John Yerbury Dent's "Reactions of the Human Machine", inscribed (1936)

London, England: Victor Gollancz Ltd. (book), 1936.
8" x 5.5" x 1.25", 288 pages, hardcover.

Reactions of the Human Machine by John Yerbury Dent, as published in a first hardcover edition by Victor Gollancz Ltd. (London, England) in 1936. A very scarce book to locate. As noted in the preface, this us "an attempt at an objective description of human behavior... It is an attempt to describe this mechanism and the way it responds to its environment, especially the way it responds to words and suggestions."

Dent was important to William S. Burroughs, who took treatment for his heroin addiction under Dent's care, employing apomorphine. Burroughs is known to have gained considerable insight from his time under Dent's care, insights which evolved into many of his theories and worked their ways into Burroughs' books. Dent also authored Anxiety and Its Treatment.

This copy of this scarce work is made even more scarce by its being inscribed by the author.  This copy was acquired from collector Joe Lee (Washington).

Contents: 

• Preface
• Chapter I. Note on the Subjective and Objective Viewpoints
• Chapter II. Life is Reaction
• Chapter III. The Evolution of Reaction
• Chapter IV. The Development of Reaction
• Chapter V. Reaction to the External Environment
• Chapter VI. Reaction to the Internal Environment
• Chapter VII. Reaction to the Conversational Environment
• Chapter VIII. Persistence and Decrease of Reaction
• Chapter IX. Conflicting Reactions
• Chapter X. Therapeutic Alteration of Reaction
• Chapter XI. Inhibition of Reaction (Sleep)
• Chapter XII. Hypnosis or Selected Inhibition to Reaction
• Appendix: A Method of Producing Hypnosis

External Links: 

• Joe Darlington's A Burroughs Syllabus: "49. John Yerbury Dent: Reactions of the Human Machine (1936)"