The physiology of mind : an interpretation based on biological morphological, physical and chemical considerations / by Francis X. Dercum.

  • Francis Xavier Dercum
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The physiology of mind : an interpretation based on biological morphological, physical and chemical considerations / by Francis X. Dercum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    82/296 (page 78)
    growth of their embryonic axones toward the source of the stimulating material.”1 This phe¬ nomenon is known as chemotaxis. That in its ultimate analysis it will prove to be really elec¬ trical is exceedingly probable. (See also pp. 96, 97.) Again, it has been found that in the course of the evolution of vertebrate forms nerve-cells change their positions. Numerous groups of cell bodies with specific functions move from their primitive positions to new locations. Our knowledge of their migration is due mainly to Kappers. It would seem that cell bodies “tend to migrate in the direction from which they habitually receive their stimuli, i. e.> in the direction taken by their dendrites. If there is a change in the direction from which a given nucleus (i. e., a group of cells) receives its chief stimuli, the nucleus as a whole will tend to move toward the new source of excitation and away from the old.”2 The change in position is obviously expressive of a physical reaction to a stimulus, and the phenomenon has received the name of “neurobiotaxis.” Both the facts of 1 Herrick, loc. cit., p. 111. 2 Herrick, loc. cit., pp. Ill, 112.