154 A. T. f>CHOFlELD, ESQ., M.D.^ KTC.^ ON 



result of the interaction of the two ; for when the workin.^; 

 of the cortex, and hence the harmony of the two, is disturbed, 

 as by narcotics or a violent blow, it is lost. We are also by 

 no means conscious of all that takes place even in the cortex, 

 for innumerable sensations may, and do, continually reach 

 it, of which we are wholly or partially unconscious. On the 

 other hand, it would appear from recent researches that it 

 is not possible to be conscious of any sensations that do not 

 reach the surface of the brain. 



The conscious mind has reason, feeling, and volition. By 

 'it, and by it alone, we direct and control the main expenditure 

 of life and force. This, however, is not done so much by 

 reason as by feeling — it is in the heart, not in the head, as 

 Dr. Maudsley points out, that our deepest feelings are rooted, 

 and he does ill service to the religious faiths who strive to 

 base them on the feeble apprehensions of human reason ; 

 the driving impulse by which men are moved to act comes 

 from feeling rather than reason. 



" A psychology," he says. " which finds the motive power 

 of action in knowledge might be likened to a science which 

 should find the cause of the tidal movements not in the 

 moon, but in the moonshine ! " 



The sub-conscious mind is on a lower plane, and runs 

 largely in grooves of habit, and follows closely change of 

 association and sensation ; but its powers far exceed in the 

 body those of conscious mind. The unconscious powers of 

 life can make eggs and feathers out of Indian corn ; and 

 milk and beef out of grass. The new science relating to our 

 protective organisms, so brilliantly worked out by Metschni- 

 kolf and others, shows they can carry on, without erring, a 

 thousand complicated and purposive operations and form 

 chemical combinations that no chemist can compass; work 

 with ease and ^vithout fatigue, and are only hampered when 

 interfered with by the conscious mind. This is seen when 

 the sub-conscious mind takes up conscious acts, and transforms 

 them into unconscious or sub-conscious habits. It is ever 

 doing this through life ; and ease and perfection in any 

 pursuit entirely depend upon the degree in which it ceases 

 to be connected with consciousness and is carried on sub- 

 consciously. Playing the piano, skating, bicycling, skilled 

 trades, and indeed almost everything, depend for their 

 perfect execution on the power of the sub-conscious mind. 



The pen of a ready writer, as ]\Iiss Cobbe says, seems to 

 dip itself into the ink at the light time to form of Itself all 



