Page 186 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

The whole of mankind has not the power to cope with, nor to control the intangi-
ble force wrapped up in the rolling waves of the oceans. Man has not the capacity
to understand the intangible force of gravity, which keeps this little earth sus-
pended in mid-air, and keeps man from falling from it, much less the power to
control that force. Man is entirely subservient to the intangible force which comes
with a thunder storm, and he is just as helpless in the presence of the intangible
force of electricity- nay, he does not even know what electricity is, where it comes
from, or what is its purpose!

Nor is this by any means the end of man's ignorance in connection with things
unseen and intangible. He does not understand the intangible force (and intel-
ligence) wrapped up in the soil of the earth-the force which provides him with
every morsel of food he eats, every article of clothing he wears, every dollar he
carries in his pockets.

THE DRAMATIC STORY OF THE BRAIN

Last, but not least, man, with all of his boasted culture and education, under-
stands little or nothing of the intangible force (the greatest of all the intangibles)
of thought. He knows but little concerning the physical brain, and its vast net-
work of intricate machinery through which the power of thought is translated into
its material equivalent, but he is now entering an age which shall yield enlighten-
ment on the subject. Already men of science have begun to turn their attention to
the study of this stupendous thing called a brain, and, while they are still in the
kindergarten stage of their studies, they have uncovered enough knowledge to
know that the central switchboard of the human brain, the number of lines which
connect the brain cells one with another, equal the figure one, followed by fifteen
million ciphers.

"The figure is so stupendous," said Dr. C. Judson Herri ck, of the University of
Chicago, "that astronomical figures dealing with hundreds of millions of light
years, become insignificant by comparison.

189

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

It has been determined that there are from 10,000,000,000 to 14,000,000,000
nerve cells in the human cerebral cortex, and we know that these are arranged
in definite patterns. These arrangements are not haphazard. They are orderly.
Recently developed methods of electro-physiology draw off action currents from
very precisely located cells, or fibers with micro-electrodes, amplify them with
radio tubes, and record potential differences to a millionth of a volt."