52 OF HEALTH AND HUMAN NATURE. 



In contending that the mind is a power of the living brain, 

 and the exercise of it the functions of that organ, I contend for 

 merely a physical fact, and no Christian who has just conceptions 

 of the Author of Nature will hesitate to look boldly at nature as 

 she is, lest he should discover facts opposite to the pronunciations 

 of revelation. For the word and the works of the Almighty can- 

 not contradict each other. Lord Bacon accordingly, in a very 

 memorable part of his writings, directs the physical enquirer to 

 be uninfluenced by religious opinions,* as the more indepen- 

 dently truth is pursued the sooner will it be gained, and the 

 sooner will the real meaning of the divine statement of natural 

 things, and its identity with physical fact, be established. 



The assertion, however, that the mind is a power of the living 

 brain, is not an assertion that it is material, for a power or 

 property of matter cannot be matter. 



Neither is it an assertion, that this power cannot be a some- 



In most cases where the mind is said to have been vigorous when the state of 

 the body at large or of the brain alone rendered the perfect performance of the 

 cerebral functions improbable in the eyes of the relaters, 1 believe the mental 

 power has even been greatly overrated, — that because the individual has merely 

 talked collectively he has been imagined sufficient for the exertions of his best 

 health. 



Those who thus attempt to prove the substantial distinctness of the mind and 

 brain, forget that these arguments are equally strong against what they generally 

 admit, — the connection of the mind and brain, and arc therefore grounded on 

 what, if tnic, were violations of the course of nature. 



* Si quis animum diligentius advertat, non minus pericidi naturali philoso- 

 phic ex istiusmodi fallaci in iniquo feedere, quam ex apertis inimicitiis, 

 imminere. Tali enim foedere et societatc accepta, in philosophic tantum com- 

 prehend!, aucta auteiu, vcl addita, vcl in melius rautata, etiam scverius et per- 

 tinacius excludi. Deniquc versus incrementa et novas veluti oras et regiones 

 philosoph'ue, omnia ex parte religionis, pravarum suspicionum et impotent^ 

 fastidii plena esse. Alios siquidem stmplicius subvercri, nc forte altior in na- 

 turain inquisitio ultra datum et concessum sobrietatis tcrminum penetret, 

 &e. &c. Quare satis constabat in hujusmodi opinioaibus multum infiriuitati*. 

 quin et invidiam el fermenti non parum uibessc, &c. — Cogitata et Visa. p. I(i7. 

 8vo. edition. 



