THE CELL-MINDS
Modern science has demonstrated that the human body is composed of a
multitude of microscopic cells, that is, that the muscles, nerves,
tissues, blood, bones, hair and nails are made up of minute cells, and
groups of cells. Virchow says: "It is of the cells that the tissues
are built up and the nerves formed. There is no part of the human body
in which the cell is not seen. All these cells are neuclated--have in
them a central life-spot like the yolk of an egg. Each cell is born,
reproduces itself, dies and is absorbed. The maintenance of life and
health depends upon the constant regeneration of the cells. When man
can control the life and death of the cell he becomes the creator."
Medical science now practically asserts that disease of the body is
really disease of the cells of which the body is composed, and that all
healing of the body must consist of the healing of the cells--that is,
of restoring the cells to normal activity and functioning.
The following quotation from Hudson, following Stephens, is
interesting: "An aggregation of cells became a confederation, with its
differentiation of cell functions and still further division of labor.
As a result of a long process of such differentiation, the organisms
of the larger animals and of man came to be composed, as we find
them, of thirty or more different species of cells. For example, we
have the muscle cells, whose vital energies are devoted to the office
of contraction, or vigorous shortening of length; connective-tissue
cells, whose office is mainly to produce and conserve a tough fibre
for binding together and covering in the organism; bone cells, whose
life work is to select and collocate salts of lime for the organic
framework, levers and joints; hair, nail, horn and feather cells,
which work in silicates for the protection, defense, and ornamentation
of the organism; gland cells, whose _motif_ in living has come to be
the abstraction from the blood of substances which are recombined
to produce juices needed to aid the various processes or steps of
digestion; blood cells, which have assumed the laborious function of
general carriers, scavengers, and repairers of the organism; eye, ear,
nasal and palate cells, which have become the special artificers of
complicated apparatus for transmitting light, sound, odors, and flavors
to the highly sentient brain cells; pulmonary cells, which elaborate
a tissue for the introduction of oxygen and the elimination of carbon
dioxide and other waste products; hepatic (liver) cells, which have, in
response to the needs of the organism, descended to the menial office
of living on the waste products and converting them into chemical
reagents to facilitate digestion--these and numerous other species of
cells; and lastly, most important and of greatest interest, brain and
nerve cells."
The various cells of the body are constantly busy, each performing
its particular task, either singly or in connection with other cells
in the cell-group. Like a great arm, the cells are divided into
classes, some being engaged in the active daily work, while others are
held back on the reserve line. Some are engaged in building up the
tissues, muscles and bones, while others are busy manufacturing the
juices, secretions, fluids and chemical compounds required in the great
laboratory of the body. Some remain at their posts, stationary during
their entire life, while others remain stationary only until the call
comes for their services, while a third class are in constant motion
from place to place either following regular routes or else travelling
under a roving commission. Some of the moving cells act as carriers of
material--the hod-carriers of the body, while others move about doing
special repair work such as the healing of wounds, etc., while others
still are the scavengers and street cleaners of system, and others form
the cell army and cell police force. The body has been compared to a
vast communistic or socialistic colony, each member of which cheerfully
devotes his life-work, and often his life itself, to the common good.
The brain cells are of course the most highly organized, and the most
highly differentiated of the cells. The nerve cells constitute a living
telegraph system over which is carried the messages from the several
parts of the body, each cell being in close contact with its neighbor
on each side--the nerve cells practically clasp hands and form a living
chain of communication.
The blood cells are important members of the cell-community, and are
exceedingly numerous, there being over 75,000,000,000 of the red-blood
cells alone. These red-blood cells move in the blood currents,
carrying through the arteries each its little load of oxygen which it
transports to the distant tissues that they may be invigorated and
vitalized anew; and, returning, carrying through the veins the debris
and waste products of the system to the great crematory of the lungs
where the waste is burnt and thrown off from the body. Like the ships
that sail the sea, each cell carries its outgoing cargo, and returns
with another one. Some of these cells perform the office of special
repairers, forcing their way through the walls of the blood-vessels and
penetrating the tissues in order to perform their special tasks. There
are several other kinds of cells in the blood besides the carriers
just mentioned. There are the wonderful soldier and police cells which
maintain order and fight battles when necessary. The police cells
are on the constant lookout for germs, bacteria and other microscopic
disturbers of the peace of the body. When these tiny policemen discover
vagrant germs, or criminal bacteria, they rush upon the intruder and
tying him up in a mesh, proceed to devour him. If the intruder be too
large or vigorous, a call for assistance is sent out, and the reserve
police rush to the assistance of their brothers and overpower the
disturber of the peace. Sometimes when the vagrants are too numerous,
the policemen throw them out from the body, by means of pimples, boils
and similar eruptions. In case of infectious diseases, an army corps
is ordered out in full strength and a royal fight is waged between the
invading army and the defenders of home and country.
Some of the blood cells take a part in the process of extracting from
the food its nourishing particles, and then carrying the same through
the blood-channels to all parts of the body, where it is used to feed
and nourish the stationary cells there located. These cells manufacture
the chemical juices of the body, such as bile, gastric juice,
pancreatic juices, milk, etc., in short the entire physical process is
carried on by these indefatigable tiny cells. The body of each of us is
simply a great community of cells of various kinds. The cells are born
by the form of reproduction common to all cells, that of sub-division.
Each cell grows until a certain size is reached, when it assumes a
"dumb-bell" shape, with a tiny waist line, which waist is afterward
dissolved and the two cells move away from each other. In this way,
and this way alone, does the body grow, the material required for the
enlargement of the cell being supplied from the food and nourishment
partaken by the individual. Cells die after having performed their
life-work, and their corpses are carried through the veins by the
carrier cells, and cast into the crematory of the lungs where they are
consumed.
The body is constantly undergoing a process of change and regeneration.
Old cells are being cast off every second, and new cells are taking
their places. Our muscles, tissues, hair, nails, nerves, brain
substance, and even our bones are constantly being made over and
rebuilt. Our bodies to-day do not contain a single particle of the
material which composed them a few years back. A few weeks suffices to
replace our entire skin, and a few months to replace other parts of
the body. If a sufficiently large microscope could be placed over our
bodies, we would see each part of it as active as a hive of bees, each
cell being in action and motion, and the entire domestic work of the
human hive being performed according to law and order. Verily, "we are
fearfully and wonderfully made."
A number of the best authorities have used the illustration of the
process of the cells in healing an ordinary wound, in order to show the
activity and "mind" of the tiny cells. We have become so accustomed to
the natural healing of a wound, scratch or broken skin, that we have
grown to regard it as an almost mechanical process. But, science shows
us that there is manifested in the healing process a marvellous degree
of life and mind in the cells. Let us consider the process of healing
an ordinary wound, that we may see the cells at work. Let us imagine
that we are gazing at the wounded part through a marvellously strong
microscope which enables us to see every cell at work. If such a glass
were provided we should witness a scene similar to that now to be
described.
In the first place, through our glass, we should see the gaping wound
enlarged to gigantic proportions. We should see the torn skin, tissues,
lymphatic and blood vessels, glands, muscles and nerves. We would see
the blood pouring forth washing away the dirt and foreign substances
that have entered the wound. We would then see the messages calling
for help flashing over the living telegraph wires of the nerves, each
nerve-cell rapidly passing the word to its neighbor until the great
sympathetic centres received the call and sounded the alarm and sent
out a "hurry up" call to the cells needed for the repair work. In the
meantime the cells of the blood, coming in contact with the outside
air have begun to coagulate into a sticky substance, which is the
beginning of the scab, the purpose being to close the wound and to
hold the severed parts together. The repair cells having now arrived
at the scene of the accident begin to mend the break. The tissue,
nerve, and muscle cells, on each side of the wound begin to multiply
rapidly, receiving their nourishment from the blood cells, and quickly
a cell bridge is built up until the two severed edges of the wound
are reunited. This bridging is no haphazard process, for the presence
of directing law and order is apparent. The newly-born cells of the
blood-vessels unite with their brothers on the other side, evenly and
in an orderly manner, new tubular channels being formed skillfully. The
cells of the connective tissues likewise grow toward each other, and
unite in the same orderly manner. The nerve-cells repair their broken
lines, just as do a gang of linemen repair the interrupted telegraph
system. The muscles are united in the same way. But mark you this,
there is no mistake in this connecting process--muscle does not connect
with nerve, nor blood-vessel with connective tissue. Finally, the inner
repairs and connections having been completed, the scab disappears and
the cells of the outer skin rebuild the outer covering, and the wound
is healed. This process may occupy a few hours, or many days, depending
upon the character of the wound, but the process is the same in all
cases. The surgeon merely disinfects and cleans the wound, and placing
the parts together allows the cells to perform their healing work, for
no other power can perform the task. The knitting together of a broken
bone proceeds along the same lines--the surgeon places the parts in
juxtaposition, binds the limb together to prevent slipping, and the
cells do the rest.
When the body is well nourished, the general system well toned up,
and the mind cheerful and active, the repair work proceeds rapidly.
But when the physical system is run down, the body poorly nourished,
and the mind depressed and full of fear, the work is retarded and
interfered with. It is this healing power inherent in the cells that
physicians speak of as the _vis vita_ or _vis medicatrix naturae_,
or "the healing power of nature." Of it Dr. Patton says: "By the
term 'efforts of nature' we mean a certain curative or restorative
principle, or _vis vita_, implanted in every living or organized body,
constantly operative for its repair, preservation and health. This
instinctive endeavor to repair the human organism is signally shown in
the event of a severed or lost part, as a finger, for instance; for
nature unaided will repair and fashion a stump equal to one from the
hands of an eminent surgeon.... Nature, unaided, may be equally potent
in ordinary illness. Many individuals, even when severely ill, either
from motives of economy, prejudice, or skepticism, remain at rest in
bed, under favorable hygiene, regimen, etc., and speedily get well
without a physician or medicine."
Dr. Schofield says: "The _vis medicatrix naturae_ is a very potent
factor in the amelioration of disease, if it only be allowed fair play.
An exercise of faith, as a rule, suspends the operation of adverse
influences, and appeals strongly through the consciousness, to the
inner and underlying faculty of vital force (_i. e._, unconscious
mind)." Dr. Bruce says: "We are compelled to acknowledge a power of
natural recovery inherent in the body--a similar statement has been
made by writers on the principle of medicine in all ages.... The
body does possess a means and mechanism for modifying or neutralizing
influences which it cannot directly overcome." Oliver Wendell Holmes
says: "Whatever other theories we hold we must recognize the '_vis
medicatrix naturae_' in some shape or other." Bruce says: "A natural
power of the prevention and repair of disorders and disease has as real
and as active an existence within us, as have the ordinary functions
of the organs themselves." Hippocrates said: "Nature is the physician
of diseases." And Ambrose Pare wrote on the walls of the great medical
school, the Ecole de Medicine of Paris, these words: "_Je le ponsez et
Dieu le guarit_," which translated is: "I dressed the wound, and God
healed it."
It is of course true that the life and mind in the cells is derived
from the Subconscious Mind, in fact the cells themselves may be said
to _embody_ the Subconscious Mind, just as the cells of the brain
_embody_ the Conscious Mind. In every cell there is to be found
intelligence in a degree required for the successful performance of the
particular task of that cell. Hudson says: "All organic tissue is made
up of microscopic cells, each one of which _is a living, intelligent
entity_." And, again, "The subordinate intelligences are the cells of
which the whole body is composed, _each of which is an intelligent
entity, endowed with powers commensurate with its functions_." In
short, _the cells of the body are living organs for the expression and
manifestation of the Subconscious Mind_. There is not a single cell,
group, or part of the party which is devoid of mind. Mind is imminent
in the entire body, and in its every part, down to the smallest cell.
The following quotation from Dr. Thomson J. Hudson's "Mental Medicine"
clearly expresses a truth conceded by modern science. Dr. Hudson says:
"It follows _a priori_, that every cell in the body is endowed with
intelligence; and this is precisely what all biological science tells
us is true. Beginning with the lowest form of animal life, the humblest
cytode, every living cell is endowed with a wonderful intelligence.
There is, in fact, no line to be drawn between life and mind; that
is to say, every living organism is a mind organism, from the monera,
crawling upon the bed of the ocean, to the most highly differentiated
cell in the cerebral cortex of man. Volumes have been written to
demonstrate that 'psychological phenomena begin among the very lowest
class of beings; they are met with in every form of life, from the
simplest cellule to the most complicated organism. It is they that
are the essential phenomena of life, inherent in all protoplasm.'
(Binet.) It is, in fact, an axiom of science that the lowest
unicellular organism is endowed with the potentialities of manhood.
I have remarked that each living cell is endowed with a wonderful
intelligence. This is emphatically true, whether it is a unicellular
organism or a constituent element of a multicellular organism. Its
wonderful character consists not so much in the amount of intelligence
possessed by each individual cell, as it does in the quality of that
intelligence. That is to say, each cell is endowed with an instinctive,
or intuitive, knowledge of all that is essential to the preservation of
its own life, the conservation of its energies, and the perpetuation
of its species. In other words, it is endowed with an intuitive
knowledge of the laws of its own being, which knowledge is proportioned
to its stage of development and adapted to its environment."
The cell has the intelligence sufficient to enable it to seek
nourishment, and to move from one place to another in search for
food or for other purposes. It holds to its food when secured, and
envelops it until it is absorbed and digested. It exercises the power
of choice, accepting and selecting one portion of food in preference
to another. It has the power of discriminating between nourishing food
and the reverse. The authorities show that it has a rudimentary memory,
and avoids the repetition of an unpleasant or painful experience,
and also returns to the locality in which it has previously secured
food. Biological experiments have shown that the cells are capable of
experiencing surprise, pleasure and fear, and that they experience
different degrees of feeling, and react accordingly in response to
stimuli. Verworn, a biologist, even goes so far as to assert that they
habitually adapt means to ends, near and remote. In his remarkable
work on cell-life, "The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms," Binet says:
"We shall not regard it as strange, perhaps, to find so complete a
psychology in the history of the lower organisms, when we call to
mind that, agreeably to the ideas of evolution now accepted, a higher
animal is nothing more than a colony of protozoans. Every one of the
cells composing such an animal has retained its primitive properties,
giving them a higher degree of perfection by division of labor and
by selection. The epithelial cells that secrete the nails and hair
are organisms perfected with reference to the secretion of protective
parts. Similarly, the cells of the brain are organisms that have been
perfected with reference to psychical attributes."
Dr. Schofield says: "That life involves mind has, of course, like
all else, been vigorously disputed and equally vigorously affirmed.
'Life,' says Prof. Bascom, 'is not force; it is combining power. _It is
the product and presence of mind._' ... The extent to which the word
mind may be employed as the inherent cause of purposive movements in
organisms is a very difficult question to solve. There can be no doubt
that the actual agents in such movements are the natural forces, but
behind these the directing and starting power seems to be psychic....
There being an indwelling power, not only for purposive action in each
cell, but for endless combinations of cell activities for common ends
not at all connected with the mere nutrition of the single cell, but
for the good of the completed organism." Dr. R. Dunn says: "From the
first movement when the primordial cell-germ of a human organism comes
into being, the entire individual is present, fitted for human destiny.
From the same moment, matter, life and mind are never for an instant
separated, their union constituting the essential work of our present
existence." Carpenter says: "The convertibility of physical forces and
correlation of these with the vital and the intricacy of that nexus
between mental and bodily activity which cannot be analyzed, all lead
upwards towards one and the same conclusion--_the source of all power is
mind_. And that physical conclusion is the apex of the pyramid which
has its foundation in the primitive instincts of humanity."
Having seen the evidences of life and mind in the single cell, let us
now proceed to a consideration of the intelligence or mind inherent
and manifest in the groups of cells, large and small, including the
largest groups which compose the several organs of the body. This
line of investigation will lead us to a fuller understanding of the
influence of the mental states upon the health or disease of the organs
and parts. It will be seen that Mental Healing has a sound biological
as well as a psychological basis of truth, and that it is not necessary
to invade the fields of metaphysics or theology in order to find an
explanation of the effect of mind over body.