* * * * *
Before leaving the subject of mental evolution we must return to the
conception of inseparable mind and matter with which the present
discussion began. The whole problem of human mental evolution is solved
when we accept the conclusion that the nervous mechanism and the total
series of its functional operations have evolved together in the
production of the human brain and human faculty. The case regarding the
physical organs rests solidly on the basis of the evidences outlined in a
previous chapter; the special examination of purely mental phenomena has
likewise been made in the foregoing sections. Just here we must pause to
give further attention to the invariable relation between the human mind
and the human brain.
The personality of human consciousness consists of the current of thoughts
and feelings flowing continuously as one of them rises for a time to
dominance only to fade when it leads to and is replaced by another
dominant element of thought. This current is affected by the messages
brought to the brain by nerves from the outer parts of the body where lie
the eye and ear and other sense-organs. In like manner the various
non-nervous parts of the body exert their influences upon consciousness,
but the affective processes, as they are called, are not as well understood
as the impressions passed inwards by the sense-organs along their nervous
roadways to the central organ, the brain.
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