CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MIND AND BRAIN. 235 



mind excited by sensations, and altogether independent of the will. 

 Of the mode in which the mind thus acts upon the nervous system, we 

 know nothing whatever, and probably never shall be informed in our 

 present state of being. But it is sufficient for us to be aware of the 

 physiological fact of the peculiar connexion between the mind and the 

 brain ; a connexion so intimate, as to enable the mind to receive through 

 the body a knowledge of the condition of the Universe around it, and 

 to impress on the body the results of its own determinations ; and of 

 such a nature, that the regularity of the working of the mind itself is 

 dependent upon the complete organization of the brain in the first in- 

 stance, upon the constant supply of pure and well-elaborated blood, and 

 upon all those influences which favour the due performance of the 

 nutritive operations in general. 



