we could never possess knowledge of any kind. The senses thus hold the keys which unlock the doors of intelligence to the mind, and the senses are physical, not mental, things. Apparently, therefore, the most simple and fundamental operations of consciousness are bound up with the existence and activity of certain bodily organs. Common observation also informs us (2) that the expres- sions of mind ordinarily take the form of muscular move- ments which we call acts. We hear a bell and our conscious- ness of the sound results in our going to open the door. We consider a course of action, and the outcome of our delibera- tion issues in the form of words or deeds, all of which con- sist primarily in muscular movements. Strange as it may appear, even keeping still involves muscular activity. It would accordingly seem as though the mind were hemmed in between the sense organs on the one hand and the muscles on the other. It would be a truer expression of the facts, however, to say that these are the tools with which the mind works. Through the sense organs it receives its raw material, and by its own operations this material is worked up and organised into the coherent product which we call intelli- gence. This intelligence is then made effective in practical ways through the rationally controlled action of the voluntary muscles. There are other facts of a well-known kind whose precise purport is, perhaps, less evident, but whose general implica- tion of intimate connections between mind and body is iden- tical with that of the considerations which we have just mentioned. We know, for example, that blows and wounds may seriously disturb consciousness, or even destroy it. The similar effects of many drugs, such as alcohol, ether, and hashish, are matters of common knowledge. Even coffee and tea exercise a mild influence upon our psychical mood, and the change in general disposition which frequently fol- lows indulgence in a satisfactory meal is a phenomenon -14- |