THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AND CONSCIOUSNESS. 731 



it interests and fits the faculties, is a better thing for discipline than 

 the serfdom of drudgery in a subject which excites no spontaneous 

 response, and stirs an unwilling effort. And this is true, also, without 

 any thought of undervaluing other branches of study. We must all 

 admit that some minds are better fitted for one thing than for another, 

 and that we can not do all things equally well. There is, therefore, 

 a place for different studies so long as human abilities remain of a 

 varied kind, and room should not be denied to any branch of learning 

 which, apart from its " usefulness," is effective for mental discipline. 



A warning, however, should be given at the outset which may 

 save later disappointment in some cases. No one would think of be- 

 coming an accomplished chemist or geologist in one course pursued 

 for one year ; but many persons conceive that they can easily know 

 all of political economy that is necessary for a sound judgment on 

 passing questions in a less time than that. It is true that they can 

 read over the statement of principles in a less time, but they can not 

 become economists so easily. To have been trained until these prin- 

 ciples become familiar as the alphabet requires time — time not merely 

 for the intellectual efforts of applying the principles, but time for the 

 mind to mature under the exertion and to digest its food slowly; since 

 only by growth and experience does there come any development of 

 the economic intuition, and a power to call readily upon any part of 

 one's acquisitions for instant use at any moment. An elementary 

 course will serve a distinct purpose as part of a liberal education for 

 every citizen, but it will not make an economist " teres atque rotun- 

 das " at once ; although honest work in a course for a year will give 

 students no small advantage over those who have not had it. A brief 

 course in chemistry may not enable the student to contribute at once 

 to a new theory of heat, but it may give him a highly useful knowl- 

 edge of the chemistry of every-day things. We must not, therefore, 

 expect more from political economy than we do from other serious 

 studies. 



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THE NERYOUS SYSTEM AND CONSCIOUSNESS. 



Br W. E. BENEDICT, 



PROFESSOR OF PSTCHOLOGT AND LOGIC IK THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI. 



IT is the design of these papers to consider some of the more recent 

 experiments and opinions as to the relations between nerve-matter 

 and consciousness. The subject has been much be-written ; the final 

 word, however, is not in print, or likely to make its appearance there 

 for some time to come. This is plain enough to anatomist and physi- 

 ologist, and the genei'al reader may assure himself to the same effect 

 by reference to the proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. 



