THE EVOLUTION OF THE MIND. 443 



many ways. When men have made themselves wise with the lore of 

 others, the learning which ends in self and does not spend itself on 

 action, they have been neither virtuous nor happy. " Much learn- 

 ing is a weariness of the flesh." Thought without action ends in 

 intense fatigue of the soul, the disgust with all " the sorry scheme of 

 things entire," which is the mark of the unwholesome and insane 

 philosophy of pessimism. This philosophy finds its condemnation 

 in the fact that it has never yet been translated into pure and help- 

 ful life. 



In like manner has sentiment not woven into action failed to be 

 a source of effectiveness or of happiness. " If thou lovest me," said 

 Christ to Simon Peter, then shalt thou " feed my lambs." Genuine 

 love works itself out in self-spending, in doing something for the 

 help or pleasure of those beloved. Religious sentimentalism, what- 

 ever form it may take, if dissociated from action, has only evil effects. 

 Appeals to the emotions for emotion's sake have been a great factor 

 in human deterioration. Much that has been called " degenera- 

 tion " in modern social life is due to the predominance of sensory 

 impressions over motor movement. The mind passes through a 

 round of sensations, emotions called up by literature, music, art, re- 

 ligion, none of these having any direct bearing on human conduct. 

 Their aggregate influence on the idle soul is always an evil one. 

 And the misery of motor paralysis, of intellectual pauperism, is felt 

 as the disease of ennui. The remedy for evils of reverie, ennui, nar- 

 cotism, and the like, is to be found in action. The knowledge of this 

 fact constitutes the strength of the Salvation Army movement. The 

 victim of mental deterioration is given something to do. He is not 

 to wear out the little force he has in ineffective remorse. Better let 

 him beat a big drum and make night hideous with unmusical song 

 than to settle down to the dry rot of reverie or the wet rot of emo- 

 tional regret. Something to do, and the will to act, furnish the 

 remedy for all forms of social discontent. 



Not every sense impression needs a distinct response. It is the 

 function of the intellect to sift these impressions, turning over into 

 action only those in which action is desirable or wise. The power of 

 attention is one of the most valuable attributes of the trained mind; 

 and the essential of this power is in the suppression by the will of 

 all impulses which do not concern the present need of action. 



As the normal workings of the mind are reducible to sensation, 

 thought, will, and action, so the abnormal workings may be due to 

 defects of any one of these elements. We may have defects of sen- 

 sation, defects of thought, vacillation of will, and inaccuracy of 

 action. Hyperesthesia, anaesthesia, sensory weakness, appear in the 

 uncertain action of the muscles guided by the ill-informed brain. 



