phenomenon. The law of the impenetrability of matter
had to be set aside, of course--or else light must be pure vibration,
without a material vibrating concomitant. Then, too, it was plain that
the light in some way communicated its vibration to the little
projecting ends of the optic nerve, which lie spread out over the rear
inner surface of the eye. And equally patent that this vibration is in
some way taken up by the optic nerve and transmitted to the center of
sight in the brain. But after that--what? He laughed again at Carmen's
pertinent question about the mind climbing up into the brain to see
the vibrating nerve. But was it so silly a presumption, after all? Is
the mind within the brain, awaiting in Stygian darkness the advent of
the vibrations which shall give it pictures of the outside world? Or
is the mind outside of the brain, but still slavishly forced to look
at these vibrations of the optic nerve and then translate them into
terms of things without? What could a vibrating nerve suggest to a
well-ordered mind, anyway? He might as logically wave a piece of meat
and expect thereby to see a world! He laughed aloud at the thought.
Why does not the foolish mind leave the brain and look at the picture
on the retina? Or why does it not throw off its shackles and look
directly at the object to be cognized, instead of submitting to
dependence upon so frail a thing as fleshly eyes and nerves?

As he mused and sketched, unmindful of the voracious mosquitoes or the
blundering moths that momentarily threatened his light, it dawned
slowly upon him that the mind's awareness of material objects could
not possibly depend upon the vibrations of pieces of nerve tissue, so
minute as to be almost invisible to the unaided sight. Still more
absurd did it appear to him that his own mind, of which he might
justly boast tremendous powers, could be prostituted to such a degree
that its knowledge of things must be served to it on waving pieces of
flesh.

And how about the other senses--touch, hearing? Did the ear hear, or
the hand feel? He had always accepted the general belief that man is
dependent absolutely upon the five physical senses for his knowledge
of an outside world. And now a little thought showed that from these
five senses man could not possibly receive anything more than a series
of disconnected vibrations! And, going a step further, anything that
the mind infers from these vibrations is unquestionably inferred
_with