The Origin and Development of the Nervous System: From a Physiological Viewpoint

This book is first of all a consideration in the light of recent experimental investigation of certain of the physiological conditions which antedate the appearance of the nervous system, and with which its appearance and development appear to be closely associated. It is, in fact, an attempt to establish the existence of physiological continuity between the simple quantitative gradient in physiological condition and the nervous system. Since the book is concerned first with this question of continuity and its nature and since no general consideration of the physiological gradients has appeared since 1915, it has been found necessary to devote the earlier chapters to a discussion of pattern in the organism and its relation to the gradients. These chapters constitute the basis for the consideration of the nervous system in the stricter sense.