three volumes in
1949 by the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences (see “Pavlovian Wednes¬
days,” Vols. I-III).
R. Yerkes—American scientist, author of numerous works on
problems of general and comparative psychology, and especially the
psychology of apes. He affirmed that the psychical processes in chim¬
panzees differ qualitatively from the associative higher nervous activity
of other animals, while the difference between the mental activity of
the chimpanzee and that of man is only quantitative. p. 551
“Raphael” and “Rosa”—the chimpanzees used in Koltushi for
experimentation with the aim of studying the higher nervous activity
of anthropoids. This experimentation is now being carried on at the
Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences
in Pavlovo (Koltushi). p. 551
1®® See note 44. p. 554
‘®® W. Koehler’s book under the same title is implied here. It
was translated into Russian in 1930. p. 558
1®’ The book by Charles Sherrington The Brain and Its Mechanism
was published in 1933. His next book Man on His Nature appeared
in 1942; it deals with the problems of the history and philosophy
of natural sciences.

55/
 188 Dubois-Raymond—well-known German physiologist of the 19th

century. In his speech “Seven Enigmas of the World" he declared

that the mysteries of mental life would never be disclosed by natural
science.

18" Richet Charles—outstanding French psychologist. He was pro¬

fessor of the Medical Faculty at the University of Paris and president
of the Paris Biological Society. P- 566
1^8 Spengler—German philosopher, one of the ideologists of German
fascism.
171

Gestalt psychology—According to the adherents, a psychical

state constitutes an integral structure—a “gestalt,” or “configuration.”
The latter cannot be decomposed into separate elements and is inac¬
cessible to analysis, owing to which it cannot be made known. Koehler
and Koffka, who head this trend, deny that behaviour consists of dif¬
ferent reactions to these or other stimuli: The external situation and
the reaction to it constitute a single structure which tends to a state
of equilibrium. In this connection the adherents of the Gestalt theory
reject the doctrine of the behaviourists, their theory of “trial and
error,” as well as the very principle of associationism (i.e., the forma¬
tion of functional links between the sensations in the course of indi¬
vidual experience). The principles of the Gestalt theory, which affirms
that mental activity is unknowable, and which, therefore, admits the
existence of a particular, non-material and spiritual source, are applied
by the adherents of this theory (for example, by Koffka) to all biolog¬
ical and even physical phenomena. They endeavour to prove that the
latter represent definite structures, i.e., close integral processes, which
cannot be decomposed into elements, since each part is fully deter¬
mined by the whole to which it belongs.
In his statement Pavlov analysed the concepts of the Gestalt psy¬
chology and cited a book written by one of its adherents, the American
Robert Woodworth, Contemporary Schools of Psychology, 1932.
p. 569
The book by Kurt Koffka The Growth of the Mind published in
1924, is a translation from the 1921 German edition which appeared
under the title Die Grundlagen der psychischen Entwicklung... p. 577
‘^8 S. V. Kleshchev. p. 579
Pavlov has in mind the treatise by the English philosopher John
Locke, “Essay on Human Understanding,” written in 1687. Locke

652
denied the existence of inborn ideas and affirmed tMat all knowledge
is acquired from experience. However, according to Locke, true knowl¬
edge originates not only from sensations, but also from another
source—from reflection, i.e., the synthesis of sensations. p. 588
175 Mary Baker-Eddy, who founded a religion called “Christian
Science.” p. 590
17® Maria Kapitonovna Petrova—a prominent Soviet scientist.
p. 592

177 W. Koehler’s book Psychologische Probleme was published in

Berlin in 1933. p. 595
17® F. P. Mayorov. p. 596

179 Henri Bergson—French philosopher. According to his views,

the methods of the natural sciences serve only as a means of practical
application, they do not elucidate the essence of phenomena; real
knowledge of the world is effected through intuition. All the vital
processes are governed by a vital torrent, or the so-called elan vital.
There is a free indetermined connection between phenomena. Bergson
strongly opposed the natural science theories of evolution and regarded
evolution as a phenomenon of a psychical nature.

p. 609
1*® Howard Warren—author of a number of reference books on
psychology. In 1934 he published the “Dictionary of Psychology” men¬
tioned by Pavlov. p. 613
7®7 See note 83. p. 616
>82 Maria Kapitonovna Petrova. p. 618
78® V. K. Feodorov. p. 618
7®^ Sherrington’s book The Brain and Its Mechanism. p. 620
78® Ezras Asratovich Asratyan—pupil and colleague of Pavlov, Cor¬
responding Member of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Member of
the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
p. 621

653
 i' , L if'.

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