Our inquiry is not concerned with acci-
dental injury to, nor with the actual organic dis-
eases of, the central nervous system, nor with the
hereditary mental defects popularly known as fee-
ble-mindedness. But after the foregoing types
are subtracted there remain a number of kinds of
nervous disorders such as hysteria, morbid com-
pulsions, anxiety-neuroses, paranoia, melancholia,
manic-depressive cases, where there may not be a
permanent impairment of structure but where the
difficulty seems to lie in the functioning of the
structure. In any case, these so-called functional
disorders appear to be occasioned or modified by
the cultural environment and by psychological
causes rather than, or in addition to, physical or
physiological factors. Such an analysis does not
necessarily rule out the hereditary factor in the
functional disorders. In any group of persons, the
susceptibility of inherited equipment to nervous
disorders will vary. Tendencies or predisposi-
tions towards nervous instability are inherited.
But the actual development of these disorders

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will also depend upon the cultural environment.
The nature of functional nervous disorders.
Accepting, therefore, the point that many ner-
vous disorders are evidences of psychological mal-
adjustment occasioned by cultural influences op-
erating psychologically rather than physically, we
may next inquire into the nature of these nervous
disorders. For our purposes it is not necessary to
develop a systematic account of the theory of
nervous diseases; it is desirable to utilize only
such considerations as throw light on the problem
of the adjustment of human nature and culture.
