“You didn’t really expect to find anything in this brain, did you?” she went on. “The brain is composed of––what?”
“Why, mostly water, with a few commonplace salts,” he answered, wondering what the next question would be.
“And can a compound of water and a few commonplace salts think?” she asked, looking intently at him.
“N––no,” he answered tentatively.
“The brain is not the cause of thought, then, but an effect, is it not?” she pursued.
“Why, really, my dear Miss Carmen, we don’t know. We call it the organ of thought, because in some way thought seems to be associated with it, rather than with––well, with the liver, or muscles, for example. And we learn that certain classes of mental disturbances are intimately associated with lesions or clots in the brain. That’s about all.”
The girl reflected for a few moments. Then:
“Doctor, you wouldn’t cut up a machine to discover the motive power, would you? But that is just what you are doing there with that brain. You are hoping by dissecting it to find the power that made it go, aren’t you? And the power that made it go was mind––life.”
“But the life is not in the brain now,” hazarded the doctor.