The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1881-10-22
For THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
THE MIND.

THE MIND.
There is no subject within the realms of science
or thought which equals in interest that of the
human mind
Its nature, complex action, faculties, and pow
ers are marvellous in the extreme.
Take, for instance, the faculty of memory As
children we begin to receive impressions. AS we
grow Older those earliest made seem to fade out
or 10 be buried beneath the multitude of new
ONES Ihat are continually being formed. At the
ehd Oh nifty, or even seventy-fve or more years
| however, on occasion we may 90 into our minds
! as into closet fitted with labelled drawers and
select some incident which occurred when we
were scarcely more than infants
To vigorous, healthy intellect there is scarcely
any limit to the perceptive and receptiye faculties
of the mind. Its sensitiveness and capacitv are
boundless. That we receive impressions how
ever is not so strange that we are able to retain
them; and that we are able to retain them is not
half so wonderful as is the fact that we NAV keen
them in regular order and at our immediate COM
mand.
Take, for instance, the simple question of spell
ing-the word "counterrevolutionary, for exam
pie. Here are twenty letters, arranged in a GER
fixed meaning. Each letter has certain sound
Let the word be given out and the thought, OF
memory, Immediately flies to the pigeon-hOles of
the mind where the letters, combination, and
sounds are laid away, and bring all forth instanter
Or take the arrangement of colors, or of words
upon page, tools about the house, shop, or farm
any matter-and similar result can be obtained
No individual whose mind is healthy and active
can begin to calculate, item by item, what he
knows-that is, the impressions which have been
indellibly made upon his mind-nor can he even
comprehend the vastness of his acquisitions when
he attempts to study them in detail
The elasticity of the mind is another curious
quality which it possesses The quantity of ideas
and information it contain is scarcely capable
of being measured. Take the thinnest possible
slips OF paper, aggregating in weight that of the
average sized brain, and, though written down
never so finely, they cannot be made to contain
the contents of an ordinarily healthy mind. In
fact, the mere act of writing produces new i'm
pressions and the thoughts are multiplied more
rapidly than they can be put in tangible shape.
Again, the mind is remarkable for the diversity
of Its occupations. 1t is architect reproducing
in an instant fac-simile of any building or stately
culHCc "HicH tlc eyes Nave once looked upon, or
even erecting new ones from the material it con-
tains within itself. 1t is draughtsman, survey
Or, common artisan, or all of these combined as
occasion may require. 1t can, without pencil or
paper make map, indite a sermon or paint a
panorama that shall picture hill and dale, field
md forest silvery streams and swelling waves.
It is a true artist and O. what tender scenes it
sometimes brings to view. The old homestead
youthful friends, the dear remembered features
If loved ones long gone to their final resting;
weet baby faces, laughing eyes, dimpled cheeks
md hands,-how wonderful it all is Surely, the
mind of man is not the mere creature of chance
There must be some great controlling power which
ndOws it with all its faculties of thought COM
and action. Some power that orders.
IN its dealings with the incidents and affairs of
lte Were it not so there would be confusion
worse than confOunded There would be no sys-
ematic arrangements of ideas, there could be no
from the past no use made of the
resent. Without such power the mind would be
imply chaos. Mankind recognizes this truth. and
ne Great Ruler is worshipped in one form or an
ther the world over. But whether as Vishnu.
-irshna, Buddha, MOloch, Isis Osiris, Baal, As
eroth, Jubiter, JOve, or Allah among the heather,
here is but one Supreme Power and that is known
nd acknowledged in Christian lands as God