PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. 15- 



It must be reiuembeved that the brain is not the only substance 

 having connection witli mental functions. The entire bodily system 

 shows such connection, though "in varying degrees." 



The proof derived from the facts showing the completeness of the 

 connection between the two natures is overwhelming. Bodily changes 

 affect mental states ; the condition of the stomach, the brain, or the 

 nervous system shows its effects in the mental tone or condition, 

 and affects not only the sensational part of man, but also the emo- 

 tional, the moral and the aesthetic. And mental changes in their 

 turn react upon the whole bodily organism ; sorrow and fear show 

 their effect no less upon the nervous system than upon digestion. 



How readily do our emotions express themselves ! And how close 

 is the connection between them and their expression ! Darwin tells 

 us tliat they are so closely connected with their expression, that they 

 hardly exist if the body remain passive. 



And does not the capacity for thought, the rapidity or sluggishness 

 of thought, depend upon both the quantity and the quality of the 

 blood supplied to the brain ? And does there not here display itself 

 the dependence of our higher life upon the healthy tone of the stomach, 

 and of the juirifying and other organs connected with it 1 



Lengthened reference cannot now be made to the light thrown upon 

 this question by investigations into disease and lunacy. Physicians 

 now deal with Mind and Body as a practical unity. They are, avow- 

 edly or iiot, materialists. 



The Mind is ordinai-ily dealt with as having a three-fold aspect — 

 Feeling, Will and Thought — the mental trinity in unity. A separ- 

 ate consideration of these shows cleai'ly their dependence upon bodily 

 conditions and organisms. 



The direct dependence of Feeling, and of feeling in its variations, 

 upon bodily conditions and changes, need not be considered ; only 

 through the bodily medium can it be conceived as possible. 



With regard to the Will, whatever may be our accepted theory 

 with regard to the growth of volition, it is incontestable that the 

 development, and manifestation, and direction of will, are all depend- 

 ent upon bodily stimulus, acting through the nerves and nerve 

 centres, and thence outwardly upon the organs which the will may 

 be said to use as its instruments. 



