Author : Margo P. Cohen
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461234808
Total Pages : 355 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (612 download)
Book Synopsis The Brain as an Endocrine Organ by : Margo P. Cohen
Download or read book The Brain as an Endocrine Organ written by Margo P. Cohen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the middle of the 17th century, the great French philosopher Rene Descartes wrote (L'Homme, J. Le Gras, Paris, 1669) that a suitable stimulation of the brain results in two types of "movements": exterior movements, designed to seek desirable ends and to avoid undesirable or harmful ones and interior movements or "passions" which through the release of "animal spirits" regulate the heart, the liver, and other organs. When it appears appropriate to meet a threat with force, the passion of rage causes the release of strong spirits, whereas when avoidance appears to be the better choice, the passion of fear causes the brain to release weak spirits. We do not know what influence, if any, Descartes had on the thinking of Walter B. Cannon (Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage, Appleton and Co. , New York, 1920), of Hans Selye (The Story of the Adaptation Syndrome, Acta, Inc. , Montreal, 1952), ofG. W. Harris or of R. Guillemin (Hypothalamic-Hypophysial Interrelationships. A Sym posium. c. c. Thomas, Springfield, 1956), but it is interesting to reflect upon the durable value of great ideas which constantly resurface even if modified by other ideas and by new techniques, as if propelled by a preordained intellectual imperative.
