THE NERVE SPIRIT. 53 



Therefore, we proceed to imagine, that the mind broods above the 

 brain, as the cosmical ether sits above the planetary air, and further, 

 that the mind, or spiritual reservoir, fills all the interstices of the 

 brain, where, however, it is determined by suitable fluid envelops, 

 which accommodate, temper and envelop it, until it is brought into 

 ratio with the fixed mechanism of the cerebrum. Hence, its solar 

 vibrations are felt in the bodily organism, as light is felt on the 

 earth through the splendid shiver of a medium which the air in- 

 cludes between its parts. And hence, there are as many kinds of 

 nervous or cerebral spirit as there are nerves and brains ; for it is 

 the openness or intervalling of the latter, that admits and gives 

 quality or fibrillation to the former. The brain, doubtless, is made 

 with an express view to this recipiency : the fluids, which when en- 

 tered by the soul become nerve spirits, are also predetermined ; and 

 hence there is the same ratio again between the mind and the nerve 

 spirit, as between the brain and the spinal cord, in that the parts of 

 both are alike, but differing in breadth or degree. 



But indeed, the doctrine of the nerve-spirit forms but one of 

 several problems, which have experienced the like treatment. The 

 reality of whatever is above the senses, is questioned by many, and 

 consequently the presence of the supernal in the sensual is denied; 

 and, if the supernal be visible, still it is degraded by some ordinary 

 name, and the spirit and message which it carries are sensualized 

 and set aside. The thing is killed by skepticism, and then its spirit 

 is easily called serum. It is so with Revelation. A divine mind 

 there may be, but then man, say some, is solid at the top, and lets 

 God in by a self-vibration : there is no open fibre between Him and 

 man. We, however, affirm a nerve spirit of the human race, which 

 is not man's, but God's in man — a genuine influx, a word, a revela- 

 tion. It is just as visible as other books, though often it is not 

 known what it is, because the mind is not known with which it com- 

 municates, nor consequently the peculiar animation of the book. 

 We see on this mighty scale, what is the use of a nerve spirit, 

 namely, to be immediately present with the directing mind through- 

 out the organism; to speak in messages unwarped by the finite 

 faculties; to be the First and the Last, instead of " sitting above the 

 creation, and seeing it go." Were it otherwise, the government of 



