Mind and body seem mutually to act upon one another
as cause and effect. The commonest way in which the body acts upon the mind is
by the organs of sensation. Anything that affects our bodily organs of
sensation produces feelings in the mind. When something presents itself before
our eyes or our nose, our mind has sensation of sight or of smell. When a warm
object touches our bodies, we have a feeling of warmth. This action of the body
on the mind through the senses is so continual and familiar that we seldom
reflect upon it, although in other instances we are surprised that matter
should act upon spirit. Such surprise is expressed when a new drug is discovered
which temporarily extinguishes the activity of the mind and produces
insensibility. Under the influence of ether. Chloroform, and laughing gas,
patients in hospitals can undergo dangerous operations without being conscious
of any pain. This is very wonderful, but not more wonderful than facts of a
similar kind with which the world has long been familiar.
The temporary cessation of the mind’s power of
feeling caused by these drugs is much the same as the effect produced by opium
and alcohol. It has long been known to the world that opium can fill the mind
with fantastic visions, very different from those that present themselves to
the mind in its ordinary state. Still more familiar are the effects of alcohol
in producing cheerfulness in some minds, melancholy in others, and in causing
complete insensibility’ when taken in large quantities. Long-continued excess
in drinking wine and spirits may even in the end lead to the delusions of
insanity.
The same effect may also be caused by a severe blow
on the head or by sunstroke. The material of the brain is so intimately
connected with thought that the slightest injure’ to it may produce
unconsciousness or entirely mar the intellect. Sometimes the effect of such
injuries seems to be extremely capricious, as in the recorded cases in which
injury to the brain has blotted out the memory of one particular language, or
of one particular division of the parts of speech. In all the cases considered
above, a bodily change is the antecedent, and a mental change the consequent.
Let us now consider those instances in which a
mental change appears to be casually connected with a subsequent bodily change.
Of these the most familiar case is a voluntary motion. in which the movement of
our limbs follows a volition formed in our minds. Almost equally familiar are
the involuntary change in our countenance, which express the emotions of joy,
grief, anger, and fear; and, by being frequently repeated, permanently alter
the feature of the human countenance, so that the skilful physiognomies can
read our character in our faces. The state of the mind produces marked effects
on the condition of the body. The proverb “Laugh and grow fat” express the
scientific truth that cheerfulness helps us to assimilate our food; and it is
known that fear has a prejudicial effect upon the digestion. Wonderful curse
have been affected by influencing the mind of the patient. It has often been
noticed that fear is a predisposing cause of cholera, and that those who have
caught the disease are more likely to recover if they do not despair of
recovery.
The curative effects of confidence were
demonstrated some time ago, in the case of another disease, by experiment made
with magnets. In a certain hospital it was observed that the application of magnets
had a decidedly good effect upon rheumatism. Someone, who suspected the truth,
tried, instead of real magnets, piece of wood cultured and shaped like magnets,
and those were found to be equally effectual. This showed that what really affected
the cure of the rheumatism was the confidence produced in the mind of the
patient, and that the recovery, which was supposed to be due to the power of
the magnet, was really a case of what is called faith- healing.
All the cases we have been considering show that
there is between mind and body a very close alliance, so that whatever affects
the one may be expected to produce an effect upon the other. Form this may be
deduced a practical lesson of great importance. This is too often not taken to
heart by Pakistani students. It is that, if we neglect the claims of our body
in order to devote ourselves more exclusively to the cultivation of our minds,
the ill-health of our bodies will impair our intellectual powers. And it is not
unlikely that in the end we may ruin mind and body together.