§ 18. Of the Will, and its Relation to the other

Powers.

Of the three leading divisions of the mind, which are supposed to embrace the whole mental structure, that of the Will naturally comes last. The natural course of investigation in Mental Philosophy obviously commences in the understanding, and is prosecuted through the sensibilities upward to the will. We shall not undertake here to go into a philosophical explanation of the nature of this power, but merely indicate in a few words the relation which it sustains to the other departments.

The will may be considered as occupying, in some important sense, a higher and more authoritative position. In other words, as we have already had occasion to intimate, it sustains, as compared with the other great mental departments, the part of the controlling and executive power of the mind. Action, in some form or other, was undoubtedly the great object which was had in view in the creation of the mind; and although it cannot be denied that the preparatives of action (we mean now, action which has an object exterior to the mind) exist in the intellect and in the sensibilities, the presiding element of action, its effective or consummating power, is unquestionably lodged in the will. Whatever other powers he might possess, if man were destitute of the power of exercising volitions, and could not realize the results involved in such an exercise, he would, in the present state of existence at least, be an inefficient and useless being.

We admit that the intellect and the sensibilities, in their various forms of action, constitute the antecedents to volition. They are to be regarded as the established prerequisites of the internal voluntary movement, as furnishing the basis of motives, on which the subsequent operations of the will depend. But, without the will to carry into effect the antecedent suggestions of the intellect, and to arbitrate among the conflicting elements of the sensibilities, the mind would present an appearance but little better than that of a complete chaos. It is the will which, in the executive sense of the terms at least, if not in the advisory and consultative, sits the witness and arbitress over all the rest. It is essential alike to the action and accountability, the freedom and order of the other parts of the mind. They seem to revolve around it as a common centre; kept in their place by its power, and controlled by its ascendency.

In closing this sketch of the Outlines of the Mind, it may be proper to remark, that the doctrines of this chapter are essentially those which are given in the Elements of Mental Philosophy, published a number of years since by the author of this treatise. In some of the statements, almost as a matter of necessity, the same expressions are employed. The analysis which has been given has necessarily been concise; and, consequently, makes no pretensions to completeness and perfection. For a more full and explicit account of the writer's views of the leading doctrines of Mental Philosophy, the reader is referred to the work just mentioned.

CHAPTER II.

CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MIND AND BODY.

§ 19. The Origin of many mental disorders to be found in the Connexion between the mind and the body.

WE proceed now to another general topic, which may properly be embraced in this Introduction. It is undoubtedly true, that, in a great majority of cases, the human mind conforms in its action to the predominant principles of its own nature. In other words, it acts, in all ordinary instances, as its Creator designed it to act. But, unhappily, this is not always the case. The fact that there may be disorder or insanity of mind, implies that the mind sometimes suffers a disastrous deviation from the laws which commonly regulate it. Undoubtedly, the causes of these deviations are very various, and will repeatedly present themselves to our notice, and receive more or less of comment in the course of the present work. In connexion with this topic, however, viz., the causes of disordered mental action, we take this opportunity to say, that the origin, as we apprehend, of no small portion of mental disorder (stating the matter in the most general terms) is to be found in the connexion existing between the mind and the body This leading cause of irregu

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lar action, considered in its most general aspect, may properly be made a distinct subject of inquiry. It is in its general aspect, and not in its particulars, that it has a place in this Introduction.

We do not deny, it will be noticed, that there may be, as there undoubtedly are, other causes of mental irregularity. We do not agree with some respectable writers in considering Insanity as being, in its basis, exclusively a physical disorder. We have no hesitancy in admitting the doctrine that there may be other causes of mental irregularity, more remote from common observation, and more intimately connected with the mind's interior nature and secret impulses. But this view of the subject, nevertheless, does not preclude a distinct and particular attention to a cause of mental disorder so obvious, and, by general consent, so powerful as that which we now particularly refer to. Whatever may be

true of sources of disorder in the internal relations of the mind, there is no dispute that they may be abundantly found in its external relations. In other words, expressing the matter in few and plain terms, it is hardly possible for the body to be disordered, without the fact of physical disorder having an influence on the mental movement.

Accordingly, it will be the object of the remarks embraced in this chapter, and as introductory, in some degree, to the statements to be made hereafter, to show, by some facts and illustrations, the connexion existing between the body and mind, and the influence they reciprocally exert. This topic is one of so much importance, that it ought to be thor

oughly understood.

And it seems a proper one, in

its general form at least, to occupy a place in these introductory remarks.

§ 20. The Mind constituted on the Principle of a Connexion with the Body.

In endeavouring to illustrate the subject of the intimate connexion and the reciprocal influence of the mind and body, we naturally remark, in the first place, that the mind is evidently constituted on the principle of such a connexion.-The human mind, as we have already had occasion distinctly to observe, exists in the threefold nature or threefold division of the Intellect, Sensibilities, and Will. These great departments of the mind, although the limits which separate them are distinctly marked, have, nevertheless, an intimate connexion with each other. The action of the will, for instance, depends upon the antecedent action of the sensibilities; and that of the sensitive nature is based upon the antecedent action of the intellect; so that the commencement of action in the other parts of the mind seems to depend upon the antecedent action in the purely intellectual part.

The inquiry then arises, In what way is the Intellect first brought into action? And, in answering this inquiry, we are led to remark, that the action of the intellect (the understanding, as Mr. Locke calls it) is twofold, external and internal. Accordingly, we not unfrequently employ the convenient phrases, External Intellect and Internal Intellect. By the phrase external intellect, as we have already had