Abstract

A Mechanistic View of War

The article presents an American surgeon's observations regarding the situation of war in France and Belgium and his suggestions on how the tendency towards war may be lessened in the future. In the first impact of war many men in all of the armies underwent nervous breakdown, many became insane but the great majority became seasoned and maintained a state of good health. One sees men who have worn the same clothes for months and have hot seen a bath. Their clothes are stiff with mud and reek with filth. Brutal treatment results in creating in the brains of the children the strongest action-patterns of opposition and of hatred. The conquering enemy can never supplant the influence of the hating mother who plants action-patterns in the brains of her children when the shades are drawn.