ABSTRACT
The teacher should be aware of the rudiments of physiology so that he may know something of what is happening in the body in consonance with what is going on in mind. The nervous system is the link between spirit and body. Spirit itself is far too tenuous to be able to act direct upon the comparatively gross matter of the body, therefore the nervous system connects at the upper end with the more spiritual element through the delicate machinery of the brain, and at the lower end is linked up with the body through muscle. This nervous system is of extraordinary complexity in man, and as we trace backward down the scale of evolution we find a gradual simplification of nervous structure, verging to the more and more rudimentary, and in the case of plants none at all. Considering it the reverse way we see that the manifestation of life has increased concurrently with the growth of the complexity of nervous structure. It may at any rate be suggested that spirit, involved in matter, has supplied the requisite “drive” for the evolutionary process by demanding ever more and more development of structure to give that spirit greater powers of expression. The growth of our own structure in brain and muscle may be observed to follow this same plan in proportion as we ourselves demand from these better and greater means of expression.
