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Freud's view of the functional structures that underlie behavior rather closely resembles the kinetics of an open, catalyzed chemical reaction. A chemical reaction system of this sort is strikingly homologous to the network of coupled neurones that determines behavior. Chemical concentration in the reaction corresponds to signal intensity at the neurone. The control and the 'memory' of such a system depends on the concentration of catalyst in the same way that the development and later steady state of biological systems depend upon enzyme concentrations. Changes in concentration of the catalyst are brought about by changes in input of reactants comparable to changes in the stimuli to the
neurone. The 'response' of the chemical system is change in the distribution of concentrations of transient and steady state reactants, and this 'response' resembles the response of the network of neurones to stimuli.