THE BODY TEMPLE 63 



nerve centers having charge of the organs by which 

 we are able to see, hear, smell, taste, etc. When we 

 see objects, it is because impressions are received by 

 the eye, and are carried by nerves to the cells at the 

 base of the brain which have charge of the sense of 

 sight, and which are thereby made to act. "Wliatever 

 causes these cells to act, will give us the impression of 

 light, as illustrated by the effect of a blow upon the 

 head, or a fall upon the ice, which causes us to see 

 stars, by communicating a shock to the nerve cells that 

 have charge of the sight. 



Overtopping all the rest of the nervous system is 

 to be found the great brain, which does the highest 

 kind of thinking of which we are capable. It is with 

 this part of the brain that we are enabled to reason. 

 Here is also located the memory and all the various 

 mental and moral faculties. This portion of the nerv- 

 ous system was designed to rule all the rest. It is the 

 organ of mind and of will. 



Brain and Mind.— The next question, ''What is the 

 mind!" we do not need to discuss, more than to ob- 

 serve that it is the result of the action of the brain, 

 the highest kind of thinking done by nerve cells. How 

 brain action results in thought, we cannot understand ; 

 but it is also quite as difficult for us to understand how 

 brain action results in muscular action, or in the mani- 

 festation of force of anj sort. That the brain is the 

 organ of mind, and that mind is the result of its ac- 

 tivity, is evidenced by a number of important facts: 



1. When the brain is injured by disease or by acci- 

 dent, the mind is impaired or destroyed, though the 

 rest of the body may remain in comparative health. 

 When the brain ceases to act, as in sound sleep, con- 

 sciousness and mind action also cease. 



