http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1820455

The elementary nervous system

"The dependence of human affairs upon the nervous system of man is so absolute that it was inevitable, as soon as this relation was understood, that the activities of the simpler animals should be interpreted as though these creatures were miniature human beings. That such interpretation was carried far beyond its legitimate bounds, even by the scientifically trained, is now admitted on almost all sides, but it is no easy or simple task to ascribe to this movement its proper bounds. That these bounds are vastly more restricted than has usually been supposed is certain. An approach to a clearer understanding of what they are is assured through the application of experimental and quantitative methods to the questions concerned rather than by a continuation of the older more purely observational procedure. It is from this standpoint that an attempt has been made in this volume to portray the elementary nervous system as it exists in the simpler animals and in the simpler parts of the more complex forms. It is believed that this treatment of the subject may help in the solution of the general problem by removing once and for all some of the old misunderstandings concerning the nervous system and by inviting the student's attention to new methods of attack. The subject matter of the volume is drawn almost entirely from the three simpler phyla of the multicellular animals, the sponges, the cælenterates, and the ctenophores"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

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