Last， but not least， man， with all of his boastedculture and education， understands little ornothing of the intangible force （the greatest of allthe intangibles） of thought. He knows but littleconcerning the physical brain， and its vast networkof intricate machinery through which the power ofthought is translated into its material equivalent，but he is now entering an age which shall yieldenlightenment on the subject. Already men ofscience have begun to turn their attention to thestudy of this stupendous thing called a brain， and，while they are still in the kindergarten stage of theirstudies， they have uncovered enough knowledgeto know that the central switchboard of the humanbrain， the number of lines which connect the braincells one with another， equal the figure one， followedby fifteen million ciphers.
“The figure is so stupendous，” said Dr. C. JudsonHerrick， of the University of Chicago， “that astronomicalfigures dealing with hundreds of millions of lightyears， become insignificant by comparison.
It has been determined that there are from 10，000，000，000 to 14，000，000，000 nerve cells in thehuman cerebral cortex， and we know that these arearranged in definite patterns. These arrangements arenot haphazard. They are orderly. Recently developedmethods of electro-physiology draw off action currentsfrom very precisely located cells， or fibers with microelectrodes，amplify them with radio tubes， and recordpotential differences to a millionth of a volt.”
It is inconceivable that such a network of intricatemachinery should be in existence for the sole purposeof carrying on the physical functions incidental togrowth and maintenance of the physical body. Is itnot likely that the same system， which gives billionsof brain cells the media for communication one withanother， provides， also the means of communicationwith other intangible forces？
After this book had been written， just before themanu went to the publisher， there appearedin the New York Times， an editorial showing thatat least one great University， and one intelligentinvestigator in the field of mental phenomena， arecarrying on an organized research through whichconclusions have been reached that parallel manyof those described in this and the following chapter.
The editorial briefly analyzed the work carried onby Dr. Rhine， and his associates at Duke University，viz：— “What is ‘Telepathy’？
“A month ago we cited on this page some of theremarkable results achieved by Professor Rhineand his associates in Duke University from morethan a hundred thousand tests to determine theexistence of ‘telepathy’ and ‘clairvoyance.’ Theseresults were summarized in the first two articles inHarpers Magazine. In the second which has nowappeared， the author， E. H. Wright， attempts tosummarize what has been learned， or what it seemsreasonable to infer， regarding the exact nature ofthese ‘extrasensory’ modes of perception.
“The actual existence of telepathy and clairvoyancenow seems to some scientists enormously probable asthe result of Rhine’s experiments. Various percipientswere asked to name as many cards in a special packas they could without looking at them and withoutother sensory access to them. About a score of menand women were discovered who could regularlyname so many of the cards correctly that ‘there wasnot one chance in many a million million of theirhaving done their feats by luck or accident.’
“But how did they do them？ These powers， assuming that they exist， do not seem to be sensory.