1885. | The Relations of Mind and Matter. 855 
key had a reservoir of energy by which, at some arbitrary period, 
it could suddenly spring into activity and yield a peculiar sound, 
evidently a part or the whole of this special force must be ex- 
hausted in doing so. But if struck by an exterior organism the 
latter might be strengthened by the exercise, as a muscle is 
strengthened by use. This is a characteristic feature of mental 
action. Its special energies, or its thoughts, are strengthened by 
use. It seems evident that such a condition can only exist in the 
case of a definitely centralized organism, affected by motion as 
an organizing agent, and also by generalized motions, which it 
has the power to divert in certain directions without detriment to 
its organization. Such is the human body, It is definitely organ- 
ized by the double agency of chemical affinity and inhering 
motions, which limit the condensing action of affinity. In 
addition it is the seat of heat, electric and other motions, 
which it can employ as agents of external action. The mind, 
as an organism, displays these same characteristics. It is 
organized by permanent motor conditions. It receives and emits 
definitely directed motions. And its organization is affected and 
developed through this activity precisely as the organization of 
the body is aided and modified by the energies which it receives 
and emits. The parallel is a close one, and indicates that the 
mind, like every organism in nature, is a self-centered mass of 
substance, held together by affinity and organized by inherent 
motions. 
There is-nothing in the conditions of the cerebral organ to in- 
dicate that it is such a single, definite organism, or that it is 
capable of manifesting the peculiar phenomena of the mind. The 
great difficulty in the brain-mind theory is that the machine can- 
not contain within itself the voluntary will power of the engineer. 
If thoughts are the motor energies of the brain matter it is simply © 
incredible that they could arbitrarily retire from and reénter the 
field of activity. The character of their activity must be fixed, con- 
stant and unvarying. And the effects they are capable of pro- 
ducing must be immediately or incessantly produced. It is im- 
possible to conceive of a seif-acting machine under any other 
relations. All its energies must be steadily in activity, and its 
effects on outer matter must be limited and constantly similar. 
We cannot imagine such a machine arbitrarily changing its 
action; now producing one effect, now another; now acting on 
