MIND IS FUNCTION 191 



makes possible the idea, is the pre-existence of these 

 plexuses, so organized that a wave of molecular motion, 

 diffused through them, will produce its psychical cor- 

 relative, the components of the conception, in due 

 order and degree. ' ' So that, it follows, that the differ- 

 ence in ideas, expressed by different organisms, de- 

 pends upon the organic structure of the nervous sys- 

 tems, and not upon a separate and distinct mental 

 entity, that may be supposed to exist within the body 

 of each. Mind is a condition, not a thing. "Psychi- 

 cal" means the effect produced in the motion of mole- 

 cules of nerve tissue in the body, in response to some 

 incidence of force from without, such as 1 light, heat, 

 sound, etc. 



The sensations received through the sense organs 

 from the objective, are the primary sources of all 

 knowledge and mental development. But before there 

 can be knowledge there must be hereditary structure 

 in the organism, whose function is the co-ordination of 

 these sensations, into what we call knowledge. The 

 quality, and scope, of the knowledge depends upon the 

 neural connections of the reflex arcs, or associative 

 cross fibres over which the sensation may pass and their 

 power thus to arouse dormant images into memory, 

 reason, will, etc. The quality, and within limits, the 

 quantity of the structure determines the limitations. 

 It may with truth be said, that the real difference be- 

 tween the mind of Shakespeare, for example, and the 

 lowest man, lies not in education, in the schools, but 

 simply in the difference between the structure, and 

 quality, of their nervous systems. Of course education 

 in schools is of very great importance, in giving the 

 growing organism experience of the highest value in 

 the future interpretation of the problems, always 



