Just as in the individual the brain preserves a record of his previous
sensations, of his experience, and of his acquired knowledge, and it is
in the light of this record that he interprets every fresh sensation and
experience, so the race at large has a record of its past in literature,
and it is in the light of this record alone that its present conditions
and circumstances can be understood. The message of the senses is
indistinct and valueless to the individual without the co-operation of
the brain; the life of the race would be degraded to a mere animal
existence without the accumulated stores of previous experience which
literature places at its disposal.