THE NEW PHRENOLOGY. 675 



punch in the ribs, and say: Here is something to know. So when we move a 

 muscle it seems a very simple thing to do. But of how much of the moving me- 

 chanism are we conscious ? We may be conscious of the motive that causes us to 

 move it. We may to a certain extent perceive the contraction of muscular fiber. 

 But we are not conscious of the co-ordination of brain cells, and the impulse 

 sent out along the nerves to the muscles. And this unconsciousness extends up 

 to psychic circles, to the higher forms of mental action. If there are cells in the 

 brain specially set apart for thought, they cannot be distinguished by the micro- 

 scope or by any process that we are masters of. We cannot differentiate their 

 modes of action from that of cells we know, and as the elaboration of thought 

 results in tissue waste as rapidly as the use of muscle, we must suppose that it is 

 accomplished by a similar cell co-ordination. This also belongs to the field of 

 the unconscious. In fact it is the most unconscious and unruly part of us. It is 

 a common saying, truer than we think, that we cannot control our thoughts. The 

 muscular effort we can control. It comes when we require it, and it is always 

 strength ; but with our thoughts it is like Glendower and the spirits. 



" I can call spirits from the vasty deep." 



" Why, so can I or so can any man. But will they come when you do call 

 for them?" 



We set down to meditate and they come to us, full grown, like Minerva from 

 the brain of Jove. I do not wonder that some persons think they are inspired. 

 All of us are inspired in this way, and the grandest thoughts of the human brain 

 have this mechanism of inspiration in the same manner as the humblest. In 

 some cases of disease this unconscious action reaches a point which the senses 

 are unable to correct. Hallucinations then appear projecting themselves into 

 the various fields of cognition. Persons hear voices, see visions, and the inspir- 

 ation runs riot, becoming insanity. From this unconscious mechanism other 

 things that have puzzled us take their explanation. How do we get our knowl- 

 edge of time? It is a mental blank, and it eludes our analysis. We can only 

 understand it as a succession of something occurring at regular intervals. In our 

 waking state we cannot guess at these intervals with any degree of exactness. 

 Rip Van Winkle, grown old in his twenty years' sleep, could not convince himself 

 that he had slept more than a single night. We can form no mental conception 

 of time. And yet if we retire at night with the firm resolve to wake at a certain 

 hour, we find that after a if^ trials we can do it. How can we explain it ? In 

 no way, rationally. And yet the fact that Rip VanWinkle grew old and gray 

 while he slept explains the matter for us. The unconscious mechanism within is 

 our time-keeper, keeping its record in heart beats and in its own growth and de- 

 cay. So many particles of matter taken on, so many others cast off, one taking 

 the place of the other seemingly, yet not doing it exactly, until by and by the 

 power of taking on is exhausted and the circle of existence is complete. That is 

 the history of the brain cell as it is of all other cells. Next, these investigations 

 have widened out our ideas of the complexity of sensations and have given us 

 the means of resolving them still further. Memory, we now know, is no special 



