CHAPTER II.
THE MIND AND SOME OF ITS FACULTIES.
We know there is something we call mind, because we know something of its way of working, or its faculties. What mind is we do not know, but we know it is not matter, because matter is something that occupies space, and has qualities that do not belong to mind. We say of mind, it reasons, remembers, or wills; of matter, that it is hard or soft, or cold or elastic, or that it has color; speaking always of the faculties of mind or what it does, and of the qualities of matter, or what it is. We do not know what matter is, only how it appears to us; we know it is not mind because mind is something spiritual, and possessed of faculties or powers that do not belong to matter.
Mind and Matter are the only forms of existence of which we have any knowledge.
We speak of matter as inorganic—that is, without life, as iron, water, oxygen; and as organic, or matter plus something we call life. Life appears in two forms, namely, vegetable and animal. The lowest forms of animal life have no nervous system, but as we ascend in the scale the nervous system appears, and becomes more and more complete.
Man possesses the most perfect nervous system, has the most perfect brain, and also an intelligence far above that of any other animal, and is endowed with some mental faculties that belong to him alone. The brain may be said to be the organ of the mind, but we do not know what is the true relation between them; that is, how the brain is acted upon by the mind, or how the action of the mind affects the brain. Brain is matter, and very solid matter as well, mind is immaterial, or spiritual, and the exact connection between something material and something spiritual has never been made out and never will be.
Some say the brain makes mind a good deal as liver makes bile, or the glands of the mouth make saliva, or the cells of the brain make motor impulses, and if the brain does not act there is no mind made; so much cell action, so much memory, reason, or will produced. But how, it is immediately asked, is something material to make something immaterial? Others say that mind is something, and has an existence of its own, and, though spiritual, acts upon its organ, the brain, and by so doing, we are conscious that we see, reason, remember, and will. But how, it is immediately asked, does something immaterial act upon something material? We do not know, and we probably never shall know. This intimate connection between mind and matter exists during life only; it begins with life and ends with life.
We must then come back to the starting-point—there are two forms of existence, mind and matter. We do not know what either really is, but only the faculties or working of our minds, and the qualities or appearance of matter.
Mind thinks or remembers, reasons or wills, but these are faculties of the mind; it is what the mind does, not mind itself. Gold is yellow, but yellow is not gold; gold is hard, but hardness is not gold; these are qualities of gold, and not gold itself.
In the study of physiology you found the body divided into many parts, and that these parts had each a separate function or duty to perform. In the study of the mind, we find it has many different faculties or ways of working. We did not study all the functions of the body, so we will not study all the faculties of the mind.