CHARACTERS OF LIVING MATTER. 



149 



particular cords of the nerve mechanism to be struck ; 

 special movements expressing the inward ideas then follow. 

 If this be so, mind is the vital power which is associated with 

 this the most exalted form of living or germinal matter, so 

 arranged that the slightest change occurring in it may pro- 

 duce indirectly an effect through the influence of a most 

 elaborate mechanism, brought into very intimate relation 

 with it. Although I am not prepared to deny that the 

 germinal matter of the caudate nerve-cells of the grey 

 matter of the cerebral convolutions is concerned in mental 

 nervous actions, there are many arguments which lead me 

 to think that this is not the material substance which is 

 immediately influenced by the mind, but belongs rather to 

 that wonderful mechanism which is concerned in the 

 expression of thought, and in the conversion of ideas into 

 symbols. 



Of the Character of the Germinal Matter taking part in 

 Mental Operations. Some might anticipate that the matter 

 immediately influenced by mind would exhibit some remark- 

 able structure and arrangement, but those who have studied 

 the characters of living matter in the lowest and highest 

 organisms will not expect to find this, the highest form, 

 exhibiting any structure whatever or possessing any peculiar 

 chemical composition. They will be prepared to find the 

 highest forms composed of the same colourless, structure- 

 less, moving substance which constitutes the living matter 

 of the lowest organisms, and they will look for a difference 

 in power in endowment, not for any material difference. 

 The germinal matter of the embryo of the highest and most 

 complex being in nature cannot be distinguished from that 



