EVOLUTION OF NERVOUS SYSTEM 101 



is as well known to the student of the lifeless phases of nature 

 as to those who concern themselves with the so-called organ- 

 isms. The qualities and activities of water are no more novel 

 or different from those of its component elements, hydrogen 

 and oxygen, than are the qualities and activities of nervous 

 protoplasm as compared with the organic molecules that make 

 it up. Water is organized hydrogen and oxygen and in con- 

 sequence of its peculiar type of organization it exhibits prop- 

 erties quite unlike those of its constituent elements. Thus 

 water, like protoplasm, differs from its elements in conse- 

 quence of its organization. 



It is sometimes assumed that man is absolutely untrammeled 

 and free and that his inner life is without restriction, but such 

 is not the case. A good example of how we are held in abey- 

 ance is seen in our mental furniture. This consists of elements, 

 our sensations, that reach us from the outer world through our 

 sense organs. These elements come to us from the environ- 

 ment and from nowhere else. We never invent them nor in 

 any other way develop them within ourselves. The mind is 

 .strictly limited to what in this respect is supplied it from its 

 exterior. What may be done by way of freedom and origi- 

 nality is to set these elements in novel and unusual combina- 

 tions and it is in this way that the highly imaginative and 

 perhaps the insane mind works. But in all instances the ele- 

 ments themselves are those of the primitive sensations and to 

 such we appear to be absolutely limited. 



Not only is the mind thus limited in its materials, but its 

 processes often show striking restrictions. This is illustrated 

 by the magician's receipt for turning stone into gold. Put a 

 clean stone into a pot of boiling water and watch it ten minutes 

 during which time, if you do not once think "hippopotamus," 

 the stone will turn into gold. Needless to say that no one by 

 this means has ever enriched himself. The mind of man even 

 in working toward its desires is never absolutely free, but is 



