Individual through the Nervous System. 95 



such immediate powers as language and environment. It is my 

 hope, therefore, in presenting to you this evening some conclu- 

 sions at which I have arrived, from careful observation of this 

 relationship, to throw some light upon points which have 

 hitherto not received much attention ; and the order in which 

 I shall ask your consideration of these will be : — (1) A few 

 anatomical and physiological facts relating to the nervous sys- 

 tem ; (2) the influence of language, written and spoken, upon 

 the individual through the nerves ; (3) the influence of environ- 

 ment in one or two of its phases upon the individual in the 

 same manner. In dealing with the first point I am com- 

 pelled to be technical and brief, for to investigate the exact 

 structure, relations, and functions of the nerve centres would 

 require an elaborate and exhaustive treatise. It will, therefore, 

 be, I hope, sufficient for our present purpose, with the aid of 

 diagrams, to indicate the general relations and some of the 

 functions of the nervous system. 



The speaker then went on to offer a technical description of 

 the nervous system, illustrated by excellent diagrams. In 

 continuation, he said : — Such is a slight sketch of the nervous 

 system, intensely technical, it is true, but, I venture to hope, 

 sufficiently clear to enable you to understand the general 

 drift of the remarks I have now to make. The next point 

 that we have to consider is the influence of language, written 

 and spoken, upon the individual through the nerves. Now, 

 education, in its most elementary process, is a development of 

 the powers of the mind, the higher faculties of the individual, 

 by means of externals, through the senses, so as to enable him 

 to benefit by the collected information in the possession of 

 society. Instruction, on the other hand, in its simplest form, is 

 the act of imparting knowledge to the rapidly-developing intel- 

 lect. It is only then by means of signs, written and spoken, 

 that this twofold process can be accomplished. As physical 

 training develops and perfects the powers of the body and fits it 

 for the various duties demanded from it by animal existence, so 

 mental and moral training is essential to the proper develop- 



