66 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science 



never changes that plan, or makes the mistake of developing the human 

 germ into some other type of animal. Every function of the body is 

 potentially present in the germinal dot from which the body grows. The 

 various secretions of the different bodily organs are also automatically 

 produced and their normal character is potentially determined when life 

 begins its work with that germinal dot. The liver cannot secrete tears, 

 no]' can the lachrymal glands secrete bile. Whatever there is of pur- 

 pose or of design that determines the character of these secretions, 

 must be sought in the work of that Infinite Intelligence which lies back 

 of the germinal dot. If thought is nothing but a secretion of the brain, 

 we can no more originate and direct that secretion than we can orig- 

 inate and direct the secretions of other organs; there can be no such 

 thing as an intention of thought, and our so-called reasoning is a mere 

 involuntary discharge of an involuntary secretion, as free from inherent 

 intention, or from voluntary and independent purpose, as is the urine or 

 the bile. They tell us that the beginning of all organic life was in a 

 germ or germs that in some way appeared in primordial slime. They 

 also tell us that these germs have developed throughout countless ages 

 into myriad forms of life, and that among these forms they find the 

 physical man of today. They may be right as to this, for physical man 

 is still "of the earth earthy", and can hardly deny kinship with the 

 slime. Keeping their eyes on that slime of the distant past, and on the 

 life force that stirred its depths when that germ appeared, they seek 

 only in the du;;t of the ages and in that life force for the origin of all 

 the qualities they find in the man of today. They might as well attribute 

 the secret of Canova's genius to the marble of Carrara, or the inspiration 

 of Michael Angelo or Raphael to the pigments they used. They remind 

 one of Bunyan's "Man with the Muckrake". If they will but lift their 

 eyes from the dust and study the harmonious rule of that power which 

 governs the universe, they will find the source of the crowning glory of 

 humanity. 



"The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 

 showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night 

 unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language 

 where their voice is not heard." 



As the mysterious thing we call "magnetism" may enter into the 

 apparently inert needle of steel and give to it a new quality or power, 

 and as magnetism's mysterious relative, electricity, when it is sent 

 coursing through a wiie, imparts to the filament in the bulb the power to 

 emit light, so man, at some point in the course of his development, has 

 had imparted to him a power beyond anything that can originate in that 

 form of force we know as life. Life acts automatically, but this new 

 power enables man to originate action, — to think, to reason, to decide, 

 and to do. Common sense is a most excellent possession, and common 

 sense would dictate that in searching for the oiigin of mind we should 

 look where we know mind to be. One would not search for tropical 

 flowers at the north pole, nor for icebergs at the equator. 



In conclusion, my guess, as above indicated, is that life is the con- 

 structing and conserving force in natuie, and that mind in man, in- 



