lzac in _La Cousine Bette_, 'A crime is in
the first instance a defect of reasoning powers.' In the appreciation of
this truth, Marcus Aurelius was, as usual, a bit beforehand with Balzac.
M. Aurelius said, 'No soul wilfully misses truth.' And Epictetus had
come to the same conclusion before M. Aurelius, and Plato before
Epictetus. All wrong-doing is done in the sincere belief that it is the
best thing to do. Whatever sin a man does he does either for his own
benefit or for the benefit of society. At the moment of doing it he is
convinced that it is the only thing to do. He is mistaken. And he is
mistaken because his brain has been unequal to the task of reasoning the
matter out. Passion (the heart) is responsible for all crimes. Indeed,
crime is simply a convenient monosyllable which we apply to what happens
when the brain and the heart come into conflict and the brain is
defeated. That transaction of the matches was a crime, you know.

Lastly, the culture of the brain must result in the habit of originally
examining all the phenomena of life and conduct, to see what they really
are, and to what they lead. The heart hates progress, because the dear
old thing always wants to do as has always been done. The heart is
convinced that custom is a virtue. The heart of the dirty working man
rebels when the State insists that he shall be clean, for no other
reason than that it is his custom to be dirty. Useless to tell his heart
that, clean, he will live longer! He has been dirty and he will be. The
brain alone is the enemy of prejudice and precedent, which alone are the
enemies of progress. And this habit of originally examining phenomena
is perhaps the greatest factor that goes to the making of personal
dignity; for it fosters reliance on one's self and courage to accept the
consequences of the act of reasoning. Reason is the basis of personal
dignity.

I finish. I have said nothing of the modifications which the constant
use of the brain will bring about in the _general value of existence_.
Modifications slow and subtle, but tremendous! The persevering will
discover them. It will happen to the persevering that their whole lives
are changed--texture and colour, too! Naught will happen to those who do
not persevere.

THE END

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