MIND 



3815 



MINERALS AND MINERALOGY 



MIND. There are but two entities in the 

 -world mind and matter. Many learned men 

 have denned them, with more or less success, 

 but possibly the difference between the two has 

 been as clearly stated by a shrewd layman. 

 When asked, "What is matter?" he said, "Never 

 mind;" and to the inquiry, "What is mind?" 

 he replied, "No matter." All that is really 

 known is that the mind is the principle in hu- 

 man beings which thinks, feels, wills, remem- 

 bers, desires and reasons. No one knows just 

 what it is, or what it is made of, and many 

 theories have been advanced to account for its 

 existence and its functions. Notwithstanding 

 the great differences in these theories, however, 

 all psychologists at the present time agree that 

 the mind and body are interdependent, that 

 each depends upon the other for existence. 

 Somewhere the mind and body make a vital 

 connection, although no one yet has discovered 

 where the connection lies. Men smile when 

 pleased, frown in anger, quiver with fear; men- 

 tal emotions somehow send their messages to 

 the nerves and muscles, so that there is an out- 

 ward physical expression of every mood and 

 shade of feeling. Mental depression can produce 

 actual physical sickness; the value of cheerful- 

 ness in helping to cure diseases is well known. 

 Any excitement, whether pleasant or unpleas- 

 ant, affects digestion. 



On the other side, there is a strong influence 

 of the body on the mind. Everyone can note 

 for himself the difference in his feeling of well- 

 being, in his emotions, when he is hungry or sat- 

 isfied, in pure or impure air, in cold or warmth, 

 in health and disease. All of this is a mystery 

 to psychologists, philosophers and biologists. 

 This mystery of the relation of the mind to the 

 body and the body to the mind forms the great- 

 est problem of metaphysics, and is called the 

 mind-and-body problem. 



For the development of the mind, see PSY- 

 CHOLOGY, subhead Development of Mental Powers. 

 Consult Baker's Elements of Psychology; Maher's 

 Psychology: for young people, Baldwin's The 

 Story of the Mind. 



MIND READING. The belief in a possi- 

 bility of communication between mind and 

 mind apart from the recognized use of the 

 senses is an ancient one. It appears in the 

 popular beliefs in second-sight; also in the 

 clairvoyance of mediums and the accrediting of 

 special powers to seers. The attempt to give 

 the thesis a scientific expression and test gave 

 rise to the term telepathy (which see). While 

 some investigators have become convinced of 



the irregular action of such a force, the general 

 verdict is entirely against such a supposition. 

 The support of such a view lies in a type of 

 "reading" which may be referred to the acute 

 interpretations of subconscious and involun- 

 tary indications. Under this view the process 

 should be called muscle reading, and not mind 

 reading. 



When the muscle reader attempts to find a 

 concealed object, he places the hand of the per- 

 son who knows the place of hiding upon his 

 forehead or arm, and by tentatively taking a 

 step in this and that direction and feeling the 

 resistance or yielding of his guide, takes a route 

 more or less irregularly to the concealed ob-' 

 ject. He is guided by the involuntary yielding 

 and resistance. With a favorable subject the 

 promptness and delicacy with which the move- 

 ments may be interpreted make possible an 

 amazing performance. The numbers of bank 

 notes may be selected by guiding the hand over 

 the digits from to 9. Experiments have 

 shown any thought sets up a slight, involuntary 

 tendency to move or incline in the thought-of 

 direction; involuntary whispering has been 

 similarly observed. It has been established 

 that animals associated with man horses and 

 dogs observe such indications. This power ex- 

 plains some of the otherwise incredible per- 

 formances of trained animals; the performer 

 (often sincere in his belief in the animal's mind- 

 reading) gives an involuntary indication which 

 the animal detects and responds to. On the 

 other hand, the public performances of mind- 

 reading in which messages are read depend 

 upon a code or other device. J.J. 



Relating to Various Beliefs. The articles 

 on the following topics, while not bearing directly 

 on the subject treated above, may be of interest 

 in this connection. 



Alchemy 



Astrology 



Clairvoyance 



Conjuring 



Demonology 



Divination 



Faith Cure 



Hypnotism 



Magic 



Medium 



Mesmerism 



Necromancy 



Occult 



Palmistry 



Phrenology 



Physiognomy 



Psychical Research 



Psycho-Analysis 



Spiritualism 



Subconscious 



Suggestion 



Superstition 



Telepathy 



Theosophy 



Trance 



Witchcraft 



MINERALS AND MINERALOGY. Every- 

 thing in or on the earth, everything which man 

 sees or knows about, belongs to one of two 

 great classes: either it is alive or is the product 

 of life, or else it has no life. The first division 



