OF MIND. 



constituting the germ of a very simple creature, nor does 

 the germinal matter of the nerve-cells of the human embryo 

 exhibit any special characters. We should therefore an- 

 ticipate that the highest form of germinal matter known, 

 that which takes part in mental action, would agree in its 

 characters so far as we are able to determine them, with 

 other forms. The difference, vast as it is, is a difference in 

 power, which, however, we can only estimate by the results 

 of its action by the effects produced by it. In the living 

 state this form of living matter is no doubt perfectly trans- 

 parent, of excessive tenuity, and exhibits no characters 

 which would enable us to form any notion of its exalted 

 powers. These powers, properties, or endowments are 

 unquestionably due, not to its chemical composition or to 

 the peculiar arrangement of its particles as compared with 

 other forms of germinal matter, but solely to that wonderful 

 force, property, or power, which I would place under the 

 head of vital power. 



We should anticipate that of all kinds of germinal matter 

 known, that concerned in mental nervous action would be 

 most evanescent and prone to rapid decay and disintegration 

 after death. It is therefore not surprising that in many 

 cases no trace of the delicate masses of germinal matter I 

 have described should be discovered. And I feel sure that 

 what I have been able to demonstrate affords but a very 

 imperfect idea of the real number and arrangement of the 

 masses of germinal matter which exist in the living state. 

 We should expect that change would almost immediately 

 follow the death of the individual, and that this form of 

 germinal matter would be completely broken down long 



