146 THE ORGAN OF THE MIND. 



FEELING SENSATION SENSATIONALISM. 



" There are some propositions which tacitly assert little more than 

 they avowedly assert ; while there are other propositions in which what 

 is tacitly asserted immensely exceeds in amount what is avowedly as- 

 serted." HERBERT SPENCER. 



So many recent authorities in various departments of science 

 have concurred in affirming the brain to be the organ of the 

 mind, that it would seem a profitless task to contend against 

 the assertion being generally accepted because it had not 

 been proved to be true. Nevertheless it must be admitted, 

 that no one has clearly explained exactly what is to be un- 

 derstood by the terms "brain" and "organ" in the sentence 

 quoted. Far less has it been established that the relation 

 of mind to brain matter is a relation of the same order as 

 that which subsists between contraction and the tissue that 

 contracts, or that it is in any way comparable with the rela- 

 tion between a secretion and the elementary parts or cells 

 which have taken part in its production. 



The brain, it must be allowed, is a highly complex organ, 

 made up of many different tissues, performing many and 

 very different offices. It would be a nearer approach to an 

 accurate statement to affirm that a part of the brain is the 

 organ of the mind. But unfortunately, in the present state 

 of our knowledge, the limits of the part of the brain con- 

 cerned in mental acts, cannot be determined with accuracy, 

 and even if it had freen possible to do this, we should have 

 to admit that the part in question was not composed of one 

 substance only, but was very complex in structure, and was 

 made up of many different textures, contributing, as it were, 



