546 The Outline of Science 



seeing artist, who will put them in the proper light and 

 bring out what there is in them of value. 



If the amoeba has in its small way a mind, an aspect of 

 itself corresponding to our mind, and if the amceba uses it 

 when it goes hunting two not unreasonable hypotheses- 

 then it may be that the germ-cell has also its analogue of 

 mind a not unreasonable hypothesis, since it develops into 

 a creature with a mind. 1 



2 



It is not the province of psychology to explain what mind 

 is; that belongs to the region of philosophy. Still, the great 

 problem which holds an interest for us is concerned with the 

 relation that exists between mind and body. Is mind in- 

 dependent and distinct from the body, or is it merely "an activity 

 of the brain-cells, a product of nerve stimulation"? 



Mind and Matter 



Men have argued endlessly on the relation of mind and 

 matter. To discuss, even briefly, the various theories and there 

 are many would take a volume. 



What the precise connection between mind and body is, no 

 one, as yet, has been able to say with any degree of certainty. 

 On the mechanistic view, as it may be called, the mind is a direct 

 product of the brain, and has no separate independent existence. 

 Every act of intelligence, every mental activity, is due to a 

 physiological mechanism. Every thought 



is the result of chemical or mechanical changes in the brain ; 

 an "idea" is but an explosion or discharge of the brain-cell, 

 an emotion is an activity of the brain bursting into flame; 

 every feeling of love, aspiration, or fear can be explained as 

 due to purely physical changes which produce the vapour 

 of thought, or the aroma of virtue. 



If it be held that during life "all mental processes have their 



*J. Arthur Thomson, The Syittm of Animate Nature. 



