ABSTRACT
Every living organism is continually engaged in manufacturing, storing, and releasing energy, as well as providing for the elimination of waste products. These two groups of functions may be interfered with by conditions either within the organism or in the environment. Derangement of function, whether the cause is intrinsic or extrinsic, is registered in the depreciation of the delicately balanced and complicated functions by which the organism maintains contact with the environment. Interference with these functions reduces the efficiency of the organism in the struggle either to protect itself or to insure the perpetuation of the species. In the phenomena of conflict and dissociation we find evidences of the failure to satisfy these two great biologic needs. In the case of the amoeba this reduction in the adaptive capacity is marked by relatively simple disorders of behavior, whereas in man evidences of the disturbance may appear in connection with such exquisitely sensitive emotional and mental adjustments that they may be extremely difficult to recognize.
