The force of the mind, or, The mental factor in medicine / by Alfred T. Schofield.
- Alfred Taylor Schofield
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The force of the mind, or, The mental factor in medicine / by Alfred T. Schofield. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.
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![Mind must include all uncon- scious psychic action. The idea of the unity of mind is growing. defined, whereas unconscious mental action is indefinite and extensive. A physician, therefore, who only recognises the former, and is compelled by his creed to ignore the latter, necessarily stands at a great disadvantage; we are forced, in fact, with regard to this matter, to use the words of Bastian :— ' This is no question of choice, but one of absolute necessity. The meaning of the word mind must be considerably enlarged so as to include ... as mental phenomena, the functional results of all nerve actions . . . whether these nerve actions are accompanied by a recognised conscious phasis or no.' ' Let us enlarge our conception and definition of mind. Let us openly profess that which has already been tacitly implied by many. Listead of supposing that mind and conscious- ness are co-extensive, let us maTce mind include all unconscious nerve actions. We must inevitably come to this, and the doctrine of unconscious cerebration [Carpenter] has served to pave the way for it. And we are coming to it rapidly, and once we reach it all difficulty as to the mental factor in medicine will disappear.' ^ The evolution of psychology itself shows that there is progress even in that science. The idea of the unity of mind is distinctly growing. Por a long time intellect, emotion, and will were studied and regarded almost entirely as three independent entities. They were self-contained factors, connected, it is true; but the unity they formed was largely lost sight of in the description of their differing qualities ; somewhat in ' C. Bastian, Brain as an Organ of Mind, p. 148. I do not consider that mind consists of nerve actions, as the passage might imply. Mind is the psychic cause or result of nerve action.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21510738_0060.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
