COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



tablish communication between the cells.^ Be- 

 tween millions of these cells there run millions 

 of fibres, establishing communications in all 

 directions. And the elaborate researches of 

 Schroeder van der Kolk have gone far to prove 

 that the shapes of the cells and the intricacy of 

 their communications vary with the amount 

 of intelligence. In various forms of mental dis- 

 ease, both cells and fibres undergo pathological 

 changes, such as atrophy, hardening, softening, 

 or some other form of degeneration. That is 

 to say, not only are the activities of the cells 

 impeded, but the channels of communication 

 are variously obliterated or blocked up. 



Between these fibres and cells there are dif- 

 ferences of molecular structure implying differ- 

 ences in molecular activity. While the matter 

 composing a cell is built up in enormously com- 

 plex aggregates of molecules, wholly unshielded 

 from external disturbance, the nerve matter of 

 a fibre is protected throughout its entire length 

 by a membranous sheath. And while it is 

 probable that the action going on in a cell con- 

 sists in the continual fall of unstably arranged 

 molecules into a state of more stable equili- 

 brium, from which a fresh rush of blood is con- 

 tinually raising them to their former unstable 

 state ; it is probable that the action going on 



^ [The form of statement here would be somewhat modi- 

 fied in the light of the modern ** neuron theory."] 



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