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of mind other than itself. ‘The physiologist knows full well, that the 
immediate operation of the will is not upon the muscle but upon the 
brain.’’ ‘We have not only evidence of the excitement of nerve-force 
by mental agency ; the converse is equally true, mental activity being 
excited by nerve-force.’? And he proceeds to say, ‘‘it is obvious that the 
view here taken does not in the least militate against the idea, that mind 
may have an existence altogether independent of the material body through 
which it thus manifests itself.’’ ‘In the control and direction which the 
will has the power of exerting over the course of the thoughts, we have 
the evidence of a new and independent power, which is opposed in its 
very nature to all the automatic tendencies, and which accordingly as it 
is habitually exerted, tends to render the individual a free agent.’’ (Physi- 
ology, Sees. 585, 586, 588.) 
The capacity of the body is limited. Its growth cannot be forced. It 
can add not a cubit to its stature. But no limits can be assigned to the 
acquisitions of the mind. While he has life, man may learn. True, 
students, ardent and ambitious, will often sacrifice their lives in the pur- 
suit of knowledge ; but that is not because the mind has taken into itself 
more than it will hold, but more rapidly than the frail body will bear, and 
in manner violating the laws of health; those laws that require the 
exercise of the muscles, the play of the lungs in breathing fresh air, and 
an accelerated movement of the circulations, of the assimilative process, 
and of all life’s functions ; and due rest and sleep. The versatile and 
boundless ranging mind must wait upon the limited conditions of its sub- 
servient companion ; by wisely doing which this life may last long, and 
the mind ceaselessly acquire increase of knowledge and power. But ever 
the master mind must be doing, or naught is done. 
Dr. Carpenter, as a purely scientific teacher, also speaks of the soul’s 
relation to the Infinite ; and of its constituting one of the most distinc- 
tive peculiarities of man, and as the main-spring of human progress. 
He says the desire for improvement grows by what it feeds upon; ‘‘in 
the higher grades of mental development there is a continual looking up- 
ward, not towards a mere elevated human standard, but at once to some- 
thing above man and material nature.’’ He desires to participate in a 
spiritual existence, of which the germ has been implanted in the mind 
of man, and which, developed as it is by the mental cultivation, * * * 
has been regarded by philosophers in all ages as one of the chief natural. 
arguments for the immortality of the soul.’? (Physiology, Sec. 7.) And. 
he concludes his work on Animal Physiology, in these words: ‘‘ The 
philosopher who has attained the highest summit of mortal wisdom, is he 
who, if he use his mind aright, has the clearest perception of the limits 
of human knowledge, and the most earnest desires for the lifting of the 
veil that separates him from the Unseen. He, then, has the strongest 
motives for that humility of spirit and purity of heart, without which, 
we are assured, none shall see God.’’ 
While I would thus elevate mind to its truthful distinction and pre- 
eminence, I would say nothing to disparage the material and living crea- 
tion. While physicists ascribe all to matter,—all matter, all life, all mind,, 
