ern science.

The discussion, so far, has merely prepared us to plunge into the
heart of the question: What is it that in the last analysis makes a
person nervous, and how may he find his way out? This question the
next two chapters will try to answer.

CHAPTER VII

_In which we go to the root of the matter_

THE REAL TROUBLE

PIONEERS

=Following the Gleam.= Kipling's Elephant-child with the "'satiable
curiosity" finally asked a question which seemed simple enough but
which sent him on a long journey into unknown parts. In the same way
man's modest and simple question, "What makes people nervous?" has
sent him far-adventuring to find the answer. For centuries he has
followed false trails, ending in blind alleys, and only lately does he
seem to have found the road that shall lead him to his journey's end.

We may be thankful that we are following a band of pioneers whose
fearless courage and passion for truth would not let them turn back
even when the trail led through fields hitherto forbidden. The leader
of this band of pioneers was a young doctor named Freud.

THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH

=Early Beginnings.= In 1882, when Freud was the assistant to Dr.
Breuer of Vienna, there was brought to them for treatment a young
woman afflicted with various hysterical pains and paralyses. This
young woman's case marked an epoch in medical history; for out of the
effort to cure her came some surprising discoveries of great
significance to the open-minded young student.

It was found that each of this girl's symptoms was related to some
forgotten experience, and that in every case the forgetting seemed to
be the result of the painfulness of the experience. In other words,
the symptoms were not visitations from without, but expressions from
within; they were a part of the mental life of the patient; they had a
history and a meaning, and the meaning seemed in some way to be
connected with the patient's previous attitude of mind which made the
experience too painful to be tolerated in consciousness. These
previous ideas were largely subconscious and had been acquired during
early childhood. When by means of hypnosis a great mass of forgotten
material was brought to the surface and later made plain to her
consciousness, the symptoms disappeared as if by magic.

=A Startling Discovery.= For a time Breuer and Freud worked together,
finding that their investigations with other patients served to
corroborate their former