CALIFORNIA COLLEGE 

 of PHARMACY 



CHAPTER XXXII 



INFLUENCES WHICH AFFECT THE MIND 



550. Stimulation to action. The thought cells of the 

 brain are given power over voluntary actions of the body, 

 with no higher power to cause them to act, except the will, 

 which is the result of their own action. Were a child left 

 entirely to itself, it would probably exercise its mind no 

 more than an animal, But the sight of objects and ambi- 

 tions not yet attained spurs the thought cells to action, 

 just as sensations cause the spinal cord and motor region 

 to act. Without constant stimulus of the senses and feel- 

 ings the thought cells languish and almost cease to act. 

 As the body is compelled to grow by the cells of the spinal 

 cord, so must the mind be compelled to grow by an effort 

 of the will. Few men possess a will strong enough to act 

 without the stimulus of other minds, but association with 

 trained minds arouses the will to exercise one's own mind. 



551. Concentration of the mind. In order to become 

 educated, the mind must be exercised persistently and for 

 hours at a time. The mind does not grow unless its whole 

 energies are often directed towards a single object. It is 

 not study to read a page and then to converse about sports 

 for a moment and then to study another moment, for each 

 impression sweeps away the preceding one. True study 

 is to sit down in a quiet room, and to fix the mind upon the 

 book continuously for an hour or more. Then the mind 

 will be occupied so that it takes no note of time or outside 



OV. PHYSIOL. 20 70 C 



