FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVE SPIRIT. 55 



yond it, of which wc do not treat in this place. Only we remark 

 that the spirit within is the physiological window to the spirit be- 

 yond, and that they who do not look through it, cannot admit the 

 soul of man as having any ratio with the sciences of the body. 

 Certainly, the soul is not their object; but woe to them if it have 

 not its witness within their field. Even granting what we have said, 

 the nerve spirit will be only on a level with the other fluids, unless 

 it be interpreted by those higher powers which it serves. But what 

 its function is can be told analogically, but not, as yet, otherwise. 

 Thus, we may say that it exercises q uasi- mind and influence in every 

 part of the frame : that it is an atomic intellect everywhere, capable 

 of representing tjie state of the body, and a will, capable of setting 

 the organism in imitative movement according to its decisions and 

 forms. By it alone can we account for the unity and coherence of 

 the system. For every point of it is a sense or intelligence that 

 shows the frame a model that commands instant imitation. And 

 thus it may be likened to the truths of society, which command 

 obedience by their bare showing, according to the health of the 

 social frame. Let it be borne in mind, however, that the nerve 

 spirit is different according to the divisions of the nervous system, 

 and according to the nerves of every organ, and indeed, every parti- 

 cle, because each is open to the wisdom that it needs. Thus, in the 

 nervous system proper, it is mind and will : in the liver, again, it is 

 the mirror and model of the hepatic truths and operations. And 

 so of the other organs. Dropped from above into their lives, re- 

 vealed to their blood and races, it sets them in the fermentation and 

 discussion of their problems, and on the Veritas prevaleh it principle, 

 health cannot fail to obey it. It is the posture-master of the solids, 

 and the charioteer of the fluids. We see, then, how full the body is 

 of eyes — how instinct with spirit-like forces, and by the analogies 

 of mental and social life, how irresistible are the causes of harmony, 

 design, and co-operation in the bodily fabric. But were there not 

 such a spirit, there would be no reason, but an immediate dictate of 

 God's will, for the stupendous system which the human machine 

 discloses; that is to say, there would be no wisdom in the body, 

 answering to that supreme wisdom which exists above it. 



And here, to assist our conceptions, let us revert to the current 



