The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

MAN'S PLACE IN THE WORLD. 249It must, however, be noticed that the explanationis not a complete one, inasmuch as theaction of the sensory and motor apparatus referredto, presupposes consideration and care,that is intellectual and voluntary guidancecommensurate with the initial difficulties ofattainment, in order that the nerve systemmay be brought to accomplish what becomespossible afterwards by mere mechanical andchemical contrivance within the living organism.Having thus briefly indicated the advancesin knowledge of the working of our own organismgained by recent research, and theexplanation thus afforded of much of thesuperiority manifest in human life, we comeupon the grand difficulty of science,-How toaccount for intellectual superiority. It is obviousthat animals give proofs of intelligenceas well as men; and that the human brainhas a marked superiority in the frontal region,to which intelligence is commonly referred,as it certainly is superior also in theback part of the organ, to which intelligenceis not so commonly referred. But the pressingdifficulty is this, to show how nerve cells,confessedly concerned with the development