subsequently
be effaced and replaced by other impressions, and the form chiselled
in the marble by an artist, as his creation. He who understands of
himself has an unforeseen impression; he feels that his consciousness
has been liberated, and something luminous shines forth within him.
Understanding, then, is not a matter of indifference; it is the
beginning of _something_; sometimes it is the beginning of a life
which renews itself within us. Perhaps no emotion is more fruitful for
man than the intellectual emotion. He who makes a discovery rich in
results certainly enjoys the greatest of human felicities; but even he
who merely "understands" gets a lofty enjoyment which will rise
superior to and overcome the most acute suffering. Indeed, he who is
oppressed by a misfortune, if he can be brought to differentiate his
own case from that of another, or to see a reason for his affliction,
experiences relief, and a "sense of salvation." Amidst the confused
darkness in which he was plunged, a consoling ray of intellectual
light has reached him. The difficult matter, indeed, is to find the
way of escape in the hour of darkness. When we reflect that a dog may
die of grief on the grave of his master, and that a mother can survive
on the grave of her only son, we see at once that it is the light of
_reason_ which makes the difference between the two. The dog _cannot
reason on the matter_; it may die because no light can penetrate the
darkness of its intelligence to overcome the depression of its grief.

But the thought of a universal justice, the living memory of the lost
one which remains to us, saves the human being. And by degrees, not
forgetfulness, which alone can save the animal, but the connection
which the intelligence establishes with the universe, restores calm to
the suffering soul. Such comfort could never be derived from the dry
lesson of a professor, from memorizing the theory of a savant who is
not in sympathy with the state of our soul. When we say, "to give
ourselves a reason," "to derive strength from a principle," we imply
that the ever-inquiring intelligence should be left at liberty to
perform its work of reconstruction and salvation.

Now if intelligence in "comprehending" may actually prove our
salvation when in danger of death, what a source of enjoyment it
should prove to man!

When we talk of "the opening of the mind," we mean a creative
phenomenon, which is not the weak result of an impression viole