The mind is very complicated in its action, and difficult to understand. Men study it all their lives and are not agreed about some of its simple manifestations, and argue and even contend about their differences. There are, however, some seemingly natural divisions of the faculties of the mind, and a knowledge of these is sufficient for our purposes.
We may say of the mind that it possesses:
a. Intellectual faculties.
b. Will.
c. Emotions or feelings.
d. Instincts.
e. Moral faculties or conscience.
The first three are commonly given as divisions of the mind; the last two are included for convenience of teaching.
The Intellectual Faculties include those powers which in common language are called “mind.” A few only will be considered—namely, the perceptive faculty, consciousness, memory, and reason.
The Perceptive Faculty is the power of the mind to perceive or know the sensations brought to the brain by the sensory nerves, from the organs of sense, and the action of this faculty gives us a knowledge of the existence and qualities of matter.