THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 361 



flesh, and sawing off a bony excrescence. The knife does not 

 come within the experience of a horse. It has no anticipa- 

 tions, and its skin, intensely sensitive to the tickling of a fly 

 or the smart of a whip, is relatively insensitive to a cut. An 

 eminent surgeon of the last generation (the writer, as a student, 

 " dressed " for him in his old age) was in the habit, having 

 arranged that his patient could not see what he was doing, of 

 performing operations of a very painful nature whilst assuring 

 his patient, " I am merely making a thorough examination, 

 in order that I may be perfectly certain of the cuts that I shall 

 have to make to-morrow in the operating-theatre when you are 

 under chloroform." We are not concerned with the ethics of 

 his method ; but the assurance, " Now that's all over ; you will 

 never need to have that operation performed again," saved 

 many a sufferer from a night of apprehension and a miserable 

 " coming round." 



It was stated, during the South African War, that at Lady- 

 smith the bearer of a critical despatch, who was struck in the 

 palm of the hand by a bullet which traversed the whole length 

 of his forearm, did not discover that he was wounded until he 

 saw the dripping blood, after his errand was successfully accom- 

 plished. To deliberately cut oneself with a razor is most pain- 

 ful, yet shaving in the morning, with thoughts concentrated on 

 the doings of the day, it is often the sight of blood which 

 directs attention to the fact that the skin is severed. Of all evi- 

 dences of self, the power of paying attention is the most note- 

 worthy. We can direct attention to certain sensations, which 

 then become perceptions, and we can deliberately ignore others,* 

 within certain restricted limits. 



The control of the nervous apparatus by the self is a truth 

 which no student of the physiology of human beings can 

 ignore. Isolated from its relation to all other scientific truths, 

 it has been made the basis of a nescience which, although posi- 

 tively merely foolish, is, negatively, harmful yet a form of folly 

 which answers well to the needs of persons of a certain category. 



It may be objected that the picture of the relation of mind 

 to brain which is here presented the one, activity, motion^ 

 the other a labyrinth of conducting paths makes all mental 

 phenomena entirely dependent upon current sensations. No 

 results could happen if the sensations were not there. It 



