NERVOUS POWER. 361 



necessarily, or even usually attended with sen- 

 sation, and are wholly removed from the control 

 of volition. Nature has not permitted processes, 

 which are so important to the preservation of 

 life, to be in any way interfered with by the will 

 of the animal. We know that in ourselves they 

 go on as well during sleep as when we are 

 awake, and whether our attention be directed 

 to them or not ; and though occasionally in- 

 fluenced by strong emotions, and other affections 

 of mind, they are in general quite independent 

 of every intellectual process. In the natural and 

 healthy condition of the system all its internal 

 operations proceed quietly, steadily, and con- 

 stantly, whether the mind be absorbed in thought 

 or wholly vacant. The kind of existence result- 

 ing from these functions alone, and to which our 

 attention has hitherto been confined, must be 

 regarded as the result of mere vegetative, rather 

 than of animal life. It is time that we turn our 

 views to the higher objects, and more curious 

 field of inquiry, belonging to the latter. 



