112 LIFE AND HABIT. 



attending to my blood and making himself a successful 

 corpuscle, than by speculating about my nature. He 

 would serve me best by serving himself best, without 

 being over curious. I should expect that my blood 

 might suffer if his brain were to become too active. 

 If, therefore, I could discover the vein in which he was, I 

 should let him out to begin life anew in some other 

 and, qud me, more profitable capacity. 



With the units of our bodies it is as with the stars 

 of heaven : there is neither speech nor language, but 

 their voices are heard among them. Our will is the 

 fiat of their collective wisdom, as sanctioned in their 

 parliament, the brain; it is they who make us do 

 whatever we do — it is they who should be rewarded 

 if they have done well, or hanged if they have com- 

 mitted murder. When the balance of power is well 

 preserved among them, when they respect each other's 

 rights and work harmoniously together, then we thrive 

 and are well; if we are ill, it is because they are 

 quarrelling with themselves, or are gone on strike for 

 this or that addition to their environment, and our 

 doctor must pacify or chastise them as best he may. 

 They are we and we are they ; and when we die it is 

 but a redistribution of the balance of power among 

 them or a change of dynasty, the result, it may be, of 

 heroic struggle, with more epics and love romances than 

 we could read from now to the Millennium, if they 

 were so written down that we could comprehend 

 them. 



It is plain, then, that the more we examine the 

 question of personality the more it baffles us, the only 



