Human Physiology. 755 



come only in two ways. It must be the result of some power 

 of the soul or life quite beyond our ordinary senses and means 

 of knowledge, or it must come to us as a revelation from intelli- 

 gent beings, gifted with higher powers, or more extensive 

 means of observation. Both means may co-exist, but it is not, 

 I think, unreasonable to believe that some persons may have 

 faculties, which, however mysterious and inexplicable, are still 

 possessed by the lower orders of the animal creation. 



The Human Body, as I shall attempt to show in the 

 succeeding chapters of this work, is a wondrous mechanism, 

 moulded by the conscious soul to be its instrument during this 

 primary stage of existence. The greater part of the body is 

 merely an instrument of locomotion. If we cut off both legs 

 and both arms, more than half the weight of the body, the life 

 remains intact. Heine, one of the finest geniuses, lay on his 

 bed for years with his whole body paralysed but his spirit 

 bright and strong. The decay of the body from disease and 

 old age is not, in many instances, accompanied with decay of 

 the moral and intellectual powers. Life retires to its citadel, 

 and the spirit seems to gather vigour as the body dies. There 

 are also a multitude of instances to prove that the force of the 

 mind, its active powers, are not in proportion to the strength 

 or the nourishment of the body. Blood 'goes to the brain, 

 brain matter is renewed ; but the brain can work on very small 

 quantities of nutriment. And there is reason to believe that 

 the nervous power is sometimes kept up by the absorption of 

 finer elements of life than our common food supplies. There 

 may be a nerve atmosphere or aromas of spirit nutriment of 

 which we have little conception. 



It is certain that the intellectual work of the world does not 

 depend, either in quantity or quality, upon the quantity or 

 quality of our food. The greatest thinkers have often been 

 men of small appetites, living upon the simplest and sparest 

 diet And as to the quality of thought or intellectual work, it 



