Brain in relation to mind / by J. Sanderson Christison.

  • Christison, J. Sanderson (John Sanderson), 1856-1908.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Brain in relation to mind / by J. Sanderson Christison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    from cells in wave-like radiations to a coordinating point, would imply the existence of an elaborating entity beyond the brain. The same is true in supposing that sensory impressions upon the cells remained like dents upon a phonographic cylinder, creating the necessity for a special, controlling, outside agency to make them respond to the exi- gencies of life. Indeed, how could the, brain, being a double organ, produce a unit, as mind is, by radiating subtle energies from its cell contents, unless there existed a unifying entity—an elabor- ating, concerting—and, by necessity, a metaphys- ical power? In fact, if brain matter was the source of the ideational process, or in any way the basis of it, the destruction of any portion would result in some form of mental blank enduring forever, for the coordinate cannot arise from the incoor- dinate any more than the living from the dead, or the existent from the non-existent. While sensory impressions doubtless in some way affect brain cells, i.e., create reactions, and thus produce some kind of result or modified state in the cells, we have no reason to assume that the results are anything more than functional ex- altations or depressions, for the brain can have a