But the brain is the place where
the thinking individual resides; and this is one of the most important
teachings of psychology, for not only does it help us to understand the
evidence that human faculty has evolved, but it also inevitably brings us
to consider certain vital questions of metaphysics, such as the
immortality of the thinking individual after the material person with its
brain ceases to exist. However, the latter question is something which
does not concern us here; now it is most important to realize how
completely mind is connected with the brain.
Many of the facts demonstrating this connection are matters of common
knowledge. In deep and dreamless sleep the essential tissues of the brain
are inactive, and in correspondence with the cessation of material events
the thinking individual actually ceases to exist for a time. Any one who
has ever fainted is subsequently aware of the break in the current of
human consciousness when the blood does not fully supply the brain and
this organ ceases to function properly; a severe blow upon the head
likewise interrupts the normal physical processes, and at the same time
the mind is correspondingly affected. Again, a progressive alteration of
the brain as the result of diseased growth causes the mind to grow dim and
incapable.
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