grouped together several very large ganglia, forming what is known as the Solar Plexus, or Abdominal Brain, which is situated at the upper part of the abdomen, behind the stomach and in front of the aorta and the pillars of the diaphragm, and from which issue nerves extending in all directions. By some authorities the Solar Plexus is regarded as the great centre of the Sympathetic System, and the main seat of the Subconscious Mind. Dr. Byron Robinson bestowed upon this centre the name “The Abdominal Brain,” saying of the use of the term: “I mean to convey the idea that it is endowed with the high powers and phenomena of a great nervous centre; that it can organize, multiply, and diminish forces.”

One of the most interesting and significant features of the ganglia is that of their connection with the nerve centres of the Cerebro-Spinal System, indicating the reciprocal action existing between the two great nervous systems. From each one of the ganglia in the two great lines forming the system, issues a tiny filament which connects with the spinal cord; and at the same time it receives from the spinal cord a tiny filament in return, thus establishing a double line of communication. It is held by some authorities that one of these filaments acts as a sending wire, and the other as a receiving wire between the two systems. Be this as it may, the inter-communication between the two systems is clearly indicated.

It must be remembered that the involuntary muscles which move the heart, as well as the tiny muscles which form the middle-coat of the arteries and the veins, are controlled by the Sympathetic System, and thus the important work of the circulation, which goes on day and night, year in and year out, during life, is directly under the charge of the Sympathetic System and the Subconscious Mind. Also, the involuntary muscles which are concerned with the activities of the liver, the kidneys and the spleen, are under the same direct control.

Dr. E. H. Pratt, in the “Series of Impersonations” above referred to, makes the “Subconscious Man” tell the following wonderful truth, which we suggest each reader read carefully and fix in his mind: “My brother the Sympathetic Man has told you that I am the animating spirit of his construction; and as he is the great body builder, having furnished the emotions under which our entire family has been put into form, you can understand by what right I pose before you as the human form of forms. All the rest of the family are because I am. Even my Conscious brother, who claims superiority to his fellow-shapes because he bosses them around a little and makes use of them, is a subject of my own creation.... I am the life of the Sympathetic Man, whose existence as a human shape has already sufficiently been well established, and as there is no part of him which is not alive, the conclusion is very evident that his shape and mine are identical. There is no part of the sympathetic system which is not animated by my own principle of vitality. Indeed, he is but a cup of life, though I can assure you that his cup is full, and he would not be good for much if it was not. So, if you are able to conceive the shape of the Sympathetic Man, you can regard this form as identical with my own. This is really a very modest claim on my part, and does not quite do justice to myself, for in reality the Sympathetic Man does not contain all there is of me by any means, for I am not only in him, but all around him, and he is not by any means capable of containing my full self.”

When it is seen that the vital activities of the physical body are ruled, governed and controlled by the Sympathetic System, animated by the Subconscious Mind, and that the latter is amenable to Suggestion from the Conscious Mind and from outside, we may begin to get a glimmer of the great light which illuminates the principle of Mental Healing. If the Subconscious Mind, the builder, is influenced by Suggestion to neglect his work, or to build wrongly, it is likewise possible for him to heed proper Suggestion and to repair his mistakes and to rebuild properly. This principle being grasped, the rest will seem to be merely an understanding of the best methods of reaching the Subconscious Mind by Suggestion or Auto-Suggestion. We may now begin to understand the truth of the old axiom: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”—physically. And as Thought is based largely upon Belief, can we not see the dynamic force of Faith? Is there not a real psychological basis for so-called “miracles?” Is not the wonder-working of the cults now understandable?

CHAPTER III

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