cstasy of hope about it; but the real interest of
their discoveries in this direction is very small to humankind. It is
quite true that the tympanum of the ear vibrates under sound, and that
the surface of the water in a ditch vibrates too; but the ditch hears
nothing for all that; and my hearing is still to me as blessed a mystery
as ever, and the interval between the ditch and me quite as great. If
the trembling sound in my ears was once of the marriage-bell which began
my happiness, and is now of the passing-bell which ends it, the
difference between those two sounds to me cannot be counted by the number
of concussions. There have been some curious speculations lately as to
the conveyance of mental consciousness by "brain-waves." What does it
matter how it is conveyed? The consciousness itself is not a wave. It
may be accompanied here or there by any quantity of quivers and shakes,
up or down, of anything you can find in the universe that is shakable--
what is that to me? My friend is dead, and my--according to modern views
--vibratory sorrow is not one whit less, or less mysterious, to me, than
my old quiet one.

55. Beyond, and entirely unaffected by, any questionings of this kind,
there are, therefore, two plain facts which we should all know: first,
that there is a power which gives their several shapes to things, or
capacities of feeling; and that we can increase or destroy both of these
at our will. By care and tenderness, we can extend the range of lovely
life in plants and animals; by our neglect and cruelty, we can arrest it,
and bring pestilence in its stead. Again, by right discipline we can
increase our strength of noble will and passion or destroy both. And
whether these two forces are local conditions of the elements in which
they appear, or are part of a great force in the universe, out of which
they are taken, and to which they must be restored, is not of the
slightest importance to us in dealing with them; neither is the manner
of their connection with light and air. What precise meaning we ought to
attach to expressions such as that of the prophecy to the four winds that
the dry bones might be breathed upon, and might live, or why the presence
of the vital power should be dependent on the chemical action of air, and
its awful passing away materially signified by the rendering up of that
breath or ghost, we cannot at present know, and need not at any time
dispute. What we assuredly know i