The Kinetic System : Part 1

Origin and Nature of Emotions
by George W. Crile, M.D.

(Page 7 of 16)

In this paper I formulate a theory which I hope will harmonize a large number of clinical and experimental data, supply an interpretation of certain diseases, and show by what means many diverse causes produce the same end effects.

Even should the theory prove ultimately to be true, it will in the mean time doubtless be subjected to many alterations. The specialized laboratory worker will, at first, fail to see the broader clinical view, and the trained clinician may hesitate to accept the laboratory findings. Our viewpoint has been gained from a consideration of both lines of evidence on rather a large scale.

The responsibility for the kinetic theory is assumed by myself, while the responsibility for the experimental data is shared fully by my associates, Dr. J. B. Austin, Dr. F. W. Hitchings, Dr. H. G. Sloan, and Dr. M. L. Menten.

Introduction

The self-preservation of man and kindred animals is effected through mechanisms which transform latent energy into kinetic energy to accomplish adaptive ends. Man appropriates from environment the energy he requires in the form of crude food which is refined by the digestive system; oxygen is taken to the blood and carbon dioxid is taken from the blood by the respiratory system; to and from the myriads of working cells of the body, food and oxygen and waste are carried by the circulatory system; the body is cleared of waste by the urinary system; procreation is accomplished through the genital system; but none of these systems was evolved primarily for the purpose of transforming potential energy into kinetic energy for specific ends.

Each system transforms such amounts of potential into kinetic energy as are required to perform its specific work; but no one of them transforms latent into kinetic energy for the purposes of escaping, fighting, pursuing, nor for combating infection. The stomach, the kidneys, the lungs, the heart strike no physical blow-their role is to do certain work to the end that the blow may be struck by another system evolved for that purpose. I propose to offer evidence that there is in the body a system evolved primarily for the transformation of latent energy into motion and into heat. This system I propose to designate "The Kinetic System."

The kinetic system does not directly circulate the blood, nor does it exchange oxygen and carbon dioxid; nor does it perform the functions of digestion, urinary elimination, and procreation; but though the kinetic system does not directly perform these functions, it does play indirectly an important role in each, just as the kinetic system itself is aided indirectly by the other systems.

The principal organs which comprise the kinetic system are the brain, the thyroid, the adrenals, the liver, and the muscles. The brain is the great central battery which drives the body; the thyroid governs the conditions favoring tissue oxidation; the adrenals govern immediate oxidation processes; the liver fabricates and stores glycogen; and the muscles are the great converters of latent energy into heat and motion.

Adrenalin alone, thyroid extract alone, brain activity alone, and muscular activity alone are capable of causing the body temperature to rise above the normal. The functional activity of no other gland of the body alone, and the secretion of no other gland alone, can cause a comparable rise in body temperature - that is, neither increased functional activity nor any active principle derived from the kidney, the liver, the stomach, the pancreas, the hypophysis, the parathyroids, the spleen, the intestines, the thymus, the lymphatic glands, or the bones can, per se, cause a rise in the general body temperature comparable to the rise that may be caused by the activity of the brain or the muscles, or by the injection of adrenalin or thyroid extract.

Then, too, when the brain, the thyroid, the adrenals, the liver, or the muscles are eliminated, the power of the body to convert latent into kinetic energy is impaired or lost. I shall offer evidence tending to show that an excess of either internal or external environmental stimuli may modify one or more organs of the kinetic system, and that this modification may cause certain diseases. For example, alterations in the efficiency of the cerebral link may yield neurasthenia, mania, dementia; of the thyroid link, Graves' disease, myxedema; of the adrenal link, Addison's disease, cardiovascular disease.

This introduction may serve to give the line of our argument. We shall now consider briefly certain salient facts which relate to the conversion of latent into kinetic energy as an adaptive reaction. The experimental data are so many that they will later be published in a monograph.

The amount of latent energy which may be converted into kinetic energy for adaptive ends varies in different species, in individuals of the same species, in the same individual in different seasons; in the life cycle of growth, reproduction and decay; in the waking and sleeping hours; in disease and in activity. We shall here consider briefly the reasons for some of those variations and the mechanisms which make them possible.

Biologic Consideration of the Adaptive Variation in Amounts of Energy Stored in Various Animals

Energy is appropriated from the physical forces of nature that constitute the environment. This energy is stored in the body in quantities in excess of the needs of the moment. In some animals this excess storage is greater than in other animals. Those animals whose self-preservation is dependent on purely mechanical or chemical means of defense - such animals as crustaceans, porcupines, skunks or cobras - have a relatively small amount of convertible (adaptive) energy stored in their bodies.

About the Author

George Washington Crile (1864 - 1943) was a significant American surgeon. Crile is now formally recognized as the first surgeon to have succeeded in a direct blood transfusion. He also contributed to other procedures, such as neck dissection.