308 THE REIGN OF LAW 



nexion within the direct recognition of Conscious- 

 ness. We know and feel that the act of severe 

 thinking is attended with the expenditure of Force. 

 The close, steady, continuous application of the 

 mind to any subject requiring the exercise of 

 our higher intellectual faculties, is well known to 

 be " hard work." Without causing any bodily 

 movement of which we are conscious, it produces, 

 nevertheless, bodily exhaustion. It occasions the 

 expenditure of a physical force, or at least of a 

 force for which we have no other name. It is not 

 uncommon for men of great age to be able to ex- 

 ert undiminished powers of mind for one or two 

 hours, and then to lapse into comparative imbe- 

 cility. Thus the exertion of the Brain is like the 

 exertion of a muscle, and is attended with the 

 same effects. There is fatigue ; and with excessive 

 fatigue the power of motion stops. 



Yet such facts as these only puzzle us — they do 

 not help us to any clear idea of the nature or manner 

 of a connexion which is indeed incomprehensible. 

 We know of Mind only as itself, and as nothing 

 else. The difference between it and all other things 

 seems infinite and immeasurable. No doubt this 



