274 FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 



always evil. And the misery of motor paralysis, of in- 

 tellectual pauperism, is felt as the disease of ennui. 

 The remedy for evils of revery, ennui, narcotism, and the 

 like, is to be found in action. The knowledge of this 

 fact constitutes the strength of the Salvation Army 

 movement. The victim of mental deterioration, the 

 " opium fiend," or the inebriate is given something to do. 

 He is not to wear out the little force he has left in 

 ineffective remorse. Better let him beat a big drum and 

 make night hideous with unmusical song than to settle 

 down to the dry rot of revery or the wet rot of emotional 

 regret. Something to do and the will to act furnishes 

 the remedy for all forms of social or personal discontent. 

 Not every sense impression can demand distinct re- 

 sponse. It is the function of the intellect to sift these 



impressions, turning over into action 

 The power o . tnose j n w hich action is desirable 



of attention. . 



or wise. The power of attention is one 



of the most valuable attributes of the trained mind. 

 And the essential of this power is in the suppression by 

 the will of all impulses which do not concern the pres- 

 ent need of action. 



As the normal workings of the mind are reducible to 

 sensation, thought, will, and action, so the abnormal 



workings may be due to defects of any 

 Defects in men- one of ^^ elements. We may have 

 tal operation. 



defects of sensation, defects of thought, 



vacillation of will, and inaccuracy of action. Hyperses- 

 thesia, anaesthesia, sensory weakness, appear in the un- 

 certain action of the muscles guided by the ill-informed 

 or over-informed brain. The defects and diseases of the 

 brain itself appear in many ways, ranging from oddity or 

 folly to the extreme of idiocy or mania. Most of the 

 "psychic phenomena" along "the borderland of spirit," 

 which occupy a large part in current literature, are char- 



