38 Education through Nature 



is through these that the nervous system is made func- 

 tional. As motion is the function of muscle, so mind 

 and consciousness appear to be the function of the 

 brain. In the latter as in the former the function 

 ceases to manifest itself when the organ is injured or 

 destroyed. 



Anatomically the sense-organs are the peripheral 

 portions of the central nervous system. They are the 

 avenues through which the brain is influenced by 

 the external world. Subjective, physical states of 

 internal organs, no doubt, may influence the brain 

 and thus modify, in various ways, the mental activity. 

 But with the senses closed, as the eye in sleep, the 

 mental life becomes essentially a dream-life. Intuitive 

 ideas are sometimes called regulative ideas. Con- 

 sidering the important difference between sleeping 

 and waking, the sense-organs might properly be called 

 regulative organs. For it is by means of them that we 

 are able to distinguish between hallucinations and 

 dreams, on the one hand, and the saner ideas arising 

 through our real experience with the external world on 

 the other. 



It is a significant fact that practically all the advance 

 in human knowledge, to which the past century has 

 so largely contributed, has been gained through a 

 more diligent use of the senses than was common 

 among people of earlier ages. Their systematic use, 

 aided by that concomitant power of correct inference, 

 has not only influenced educational theories, but has 

 changed the philosophy and way of thinking of all 

 western peoples. Compare these with the dreamy 

 oriental peoples and the contrast is striking. 



Inventions, like the telescope, the microscope, and 

 the spectroscope, have revealed new worlds because 

 of the aid which they give to our senses. It is indeed 

 probable that most of our advance in the future will 

 depend on the success with which we are able to 



