MIND IS FUNCTION 179 



the same structure and function he then possessed, not 

 the elimination of that and substitution of other of a 

 different kind. All life, physical and psychical, is akin, 

 because it is evolved from the same material without 

 the addition or subtraction of a particle of its essence 

 or miture at any step of the process. That is the reason 

 why structure and function are alike in kind and differ 

 only in degree in all animals. 



The present experiments that are being made in aerial 

 navigation show very clearly the parallel working of 

 the psychical device in man compared with the same 

 device in the lower animal, when they are both confront- 

 ed by an unknown problem. So do the efforts made to 

 reach the north pole. They are a series of trials and 

 failures. They are the reactions of the nervous struc- 

 ture to an objective stimulus, in an indefinite inco- 

 ordinate way. The induced nerve molecular action is 

 without any former experience in such line of action, 

 and the line of least resistance for such response is not 

 yet found. Like the baby learning to walk, such experi- 

 ments are very hard work at first, but with the 

 prospective result that eventually they will become as 

 automatic as the flying of the bird. 



Consider further the comparative daily life of man. 

 and that of the animal with reference to their being 

 alike in kind. Men seem to have done and are now 

 doing instinctively those things that are concrete, and 

 are not beyond their capacity. The great bulk of 

 organized society confine themselves to agriculture, 

 commerce, manufacturing to money making in 

 general. All these pursuits have reference to the sup- 

 port, housing and adornment of the body, and require 

 a less amount of brain energy than purely intellectual 

 work, such as biology astronomy, geology, and evolu- 



