354 THE BODY AT WOKK 



who is recovering from the effects of a lesion which has ren- 

 dered him partially aphasic may be able to recall adjectives 

 when he cannot recall nouns. He may say, " Give me the 

 black," when he wants ink, and " Give me the white," when 

 he needs paper. Or he may retain control of verbs. ;t Where 

 is the - - what I put on what I think with ?" may be the 

 circumlocution for hat. 



Psychologists explain the voluntary production of a move- 

 ment as the setting flowing of a sensori-motor current. Every- 

 one agrees that it is impossible to think of the impulses which 

 produce movement as originating without sensory antecedents. 

 Hence psychologists picture the nerve-current as originating 

 on the sensory side. Kinsesthetic images of the sensations 

 which will result from the movement are described as being 

 called up in the mind by the agitation of the part of the brain 

 which, by association, is linked with the neurones which dis- 

 charge impulses to the appropriate spots in the grey matter of 

 the spinal cord. The idea of movement flows over to the 

 muscles. But this conception of the relation of mind to body 

 assumes too much. It postulates an existent mind in which 

 the images of movement-sensations the memories, that is to 

 say, of the sensations which previously accompanied move- 

 ment are stored. The study of the apparatus of mind does 

 not warrant this assumption of an existent mind. It finds 

 nothing in the nervous system but apparatus. There is no 

 mind existent in the brain during sleep. It would appear to 

 be sufficient to describe the origination of a voluntary move- 

 ment as the opening of the channels which convey the afferent 

 impulses which are ceaselessly pouring into grey matter from 

 nerve-endings in and about muscles into efferent channels. 

 Our conception of the number of sensations which reach the 

 realm of consciousness is ludicrously restricted by our inability 

 to pay attention to more than one sensation at a time a 

 restriction, it is needless to remark, which is imperative in the 

 interests of consistency of behaviour. Two personalities paying 

 attention to different sequences of sensations would give in- 

 compatible orders. One would command the muscles to cause 

 the body to recline ; the other would direct them to make it 

 stand up. From myriads of sense-organs impulses are con- 

 tinuously rippling through the cortex of the brain. The term 



