The fragments read as follows: "... the motory nerves. I had hardly
dared to hope for such a result, although inductive reasoning had
convinced me of its possibility, my only doubt having been on the score
of my lack of skill. Their operation has been only slightly impaired,
and even this would not have been the case had the operation been
performed in infancy, before the intellect had sought and obtained
recognition as an essential part of the whole. Therefore I state, as a
proved fact, that the cells of the motory nerves have inherent forces
sufficient to the purposes of those nerves. But hardly so with the
sensory nerves. These latter are, in fact, an offshoot of the former,
evolved from them by natural (though not essential) heterogeneity, and
to a certain extent are dependent on the evolution and expansion of a
contemporaneous tendency, that developed into mentality, or mental
function. Both of these latter tendencies, these evolvements, are
merely refinements of the motory system, and not independent entities;
that is to say, they are the blossoms of a plant that propagates from
its roots. The motory system is the first ... nor am I surprised that
such prodigious muscular energy is developing. It promises yet to
surpass the wildest dreams of human strength. I account for it thus:
The powers of assimilation had reached their full development. They had
formed the habit of doing a certain amount of work. They sent their
products to all parts of the system. As a result of my operation the
consumption of these products was reduced fully one-half; that is to
say, about one-half of the demand for them was withdrawn. But force of
habit required the production to proceed. This production was strength,
vitality, energy. Thus double the usual quantity of this strength, this
energy, was stored in the remaining ... developed a tendency that did
surprise me. Nature, no longer suffering the distraction of extraneous
interferences, and at the same time being cut in two (as it were), with
reference to this case, did not fully adjust herself to the new
situation, as does a magnet, which, when divided at the point of
equilibrium, renews itself in its two fragments by investing each with
opposite poles; but, on the contrary, being severed from laws that
theretofore had controlled her, and possessing still that mysterious
tendency to develop into something more potential and complex, she
blindly (having lost her lantern) pushed her d