TIIE EVOLUTION OF THE MIND. 263 
by the senses. The force of suggestion causes the men- 
tal states or conditions of one person to repeat them- 
selves in others. Abnormal conditions 
of the brain itself furnish another series 
of feelings with which the brain must 
deal. Moreover, the brain is charged with impulses to 
action passed on from generation to generation, surviv- 
ing because they are useful. With all these arises the 
necessity for choice as a function of the mind. The 
mind must neglect or suppress all sensations which it 
can not weave into action. The dog sees nothing that 
does not belong to its little world. The man in search 
of mushrooms “tramples down oak trees in his walks.” 
To select the sensations that concern us 
is the basis of the power of attention. 
The suppression of undesired action isa 
function of the will. To find data for choice among the 
possible motor responses is a function of the intellect, 
Intellectual persistency is the essence of individual char- 
acter. 
As the conditions of life become more complex, it 
becomes necessary for action to become more carefully 
selected. Wisdom is the parent of virtue. Knowing 
what should be done logically precedes doing it. Good 
impulses and good intentions do not make actions safe. 
In the long run, action is tested not by its motives, but 
by its results. 
The child when he comes into the world has every- 
thing to learn. His nervous system is charged with ten- 
dencies to reaction and impulses to motion, which have 
their survivals from ancestral experience. Exact knowl- 
edge, by which his own actions can be made exact, must 
come through his own experience. The experience of 
others must be expressed in terms of his own before it 
becomes wisdom. Wisdom, as I have elsewhere said, 
Realities and 
illusions. 
Selection of 
sensations. 
