the last analysis, is likely to be as
much a mystery as ever. We may know _who we are_ without knowing _what it
is_.

Now the composite nature of man, as we know it, not only justifies all
these analogies, but seems to show that the modulus, the germ at least, of
the spiritual body exists now within the physical; that it does not
disintegrate when the physical body dies, but separates and coheres more
closely than ever; and is still inhabited or possessed by the individual
intelligence.

Moreover, it has often been seen by clairvoyants at the time of death,
thus verifying the Biblical declaration, "there is a natural (physical)
body, and there is a spiritual body."

The composite structures of man's organism above referred to are well
known. They are called "systems." The bony or Osseous system, the muscular
system, the circulatory system, the lymphatic system, and the two nervous
systems, serve as illustrations of the composite nature of man.

All of these "systems" more or less inter-penetrate and diffuse each
other.

There is also a chemico-vital, kinetic, or magnetic body, diffused through
and inter-penetrating all the rest. This gives the contrast between the
living organism (with the flush of health upon the cheek and the light of
intelligence in the eyes), and a corpse.

Death is often instantaneous, while decomposition often waits for days.

There is a still further analogy regarding a single function, like a
sensory or motor impulse, passing to or from the central brain, the organ
of consciousness. The journey is one of relays and orderly sequences.

This is proven in a great variety of forms of paresis. I cannot, as an
individual intelligence, _directly_ move my hand any more than I can move
a mountain. I conceive the object or act and set the will in motion. The
impulse traverses the nerves, is transferred to the muscle, and then, when
the circuit is complete, _I_ move my hand.

The gap between my conscious intelligent wish and will, and my physical
hand, is very great. One is metaphysical, the other physical. There is,
therefore, a point of correlation where the one is converted into the
other.

The knowledge of these facts, and of this orderly sequence and
correlation, constitutes the Science of pathology and enables us to locate
the lesion or disease. I cannot move my hand, and the pathologist locates
the "short-circuit" in brain, or nerve, or "terminal plate," or muscle, as
the case may be.