August 1, 1889.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



209 



lout remains as unlike as possible to the conscious thought 

 of the philosopher ; nor will crusts of bread or bottles of 

 wine educe aught from the lout's brain that men will think 

 worth remembering in future ages. 



Moreover, we must remember that we have to deal with 

 facts, let the interpretation of these facts be what it may. 

 The relations between mental activity and material processes 

 affecting the substance of the brain are matters of observa- 

 tion and experiment. We may estimate the importance of 

 such research with direct reference to the bi'ain as the 

 instrument of thought, without inquiring by what processes 

 that instrument is called into action. " The piano which 

 the master touches," to quote yet again from the philosophic 

 pages of Holmes's " Mechanism in Thought and Morals," 

 '' must be as thoroughly understood as the musical box or 

 clock which goes of itself by a spring or weight. A slight 

 congestion or softening of the brain shows the least 

 materialistic of philosophers that he must recognise the 

 strict dependence of mind upon its organ in the only condi- 

 tion of life with which we are experimentally acquainted ; 

 and what all recognise as soon as disease foi'ces it upon 

 their attention, all thinkers should recognise without wait- 

 ing for such an irresistible demonstration. Tliey should 

 see that the study of the organ of thought, micro.scopically, 

 -chemically, experimentally, in the lower animals, in in- 

 dividuals and race, in health and in disease, in every aspect 

 of external observation, as well as by internal conscious- 

 ness, is just as necessary as if the mind were known to be 

 nothing more than a function of the brain, in the same way 

 as digestion of the stomach." 



In considering here, however, the growth of the mind, it 

 appears to me sufficient to call attention to the physical 

 aspect of the subject, without enteiing into an account of 

 what is known about the physical structure of the brain 

 and the manner in which that structure is modified with 

 advancing years. Moreover, I do not think it desirable, in 

 the limited space available for such an essay as the present, 

 to discuss the various foi-ms of mental power ; indeed, this 

 is by no means essential where a general view of mental 

 growth and decay is alone in question. Precisely as we 

 can consider the development and decay of the bodily power 

 without entering into a discussion of the various forms in 

 which that power may be manifested, so we can discuss the 

 growth of the mind without considering special forms of 

 mental action. 



Nevertheless, we cannot altogether avoid such considera- 

 tions, simply because we must adopt some rule for determin- 

 ing how to know when mental power is growing. Here, 

 indeed, at the outset, a serious difficulty is encountered. 

 (Certain signs of mental decay are sufficiently obvious, but 

 the signs which mark the progress of the mind to its 

 maximum degree of power, as well as the earlier signs of 

 gradually diminishing mental power, are far more difficult 

 of recognition. This is manifest when we consider that 

 they should be more obvious, on(! would suppose, to the 

 person whose mintl is in question than to any other ; 

 whei-eas it is a known fact that men do not readily perceive 

 (certainly are not ready to admit) any falling off in mental 

 power, even when it has become very marked to others. 

 "I, the Professor," says Wendell Holmes in the " Professor 

 at the Breakfast-table," " am very much like other men. 

 I shall not find out when 1 have used up my affinities. 

 What a blessed thing it is that Nature, when she invented, 

 manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make 

 critics out of the chips that wcn^ loft ! Painful as the task 

 is, they never foil to warn the author, in the most impressive 

 manner, of the probabilities of failure in what he has under- 

 taken. Sad as the necessity is to their delicate sensibilities, 

 they never hesitate to advertise him of the decline of hii> 



powers, and to press upon him the propriety of retiring 

 before he sinks into imbecility." Notwithstanding the 

 irony, which is just enough so far as it relates to ordinary 

 criticism, there can be no question that when an author's 

 powers are failing, his readers, and especially those who 

 have been his most faithful followers, so to speak, devouring 

 each of his works as it issues from his pen, begin to recog- 

 nise the decrease of his powers before he is himself conscious 

 that he is lo.sing strength. The case of Scott may be cited 

 as a sufficient illustration, its importance in this i-espect 

 being derived from the fact that he had long been warmly 

 admired and enthusiastically ajjpreciated by these who at 

 once recognised signs of deterioration in " Count Pixjbert of 

 Paris " and " Castle Dangerous." 



Yet judgment is most difficult in such matters. We can 

 readily see why no man should be skilled to detect the signs 

 of change in his own mind, since the self-watching of the 

 growth and decay of mind is an experiment which can be 

 conducted but once, and which is completed only when the 

 mind no longer has the power of grasping all the ob.served 

 ficts and forming a sound opinion upon them. But it is 

 even more natural that those who follow the career of some 

 great mind should often be misled in their judgment as to 

 its varying power. For it must be remembered that the 

 conditions under which such minds are exercised nearly 

 always vary greatly as time proceeds. This circumstance 

 affects chieHy the correctness of ideas formed as to the decay 

 of mental powers, but it has its bearing also on the sup- 

 posed increase of these powers. For instance, the earlier 

 works of a young author, diffident perhaps of his strength 

 or not quite conscious where his chief strength resides, will 

 often be characterised by a weakness which is in no true 

 sense indicative of want of mental power. A work by the 

 same author when he has made for himself a name, when 

 he knows something of the feeling of the public as to his 

 powers, and when also he has learned to distinguish the 

 qualities he possesses — to see where he is strong and 

 where weak — will have an air of strength and firmness 

 not due, or only partially due, to any real growth of his 

 mental powers. But as 1 have said, and as experience 

 has repeatedly shown, it is in opinions formed as to the 

 diminution of mental power that the world is most apt to 

 be deceived. How commonly the remark is heard that 

 So-and-so has written himself out, or Such-a-one is not the 

 man he was, when in reality, as those know who are inti- 

 mate with the authoi' so summarily dismissed, the deteriora- 

 tion justly enough noted is due to circumstances in no way 

 connected with mental capacity. The author who has suc- 

 ceeded in establishing a reputation may not have (nay, very 

 commonly has not) the .same reason for exerting his powere 

 to the full, as he had when ho was making his reputation. 

 He may have less leisure, more company, new sources of 

 distraction, and so on. The earlier work, his chef'.d'amcre, 

 let us say, may have been produced at one gi-eat effort, no 

 other subject being allowed to occupy his attention until the 

 masterpiece had been completed — the later and inferior 

 work, hastily accepted as evidence that the author's mind no 

 longer preserves its wonted powers, may have been written 

 hurriedly and piecemeal, and subjected to no jealous revision 

 before passing through the press. 



(I'o be continued.) 



Sand Grouse in Yokksmire. — Four sand grouse were seen aa 

 lately as tlie middle of June in ii oorntield on the edge of Uanshead 

 Moor, about four inilos soutli-east of Todmorden, and all of them 

 —two males and two females — were wantonly shot. The place where 

 they were killed is about 900 feet above the sea-level. We may 

 mention that the gradual elevation above the sea that hiis been 

 recorded for sand grouse in this country is l.l'OO feet. — The Zooloijiat. 



