Thus, we find from different standpoints that the feeling of anxiety with its accompanying phenomena is one of the most potent manifestations of animal instincts, the fear instinct, which is at the basis of all psychopathic, neurotic maladies. The fear instinct, as the subtle and basic instinct of life, is well described by Kipling:-- Very softly down the glade runs a waiting, watching shade, And the whisper spreads and widens far and near; And the sweat is on thy brow, for he passes even now-- He is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear! Ere the moon has climbed the mountain, ere the rocks are ribbed with light, When the downward dipping trails are dank and drear, Comes a breathing hard behind thee--_snuffle_--_snuffle_ through the night-- It is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear! On thy knees and draw the bow; bid the shrilling arrow go: In the empty, mocking thicket plunge the spear; But thy hands are loosed and weak, and the blood has left thy cheek-- It is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear! When the heat-cloud sucks the tempest, when the slivered pine trees fall, When the blinding, blaring rain-squalls lash and veer; Through the war gongs of the thunder rings a voice more loud than all-- It is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear! Now the spates are banked and deep; now the footless boulders leap-- Now the lightning shows each littlest leaf-rib clear; But thy throat is shut and dried, and thy heart against thy side Hammers: Fear, O Little Hunter,--This is Fear! It is interesting to learn what a practical and thoughtful surgeon, such as George Crile, has to say on the matter of fear. Dr. Crile lays stress on the facts that in his researches he finds evidence that the phenomena of fear have a physical basis similar to those morphological changes in the brain cells observed in certain stages of surgical shock and in fatigue.... That the brain is definitely damaged by fear may be proved by experiments. “According to Sherrington the nervous system responds in action as a whole, and to but one stimulus at a time.... Under the influence of fear or (fear of) injury the integration of the common path is most nearly absolute.... Hence fear and injury (or fear of injury) drain the cup of energy to the dregs....