Remarks on evolution and dissolution of the nervous system. No. 1 / by J. Hughlings Jackson.
- Jackson, John Hughlings, 1834-1911.
- Date:
- 1888
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Remarks on evolution and dissolution of the nervous system. No. 1 / by J. Hughlings Jackson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![is greater rate of activity on the lower, but tlien highest, level of Evolution remaining, and correlatively there is a more rapid succession of mental states. But such psychical states, even in dreaming, are objective, and there could be no knowledge of the succession at all if there were not some Subject Standard (or Constant). If it be said that the physical basis of the Time Constant changes pro- portionately there would be no difference; time would not be “ prolonged.” I have .spoken of the Time Constant as being unchang- ing. But most unchanging in regard of that to which all other changes are relative is the same as unchanging. Time is “ prolonged ” in the cases spoken of, because in the midst of increased changes something, a Constant, remains unchanged, or cannot be known to change in its rate of activity. Section XIX. On Detachment and IndepeJtdence of the Highest Cerebral Centres and on Internal Evolution.—I have spoken (Section XV.) of the physical basis of the Time and, infcrentially, of the other Constants, as having become completely detached from and quite independent of the lowest centres out of which they have been evolved. I now make some general remarks on degrees of detach- ment, and on degrees of independence of elements of the highest centres. As evolution, both in the race and in individuals, pro- gresses, the highest centres not only gradually develop (become increasingly complex, &c.), but become more and more detached from, independent of, the lower centres out of which they have been evolved. The detachment, or independence, is never complete, except hypothetically, in the cases of Constants. There are degrees of detachment and of independence. By the double process of increasing complexity and increasing detachment of the highest centres, we gradually “get above” our lower, mere animal .selves. Our highest sensory and highest motor centres (together the organ of mind) can energise to a large extent, inde- pendently of the lower, out of which they have been evolved, and by aid of which they have been developed. Spencer writes (“ Prin. Psych.,” vol. i, p. 546)“- • • mani- festly, the more extensive and more intricate the central plexus [highest centres] grows, the more detached may these [what under their subjective aspects we call feelings and ideas] become from the actions—the more may the impres-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22447076_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
