The subconscious.

  • Jastrow, J.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The subconscious. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    sations whatever. Glands are secreting, waste mat- ter is accumulating, nutriment is being absorbed, and an indefinite complex of upbuilding and down- tearing changes are going on in all the systems of the bodily economy with a minimum of accom- panying sensation; they go on equally well when the brain is drowsy with sleep, or drugged with anaesthetics. In health these functions conduct themselves invisibly, silently, imperceptibly— like well-trained servants. But when the delicate bal- ance of one or another of these functions is inter- fered with, all sorts of sensations, more or less vaguely localized and indefinitely realized and dififi- cult to describe, but all variously unpleasant, make themselves known. When the servants do not perform their duties properly, the master's com- fort is disturbed, of which disturbance he becomes unpleasantly aware. Occasionally, by way of com- pensation, we seem really to enjoy the feeling of unusual bodily well-being; such is the reaction of a vigorous body to the glow of exercise, or the tonic that comes with the breezes of the sea, or the balm of those rare days in June. Feelings of this kind are probably realized in terms of activities, such as ease of movement and respiration, with which a minor degree of awareness is commonly experienced. Getting well is rarely a positive joy, but in the main a vaguely or keenly felt release from pain and discomfort. The very diversity of