ma
 
 X 
 
 . 
 
 A NATURAL SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
 
 THE MIND OF MAN: 
 
 BEING 
 
 A NATURAL SYSTEM 
 
 OP 
 
 MENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ALFRED SMEE, F.R.S. 
 
 FELLOW OF THE EOTAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND, FELLOW OF. THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 FELLOW OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, 
 
 MEDICAL OFFICER TO THE BANK OF ENGLAND, ETC. ETC. 
 
 'Learn me true understanding and knowledge.' Ps. cxix. 66. 
 
 fcriijj 
 
 LONDON: 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS, 
 
 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1875. 
 
 All Rights reserved.
 
 TO 
 
 THE THOUSANDS OF EEADEES 
 
 AT HOME AND ABROAD, 
 
 WHO HAVE 
 CONSULTED MY PUBLISHED WORKS, 
 
 &$z Holomje is ibbixatefc 
 
 BY THEIR GRATEFUL SERVANT 
 
 ALFRED SMEE. 
 
 f 
 
 ... . -
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIRTY -FIVE years ago I conceived the idea of 
 studying mental phenomena in connexion with the 
 organisation of the human frame. 
 
 An early study of the brain, nerves, and organs 
 of sensation, exhibited to my mind the voltaic cha- 
 racter of the nervous system ; and during this 
 investigation, the beautiful method of injecting the 
 smaller blood-vessels by carmine was discovered, 
 which gave us the first exact knowledge of the dis- 
 tribution of the capillaries through the brain and 
 spinal chord. 
 
 My attention was next given to the study of 
 voltaic electricity, which led to the invention of the 
 form of battery which bears my name, and to the 
 development of my work on Electro - metallurgy 
 which has been employed in the arts. 
 
 The relation of Physical Forces was next studied,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and as the result of those labours the doctrine of 
 the Monogenesis of Physical Forces was developed 
 and published in my treatise on the ' Sources of 
 Physical Science.' 
 
 After much consideration, and the bestowal of 
 intense and concentrated thought over a long period, 
 I developed my natural system of mental philosophy, 
 wherein the laws of mental action were attempted to 
 be ascertained by a consideration of the structure 
 and functions of the brain, the nerves, and. of the 
 organs of sensation, on the one hand, and by a study 
 of the laws of electricity on the other. 
 
 Later, a paper on the Human Mind was written, 
 and the principles of mental phenomena were 
 described in a popular form, in a treatise entitled 
 ' Instinct and Reason/ 
 
 For the purpose of studying more intimately the 
 organs of sensation, vision was made the subject of 
 particular attention, and the results of my experience 
 were published in a monograph which particularly 
 describes the researches on Binocular Perspective. 
 
 The treatise entitled ' The Process of Thought 
 adapted to Words and Languages' was next 
 developed, which contains an account of the relational 
 machine whereby most logical inductions and deduc- 
 tions can be obtained by mechanism.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 A lecture delivered at the London Institution, in 
 Finsbury Circus, on Education, and another on the 
 Monogenesis of Physical Forces, completes the series 
 of books which have been particularly noticed in this 
 volume. 
 
 The substance of these above-named works, so 
 far as immediately appertains to this book, has been 
 incorporated into the present volume, which thus 
 comprises, either in detail or in general principles, 
 nearly everything which I have written on the 
 subject. 
 
 Every treatise designed for the study of a natural 
 system of the human mind must, of necessity, deal 
 with natural religion ; and it will be ever an 
 important matter to test by pure reason that which 
 is taught by religion, that we may be confirmed in 
 a sure faith. 
 
 During the last half century we have passed 
 through the greatest physical period which the 
 world has ever seen. Electro-telegraphy, photo- 
 graphy, electro -metallurgy, the steam locomotive, 
 and the development of the laws of chemical 
 combination and the physical laws of matter, have 
 made great strides in the history of man. 
 
 Indications now exist that a metaphysical period 
 is at hand, which may be as great in the future for
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 metaphysics and moral philosophy as the past has 
 been for physics. 
 
 In view of the coming change, this treatise has 
 been written as a contribution to mental philosophy, 
 that we may conduct on a sure basis the discipline 
 of our minds, the education of our youth, and the 
 government of mankind. 
 
 I am indebted to Dr. Stewart, Dr. Ferrier, and 
 Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, for some of the illustra- 
 tions of the structure of the nervous system ; and to 
 my daughter, Mrs. Odling, for the analytical Index. 
 
 7 Finsbury Circus, 
 
 18th February, 1875.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ideas from sensations Eye-sensations, extent of Ideas from two 
 eyes Ear-sensations Number of notes heard Taste-sensa- 
 tions Odour-sensations 7 Feeling-sensations Sensation-car- 
 riers, or nerves All external forces become nervous in the 
 body Combination of nervous impressions Changes of com- 
 bination Idea of time from nature of change Cause 
 Pleasure and pain Memory Reason of man Natural 
 reason Reason by words . . . . . . . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IDEAS ORIGINATING IN THE MIND ITSELF. 
 
 Instincts Spontaneous ideas Ideas of states of matter, of modes 
 of motion and of physical forces Ideas of modes of human 
 actior. and of thought Ideas of infinity, of God, of heaven, 
 ofheU .. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 Consciousness Consciousness only during part of existence 
 During sleep Perfect unconsciousness Deep thought and 
 partial consciousness Dreams Anxiety Consciousness de- 
 pends on physical state Mechanism of consciousness Origin 
 of consciousness 22
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE WILL AND LAWS OP HUMAN ACTION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Human action Automatic action Voluntary action Actions re- 
 gulated by former ideas Will not altogether voluntary 
 Laws of the will The action of man regulated by pleasure 
 and pain Free-will and necessity . . . . . . 28 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON EDUCATION AND FACULTIES OP MAN AT DIFFERENT PERIODS 
 OF LIFE. 
 
 Faculties at different periods of life Diagram The mind in 
 childhood In youth In manhood In senility Educa- 
 tion through the organs of sensation Education by written 
 knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DISCIPLINE OP THE MIND. 
 
 The importance of using every organ The practice of the use of 
 the organs of sensation Of memory The practice of ab- 
 straction by thought, reflection, and comparison The value 
 of books in testing our personal knowledge Value of conver- 
 sation Contemplation Subjugation of our thoughts to 
 moral laws Benefits of Christianity Evils of matter wor- 
 ship Regulation of our actions . . . . . . 39 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Mind of man superior to that of other animals Evolution 
 Hypothesis of the kinds of matter Hypothesis of evolution 
 of mind Development from infancy to manhood Can matter 
 produce organic beings, and organic beings man ? Expe- 
 rience of evolution Limits of variation in organic beings 
 Tendency of varieties to resume their original type Spirit 
 The eoul Specific creations and evolutions . . . . 46
 
 CONTENTS. X1U 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Pleasure and pain regulate action Influence of one person on 
 another Influence by personal statements, by anonymous 
 writings Value of repetition of statements Imperfection of 
 arguments Self -taught persons not liable to influence 
 Modes of influencing the minds of others Sympathy 
 Government of criminal classes Punishment of criminals 
 Regulation of our own minds to withstand the influence of 
 others . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 On words and language Substantives Adjectives Verbs 
 Resolution of a verb or sentence as it was received by the 
 brain Induction by words Deduction by words Laws of 
 thought by words Relational and differential machine 
 Relational and differential slate Human and Divine laws 
 Value of the pronoun 'I' On evidence and testimony On 
 quibbling by words . . . . . . . . . . 69 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RELATION OP MIND TO GOD. 
 
 Argument of design Fixity of laws of nature Fixity of moral 
 laws Effect of prayer Power of prayer Nature of matter 
 Origin of matter Creation of the universe Omnipre- 
 presence of the Deity His omniscience His omnipotence . . 125 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 Influence of religious thought Influence of the Deity Of 
 idolatry Of moral laws Spurious teachings Necessity for 
 ' the eradication of heathenism Different appreciation of 
 religion Danger of the period Religion and mental phe- 
 nomena Physical and moral laws Difficult cases Exact 
 definition of physical laws Want of definition of moral 
 laws Necessity for prudent action Indications of future 
 action 136
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Action of one man to another Right and wrong Moral law the 
 law of God Truth Absolute truth Moral law uni- 
 versal Particular moral laws Duty Necessity for more 
 exactness of moral laws Mode of proceeding of medical 
 men Of lawyers Improved mode of thought of clergy . . 150 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 Few ideas perfect Faith supplies imperfections Aisthenic faith 
 Syndramic faith Exercise of faith supplies deficiencies of 
 knowledge Faith not certain but probable Conditions of 
 true faith False faith Noemic faith Pneuma-noemic 
 faith Sure faith Law of true faith Examples of trust by 
 faith Examples of distrust Faith demands reason Reason 
 should discard false faith . . . . . . . . 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Aisthenic fallacies Syndramic fallacies Noemic fallacies 
 Different qualities of ideas should have different words 
 Pneuma-noemic fallacies Mnemonic fallacies Fallacies of 
 judgment and comparison : of technical knowledge : of faith : 
 of cause : of time : of pleasure and pain Dynamic fallacies 167 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 Mechanism of organs of sensation voltaic Nervous system a 
 system of compound voltaic batteries Influence of voltaic 
 electricity on the circulation of the blood Structure of the 
 nervous fibres Theory of instinct Nervous system one 
 organ Principles of the human mind in health and disease 
 Defective states of mind Abstract ideas Mechanism of 
 abstraction Mode of abstraction Difficulty of communi- 
 cating abstract ideas Future conflict of ideas Importance 
 of the study of abstract ideas . . . . . . . . 176
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OP THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Nervous system a voltaic circuit Essentials of a voltaic circuit 
 Single voltaic circuit Compound circuit Simple nervo- 
 voltaic circuit Hypothetical arrangement of the brain of 
 animals of man as a voltaic apparatus Actual general 
 structure of the brain Professor Ferrier's researches Micro- 
 scopic structure Termination of nervous fibres in the organs 
 of sensation in the body in the muscular system Termina- 
 tions of the nerves in the brain and spinal chord High 
 vascularity of tissues where nerves arise and terminate 
 Various artificial voltaic circuits Electric fish . . 210 
 
 INDEX.. 245
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PIG. PAGE 
 
 1 Rectangular square, divided into nine squares . . . . 3 
 
 2 Rectangular square, divided into 100 squares, to mark the 
 
 retina . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 
 
 3 Representation of an inner court of the Bank of England, 
 
 copied from a photograph which was made hy subjecting 
 the plate one half the time required at one station, and the 
 other half the time at a second station, two and a half 
 inches from the first, whereby two pictures were formed 
 exactly blended together, as man sees a picture with both 
 eyes in nature . . . . . . . . opposite 5 
 
 4 Nest of Ploceus pensilis . . . . . . . . 18 
 
 5 Bowerbank's wasp's nest, illustrative of the effect of instinct 18 
 5* Diagram of the powers of man at different ages . . opposite 34 
 
 6 Acarus of Cross . . . . . . . . . . 51 
 
 7 Acarus of Weeks . . . . . . . . . . 51 
 
 8 Relational machine, one half closed, the other half open. By 
 
 mistake one reading has been figured in error, but it was 
 immediately detached on the next casual inspection. The 
 readings used are the logical terms, a, all ; n, none ; s, some 94 
 
 9 Differential machine ; A, the magnitude used for the defini- 
 
 tion of one statement on one side, and the similarity on the 
 second ; B, the magnitude used for either side, when the 
 matter is unknown ; 0, the magnitude when the second 
 differs from the first statement . . . . . . 100 
 
 10 Diagram of the action of religion in particular instances, and 
 
 the deduction of general laws for particular instances . . 107 
 
 11 Single voltaic circuit . . . . . . . . 211 
 
 12 Double voltaic circuit .. .. .. .. ..211 
 
 b
 
 XV111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 no. PAGE 
 
 13 Single nervo- voltaic circuit . . . . . . . . 211 
 
 14 Triple nervo-voltaic circuit . . . . . . . . 212 
 
 15 Three nerves with their combinations . . . . . . 212 
 
 16 Theoretical nervous combination of lower animals . . . . 213 
 
 17 Theoretical nervous combination of man . . . . . . 213 
 
 18 No. 1 Anatomy of the fibres of the brain, after Mayo. A, 
 
 the spinal chord ; f, posterior columns of spinal chord, into 
 which the sensor nerves are implacted, and which are con- 
 tinued into the cerebellum, B. From the cerebellum fibres 
 are continued to the corpora quadrigemina, k I. Other 
 fibres are continued from the spinal chord through the 
 olivary bodies, c, by the olivary fasciculus, h, which are con- 
 tinued to the cerebrum, ccc. From the cerebrum fibres 
 converge to the pons, n, and from this point the fibres of 
 the anterior fasciculus of the spinal chord spring, d, from 
 which bundles the motor nerves arise (half diameter). No. 
 2 The ultimate vesicles of the brain, with nerve-tubes 
 placed in the grey matter amongst the blood-vessels (highly 
 magnified). No. 3 Ultimate structure of nerve-fibre 
 (highly magnified) . . . . . . . . . . 214 
 
 19 Brain of man, showing the convolutions of the cerebrum 
 
 overlapping the cerebellum . . . . . . . . 216 
 
 20 Brain of dog, showing how the cerebellum can be seen pro- 
 
 jecting beyond the cerebrum. This is a general peculiarity 
 of animals, though it has been disputed whether in the 
 single case of a monkey the cerebellum has not been com- 
 pletely covered . . . . . . . . . . 216 
 
 21 Nervous system of star-fish . . . . . . 217 
 
 22 Side view of brain of cat, to illustrate Professor Ferrier's re- 
 
 searches. A, crucial sulcus dividing anterior convolutions ; 
 
 B, fissure of Sylvius ; 0, olfactory bulb . . . . 217 
 
 23 Side view of brain of dog. A, crucial sulcus ; B, fissure of 
 
 Sylvius ; C, olfactory bulb . . . . . . 219 
 
 24 Upper surface of brain of rabbit. A, cerebrum; B, cere- 
 
 bellum ; C, olfactory bulb . . . . . . 220 
 
 25 Plexus of nerves from the spinal marrow, after Strieker, a, 
 
 Nerve tube communicating with plexus . . . . 221 
 
 26 Cerebellum, showing the blood-vessels on the right-hand side 
 
 descending vertically into the grey matter, and on the left 
 the nerve-cells with nerve-fibres diverging from them, by 
 Dr. Stewart 223
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XIX 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 27 Ultimate nerve-fibres of the sympathetic nerve (highly mag- 
 
 nified) 224 
 
 28 Terminations of the nerve of the retina, showing the rods and 
 
 cones, after Strieker . . . . . . . . . . 224 
 
 29 General view of the layers of retina of man. 1, Membrana 
 
 limitans interna. 2, Optic fibre layer. 3, Ganglia cell 
 layer. 4, Internal granulated layer. 5, Internal granule 
 layer. 6, External granulated layer. 7, External granule 
 layer. 8, Membrana limitans externa. 9, Layer of rods 
 and cones. 10, Pigment layer . . . . . . 225 
 
 30 Termination of the nerves of the skin. The spinal vessels 
 
 are shown running from the perspiratory ducts. The 
 nerve is depicted passing to the papillae, also delicate plexus 
 of nerves between the papillae is shown, drawn by Dr. 
 Stewart . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 
 
 31 Termination of the auditory nerve. 1, Cartilage of the wall 
 
 of the ampulla. 2, Structureless basement membrane. 3, 
 Doubly continued nerve-fibre. 4, Axis cylinder traversing 
 the basement membrane. 5, Plexiform union of nerve- 
 fibres with interspersed nuclei. 6, Fusiform cells with 
 nucleus and dark fibre in their interior. 7, Supporting cells. 
 8, Auditory hairs (highly magnified) . . . . . . 227 
 
 32 Termination of the gustatory nerve of the frog, magnified 
 
 000 diameters . . . . . . . . 228 
 
 33 Terminations of olfactory nerve. A, a, Epithelial cells from 
 
 the o^actory region of the proteus ; d, the processes ap- 
 parently connected with them ; e, olfactory cells ; B, epi- 
 thelium and olfactory cells from Max Schultze . . . . 228 
 
 34 Distribution of nerves on muscle, after Strieker. A, seen in 
 
 profile ; pp, terminal nerve plate : s s, support of the plate 
 with nuclei. B, the same in fresh muscle. C, the same 
 after death . . . . . . . . 229 
 
 35 Artificial muscle, which distends in breadth, and contracts in 
 
 length . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 
 
 36 Artificial blood corpuscule . . . . . . . . 229 
 
 37 Arteries and veins of the choroid coat of the eye . .$ . . 230 
 
 38 Yellow spot of Sommerring, the centre of perfect vision . . 230 
 
 39 Artery of the retina, from my own preparation . . . . 230 
 
 40 Blood-vessels of internal ear, from my own preparation . . 231 
 
 41 Blood-vessels of the nose, from my own preparation . . 231 
 
 42 Blood-vessels of the tongue, from my own preparation . . 231
 
 XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 F1S. PAGE 
 
 43 Blood-vessels of the skin, from my own preparation . . 231 
 
 44 Blood-vessels of muscles. The artery enters at right angles 
 
 to the muscles, and they are distributed parallel to the 
 fibres .. .. .. .. .. ..232 
 
 45 Blood-vessels of the grey matter of the spinal chord, from my 
 
 own preparation, injected with carmine . . . . 232 
 
 46 Blood-vessels of the grey matter of the cerebrum, from my 
 
 own preparation, injected with carmine (magnified) . . 233 
 
 47 Blood-vessels of the grey matter of the cerebellum, from my 
 
 own preparation, injected with carmine (magnified) . . 234 
 
 48 A, from the electric organ of Mormyrus oxyrhyncus ; B, 
 
 from the electric organ of Mormyrus dorsalis . . . . 235 
 
 49 Single battery cell, from a model in the Hunterian museum . . 236 
 
 50 A series of batteries, from a model in the Hunterian museum 237 
 
 51 Torpedo viewed from above, showing the brain and the 
 
 enormous distribution of the eighth pair of nerves to the 
 electrical organ. 11, Mnciferous organs; 10, openings of 
 mucif erous ducts on skin . . . . . . . . 236 
 
 52 Transverse section of torpedo ; F, electric organs ; p p, ver- 
 
 tical prisms ; 8, eighth pair of nerves to supply batteries ; 
 L, electrical lobe ; o, ear ; F, mouth ; g, muscles of ex- 
 tremity ; /, f ollicular organs . . . . . . . . 237 
 
 53 Artificial electrical fish-cell .. .. .. ..237 
 
 54 Lateral section of the electrical organs of electrical eel. a, 
 
 Dorsal muscle ; 6, larger electrical organs ; c, lateral fin 
 muscles ; d, lesser electrical organ ; f, spinal chord ; g, 
 spinal chord ; h, fifth pair of nerves ; *, air-sac ; m, mem- 
 branous septum ; n, edges of lateral fin muscles ; o, cut 
 dorsal muscles ; p, body of vertebrae ; q, larger electrical 
 organs ; r, lateral muscles ; t, lateral fin muscles ; u, fin . . 238 
 
 55 Transverse section of electrical eel. a, Skin ; b, aponeurosis, 
 
 covering muscles and electrical organs ; d, larger battery ; e, 
 lateral fin muscles ; /, lesser batteries ; g, edges of lateral 
 fin ; *, the fin ; k, body of vertebrae ; m, vein ; , artery ; 
 o, air-vessel, after Letheby . . . . . . . . 239 
 
 56 V-tube A .. .. .. .. .. ..241 
 
 57 Artificial nose . . . . . . . . . . 241 
 
 58 Double voltaic battery, showing the mode of detecting voltaic 
 
 current in fluid 242
 
 THE MIND OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 Ideas from sensations Eye-sensations, extent of Ideas from two eyes 
 Ear-sensations Number of notes heard Taste-sensations Odour- 
 sensations Feeling - sensations Sensation-carriers, or nerves All 
 external forces become nervous in the body Combination of nervous 
 impressions Changes of combination Idea of time from nature of 
 change Cause Pleasure and pain Memory Reason of Man 
 Natural reason Reason by words. 
 
 THE mind derives the most elementary ideas or mental pic- 
 tures from all things existing in the external world through 
 the medium of the organs of sensation. These may be con- 
 veniently termed aisthenic ideas, from the word alaOiiais, 
 sensation, and comprise those representations which are 
 carried to the brain through the medium of the nerves from 
 impressions made on the eye, ear, nose, tongue, aij^. skin. 
 
 EYE SENSATIONS, OR OPSAFSTHENICS. The ideas derived 
 through the eye are the most important, as a photographic 
 image is formed on the retina, and the picture so produced 
 is carried to the brain where it is indelibly fixed. When 
 
 B
 
 2 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 we look at an extensive prospect we are delighted at the 
 perfect picture which we see. The minutest detail is accu- 
 rately delineated, and the objects themselves appear to us 
 in the various colours which comprise the spectrum. Never- 
 theless when we minutely scrutinise the mental picture, we 
 are as astonished at the limited range of the entire prospect 
 which is revealed to us at one instant of time as we are with 
 the perfection of that picture within the range for which 
 the eye is adapted by nature to receive it. 
 
 The eye sees without motion at a glance every object 
 contained within a circle of the diameter of -^t-h of the dis- 
 tance of the object from the eye ; that is to say, we see with- 
 out a movement of the eye every object of one inch at 
 twenty-five inches distance, or every object contained within 
 the circle of a mile at twenty-five miles distance. In mathe- 
 matical language, perfect vision is obtained over a range 
 of 3 18'. 
 
 Beyond this circle of complete vision objects are more 
 indistinctly seen the farther they are removed from the 
 centre, and in my treatise on the Eye exact details are given 
 of the pictures formed in my own organs of vision. Within 
 the range of perfect vision, however, the eye only perceives 
 objects, or parts of objects, of a certain magnitude. For 
 instance, at fifty feet distance the total range of perfect 
 vision is contained in a circle two feet in diameter. At 
 twenty-five inches the circle is restricted to one inch. 
 Within this circle, and at that distance, we can discriminate 
 parts not less than -^oth of an inch diameter. 
 
 This limitation of visual power proves that any mental 
 picture can only contain a definite number of parts. The 
 picture on the retina is similar to patterns used by needle- 
 women, though on a more minute scale. 
 
 In the study of the mind it has been convenient to
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 3 
 
 assume that the limit of the perfection of vision is a square 
 instead of a circle, and that this square if measured is the 
 2 Jjth of the distance from the eye. From this it follows that 
 at 12 \ inches from the eye one square inch comprises the 
 range of perfect vision, and the ultimate parts of which this 
 square is composed are the ^-gth inch across. By multiply- 
 ing 250 x 250, we have in this space of perfect vision 
 62,500 squares, which are visible, and on each of which an 
 impression may be made and carried by the nerves to the 
 brain. 
 
 Now the visual square divided into its 62,500 parts, and 
 impressed with a picture, resembles the pictures used by 
 needlewomen. If a number be assigned to each ultimate 
 compartment, the squares implicated in any picture may be 
 designated, and the result communicated from one person to 
 another, the minuteness of each ultimate compartment being 
 the only barrier to an exact representation of any picture 
 seen by one person being communicated to a second. 
 
 For example, a rectangular square may be divided into 
 nine parts, then we shall find if some 
 are black and the remainder white, and 
 if each is distinguished by a definite 
 number, that if the following squares 
 are black, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, the letter 
 D would be represented. If 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 
 
 7, 9, the letter E ; if 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 
 
 H ; if 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, I ; if 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, L ; if 2, 4, 6, 
 
 8, ; if 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, T ; if 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, U ; if 1, 3, 
 5, 7, 9, X. The numbers of each ultimate compartment 
 acted upon can be told to any other person at any distance 
 or at any future time, when the particular spaces can be 
 filled up in black, when a second picture can be made iden- 
 tical with the first. By imitating the natural operation of
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 the nervous system, a secret language could be used, which 
 the genius even of a Young who was so skilled in deciphering 
 secret languages, might have failed to have discovered. 
 
 Each compartment might be described trigonometrically 
 as well as arithmetically, as each compartment has a definite 
 relative position to every other compartment. 
 
 Not only letters, but distinct pictures, might be de- 
 scribed, were it not too laborious ; 
 
 in truth, any picture seen by the eye 
 
 of one person could by assigning a 
 designation to each compartment be so - 
 described as to be .capable of being 
 repeated, so as .to be understood by 
 any other person, as in this diagram 
 of one hundred parts. 
 
 Whenever an object in the ex- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 ternal world produces an image on the retina, of the eye, 
 smaller than the ultimate compartments of which it is com- 
 posed, it is invisible, unless the image is increased in size 
 either by the telescope >or by the microscope, and that which is 
 not depicted in the eye is not appreciated by the brain. Our 
 knowledge derived by vision is therefore limited, as we can 
 only obtain information from the eye when the object is 
 of certain defined magnitude. 
 
 Not only is our knowledge limited by the size of the 
 object, but also our power of discriminating colours is limited 
 to the rays which we designate red, orange, yellow, green, 
 blue, indigo, violet. Chemistry reveals that there are other 
 rays less refrangible than the red rays, and more so than 
 the violet, which are not visible to the eyes of men. 
 
 The mind obtains information from the images formed in 
 the two eyes, because the two eyes, being 2^ inches apart, 
 are placed at two stations, and a somewhat different image is
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 5 
 
 formed in each. An inquiry on this matter, although proper 
 in a treatise on the Eye, need hardly be continued in a 
 work designed for a study of the mind further than to 
 remark that the mental picture derived from the two eyes 
 combined reveals more of each object viewed than the picture 
 derived from one eye alone. 
 
 The eye considered by itself is a mere optical arrange- 
 ment or camera, containing lenses for the formation of the 
 image, contrivances for adjusting the lenses to various dis- 
 tances, and optical combinations to render the eye achroma- 
 tic and to correct spherical aberration. In the manner in 
 which the eye does its work, it is as far superior to the 
 camera of the photographer, as all other works of nature are 
 superior to the contrivances of man. 
 
 The accompanying engraving of an inner court of the 
 Bank of England is copied from a photograph, taken at one 
 station for one half the time the process was required, and 
 then at a second station, 2J inches distant from the first 
 position. By this plan of operation two distinct pictures 
 were formed and combined together to form a picture such as 
 the two eyes see. 
 
 From an examination of the finest pictures in many of 
 the most celebrated galleries in Europe, I have been able to 
 detect the method by which various distinguished painters 
 represent what is seen by both eyes at once. For example, 
 Paul Veronese most skilfully obtains the effect of solidity by 
 the suggestion of a line more or less broken to conceal his 
 artifice outside the limbs of the figures which he has re- 
 presented. 
 
 The picture formed on the retina by itself renders us no 
 wiser for possessing an eye with all its marvellous contri- 
 vances. Some change, however, during the act of vision, 
 takes place, which occupies a period of time which has been
 
 6 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 found to be T yh of a second. This sets in motion a force 
 which my experiments have led to infer that it is of a 
 voltaic character. By this the picture is carried by a 
 separate nerve for every compartment of the retina to the 
 brain, whereby the mind becomes cognisant of the picture 
 formed in the eye, and we obtain a knowledge of the objects 
 in the external world when lit tip by any one or all of the 
 various colours of which light is composed. Light, there- 
 fore, is that physical force which causes the pictiire to be 
 formed upon the retina, and is the origin of the motive 
 power by which a knowledge of that picture is carried to the 
 brain where it is fixed for the mind to apprehend it. 
 
 Man is not singular amongst animal beings for de- 
 riving knowledge from the eye. It is, however, truly, his 
 best sense, and deprived of it, he may say with Milton, 
 
 ' Knowledge at one entrance quite shut off.' 
 
 Some creatures, as birds, appear to possess the faculty of 
 sight to a more perfect degree than any man with regard to 
 the sixe and distance with which they can discriminate 
 objects. Other beings, on the contrary, as the mole, the flea 
 which lives on the mole, and the Proteus, have no perfect 
 eyes, and cannot have those pictures of the works of nature 
 brought to their knowledge which man has. 
 
 To what extent animals can appreciate colours it is diffi- 
 cult to tell ; but experience shows that the bull is ex- 
 cited by the red flag, and the tortoise runs to the yellow 
 flower. 
 
 The mind is influenced to an important extent by the 
 ideas obtained through vision ; but when deprived of sight, 
 the sufferer might say with Milton, 
 
 ' So much the rather thou, Celestial Light, 
 Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers irradiate.'
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 7 
 
 EAR SENSATIONS, OR OUSAISTHENICS. The mind does not 
 derive so many ideas through the medium of the ear as it 
 does from the eye. The ear, however, is of great import- 
 ance, and it is particularly noticed that the deaf man is 
 liable to accidental injury. He is often injured by vehicles 
 and horses, the noise of which he does not hear, and there- 
 fore does not sufficiently quickly avoid. 
 
 The range of musical sounds appreciated by the ear 
 consists of about 12 octaves, and in each octave many per- 
 sons can distinguish the ^d of a note. Upon this hypothesis 
 the human ear can distinguish about 3200 musical sounds, 
 and no more. 
 
 At any one moment of time various sounds impinge upon 
 the ear, as we may know when we hear the notes of a full 
 orchestra. 
 
 In the consideration of sounds conveyed to the mind 
 by the medium of the ear, we must exclude conversations by 
 words and language, which are really sounds used to repre- 
 sent mental ideas, and which require special and separate 
 consideration. 
 
 There is no reason to suspect that the members of the 
 higher animals are either much better or worse off than man 
 in the appreciation of sounds, very high tones, however, 
 greatly excite some animals. 
 
 The importance of vision and hearing to the mind of man 
 is so great, that when unfortunately born without both he is 
 not competent to transact any business. 
 
 TASTE SENSATIONS, OR GUMAISTHENICS. The mind does 
 not obtain many ideas by the sensation of taste, the object 
 of which appears to be to enable animals to distinguish food fit 
 for use from that which is deleterious. It has never been 
 attempted to ascertain how many specific savours man is 
 competent to distinguish.
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 ODOUR SENSATIONS, OR RHINAISTHENICS. Many animals 
 far surpass man in the faculty of deriving knowledge by 
 their nasal organs. The cat manifestly finds its prey by 
 scent. The dog hunts by the power of smelling the tracks 
 of the creatures it devours. It is manifest that the nose of 
 the dog and cat is far more sensitive, and is capable of afford- 
 ing a much larger knowledge to them, than the nose does 
 to the human being. Nevertheless odours indicate to us the 
 presence of various substances, and enable us to discriminate 
 various states of the same substance, as fresh meat from 
 that which is putrid. 
 
 FEELING SENSATIONS, CGENAISTHENICS AND SOMAISTHE- 
 NICS. The mind appreciates two distinct kinds of feeling 
 sensations. One set of impressions which are derived from 
 the action of physical force upon the skin, as when we receive 
 a blow, or when the skin is acted upon either by heat or by 
 cold ; a second set of impressions, when the changes going 
 on within our own bodies are carried to the brain, and are 
 recognised by the minds, as when our minds distinguish the 
 amount of any muscular movement. Our capacity to appre- 
 ciate the changes which are taking place within us are but 
 limited in extent ; and it is possible to conceive that, had we 
 but a higher mechanism for this purpose, we might have a 
 more extensive knowledge of the changes which occur, 
 although we must also admit that what we have is ample for 
 our purposes. 
 
 SENSATION CARRIERS, OR NERVES. The organs of sensa- 
 tion are simply arrangements by which light, sound, odour, 
 savour, heat, cold, act upon the body. By themselves 
 these organs are useless, and if further mechanism did not 
 exist they would not afford any ideas to the mind. 
 
 In these organs of sensation some material change takes 
 place on the action by their appropriate irritant which is not
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 9 
 
 exactly known. For instance, the nerves of the retina are 
 affected by light, and this change produces an effect which is 
 transmitted through carriers called Nerves to the brain. 
 When these carriers, or nerves, are cut, no mental impression 
 is produced, even though the organs of sensation remain 
 entire, as it is essential that there should be a perfect nervous 
 communication between the organs of sensation and the 
 brain before any information can be conveyed to the mind. 
 
 As the nervous terminations in each organ of sensation 
 are limited in number, so also are the little tubes, or carriers, 
 to the brain limited, although it has never been accurately 
 ascertained how many of these little tubes carry the im- 
 pressions of the external world from all the organs of sen- 
 sation to the brain. 
 
 Although light, sound, heat, odour, savour, act upon 
 the senses designed to receive their respective impressions, 
 yet the specific character of each of their physical forces is 
 lost when the result of the change in the organs of sensation 
 is transmitted through the nerves to the brain. 
 
 At any one moment of one's life many terminations of the 
 nerves are acted upon, and this combination may be termed 
 Syndramic, and is the^ result of all the actions on the ultimate 
 nervous fibrils at any one instant of time. 
 
 When the brain is once impressed, the image formed on 
 the organ of sensation, such as the eye, remains fixed in that 
 part of the brain designed to receive the impressions of that 
 organ, and may reappear to the mind at any future time. 
 Impressions conveyed to the mind by the medium of the 
 senses are more fixed and more decided than ideas which 
 are communicated by other persons, by words either spoken 
 or written. As good impressions may remain for life, 
 and those which are bad cannot easily be neglected, it is a 
 matter of paramount importance to subject ourselves to those
 
 10 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 scenes which are capable of producing good and pleasing 
 pictures hereafter. 
 
 The mental combination of nervous impressions received 
 at one instant of time is ever changing, and never remaining 
 the same for a single instant. Some remain, others come ; 
 the latter vanish, the second come again, and every possible 
 variety comes into play. Take, for example, the picture of 
 a garden formed on the retina. The general outline of the 
 garden remains from year to year. In winter, however, the 
 trees are leafless. In early spring birds sing, and flowers 
 and leaves are added to the picture. The blossom passes 
 away, and fruit is added to the scene, which passes away ; 
 then the leaves are removed, when perhaps snow covering the 
 branches is again added to that part of the picture which 
 never changes. What a series of pictures is here realised by 
 the mind, not two of which are exactly identical even on the 
 same day, yet every one is presented to the mind like a 
 needlewoman's pattern. 
 
 The change of pictures, if narrowly examined, is but a 
 limited change. As I sit in my room now writing, the 
 articles of furniture and form of the room remain un- 
 changed ; but one visitor enters and another emerges, so 
 that whilst the greater part of the picture, formed in the eye 
 and carried to the brain, remains the same, another portion of 
 the picture has some part added or subtracted. An intel- 
 ligent appreciation of the continued change of images, as we 
 shall hereafter find, leads to our notions of time ; and 
 pictures remaining without change involve much time, pic- 
 tures with many changes little time for each event. 
 
 Again, the mode in which the changes occur leads to the 
 idea of cause. For example, we see a blacksmith with uplifted 
 hand holding the ponderous hammer ; then another set of 
 images of the arm and hammer in the act of falling ; then a
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 11 
 
 picture with the hammer against an object struck ; lastly, the 
 object struck and changed in form. All these combinations 
 of the actions on the primitive nervous fibres are simply vari- 
 ations on the particular ultimate portions of the nervous 
 expansions, which are acted upon by the forces of the ex- 
 ternal world, and carried from thence by the nerves to the 
 brain, where they either cause immediate actions or are avail- 
 able for future mental reappearance and objects of thought. 
 
 Whether the combination of the action on ultimate fibres 
 in a combination of actions on the ultimate nervous fibres of 
 the eye, the ear, the nose, or other sense, is immaterial to 
 the study of this subject, because the moment the action is 
 transferred to the brain it becomes a brain-impression, and 
 loses its specific character. 
 
 Each single brain-impression may be designated by a 
 number, and upon the supposition that the ultimate nerve- 
 terminations in the body amount to 100,000 units of sensa- 
 tion, we should have an equal number of nerve-terminations 
 in the brain, and any possible combination may be reported 
 to the mind at any one inst'ant of time. 
 
 The particular nature of the change which takes place in 
 the brain, by which a material effect is produced in the 
 bodily organisation is unknown, though physiologists are 
 agreed that it takes place in the grey matter of the brain, 
 which is abundantly supplied with blood-vessels, as my beau- 
 tiful carmine injections have demonstrated. 
 
 PLEASURE AND PAIN. Every action in the nervous 
 system is attended with the sensation of either pleasure or 
 pain. Every moderate action in the nervous system is plea- 
 surable every excessive one is painful. Moderate light 
 falling on the eye gives pleasure, the direct light of the 
 sun gives pain. A genial warmth acting on the skin is 
 attended with pleasure ; great heat causes exquisite pain.
 
 12 ELEMEJSTARY IDEAS. 
 
 Painful and pleasurable sensations depend upon degree, that 
 is simply on the extent of action produced on the nervous 
 terminations ; and, although so different in the effect conveyed 
 to the mind, are merely differences of the intensity in which 
 the external physical forces affect the organs of sensation. 
 Pleasure and pain are the keys to human action. We all 
 avoid pain and seek pleasure. Present pleasure, present 
 pain future pleasure, future pain infinite pleasure, infinite 
 pain govern all human operations. 
 
 MEMORY. The pictures transmitted to the brain are not 
 transient, but are fixed in the organisation and appear here- 
 after. The first image was so registered on my brain at a 
 very early period of my existence. I remember to have been 
 taken from my bed to witness the illuminations at King 
 George the Fourth's coronation, which occurred on the 19th 
 July, 1821. As I was born on June 18th, 1818, I can fix an 
 event as registered in the mind when only three years old. 
 Before that circumstance, doubtless other facts which were 
 impressed on the brain have their influence on the inind ; but 
 I have no means of determining whether such ideas were 
 received before or after that period. The registration of 
 pictures is of paramount importance to mental phenomena. 
 Without it the mind would be a dreary blank, as we could not 
 compare a present with a past event, or judge in any way 
 of the difference between them. Without it we could not 
 exercise the power of reflection or imagination. Without 
 it we should be deprived of the power of acting upon all the 
 facts which we have learned during the whole of our lives. 
 Without it we should be said to be fatuous, a state in which a 
 man is lowered to the condition of a plant. 
 
 When a new idea is communicated to the brain, it com- 
 mingles, as it were, with all those ideas which have been 
 received before, and modifies our subsequent thought. In a
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 13 
 
 state of rest, but yet awake, when we do not derive impres- 
 sions from the external world, the mind is still active. For 
 example, when we lie in bed the pictures which the mind has 
 received from a garden reappear as plainly as though they 
 had just been seen. From a consideration of them, we can 
 form in the mind new ideal pictures which we can call to 
 memory at a future time, and can go to any garden and con- 
 struct in the external world at any future time. 
 
 It is my custom to write books, as it were, in the mind 
 as I move about in my ordinary avocations of life. When 
 composed in the mind, it subsequently becomes a mere 
 question of mechanical labour to transmit to paper those 
 ideas when thought out ; and so mechanical is the act of 
 writing, that I frequently find myself using the pen on im- 
 portant matters whilst conversing with those around me on 
 the ordinary trivial subjects of the day. 
 
 The phenomena of memory should induce us all to 
 register in our minds good images, for the occurrence of 
 those which are pleasant constitutes a constant source of 
 happiness and joy, whilst the memory of painful images is as 
 frequently a source of misery and woe. 
 
 The spontaneity with which pictures reappear is difficult 
 of explanation, for we cannot really understand by what in- 
 fluence the reappearance of the picture of a lovely plant or 
 of a beautiful scene, which was seen perhaps months or years 
 before, should come before the mind whilst we are sitting 
 in our library miles away from the actual scene in the 
 external world. Nevertheless we must admit the fact that 
 whatever we have seen in the external world we can see 
 again by the mind, and render available for future thought 
 or for the control of our future actions. 
 
 The mind takes notice of the sense with which knowledge 
 has been acquired, and distinguishes whether information
 
 14 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 has been received from either the eye, ear, nose, tongue, or 
 skin, or from any possible combination of these organs of 
 sensation. 
 
 Without memory there can be no mind, as then the past 
 can have no influence over the present nor be able to guide 
 the future. 
 
 In the reappearance of pictures before the mind, two 
 or more somewhat dissimilar frequently appear together, 
 when the examination of the likeness or difference between 
 the two is termed comparison, and is a higher power of the 
 mind than the mere registration of mental pictures for 
 memory. After comparison comes selection, and the act 
 of selecting and choosing it for action is called judgment. 
 
 All these cases of mental action are common to all ani- 
 mals. A dog compares two homes, selects one, and upon 
 that judgment acts. In these reasoning powers the human 
 mind is not superior to that of the lower animals. 
 
 The intermediate state of the mind between the recep- 
 tion of ideas and the action of the body, either to guide the 
 arms or legs to motion or the tongue to speak, is not well 
 denned. Sometimes the mind pauses for some time ; it 
 dwells upon a subject, and defers action for a long period in 
 the future. 
 
 How we act in this intermediate state is extremely curi- 
 ous, for the mind decides us to act, and yet the action may be 
 delayed for an indefinite period. I determined to write this 
 work some years since, actually wrote a considerable portion, 
 but postponed the completion till the present time. 
 
 The action upon the entire ideas existing in the brain 
 may be likened to the resultant of mechanical forces. Some 
 tend towards one line of action, some towards another, but 
 the sum total produces a line of thought between the whole 
 combined. When we come to a determination upon all the
 
 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 15 
 
 ideas reflected in our minds, we are said to act from common 
 sense, a faculty not sufficiently practised by any of us, as we 
 are apt to be led to wrong conclusions by giving too great 
 weight to special facts or to a part of the impression in our 
 mind in place of bringing into operation all ideas which we 
 have derived during the whole of our previous lives. 
 
 Up to this point the mind does not differ from that of 
 the brute beast, which sees, hears, feels, and remembers, 
 what it has seen, heard, and felt, and which regulates its 
 action after reflecting, comparing, and judging of the various 
 ideas which it recollects. 
 
 MAN REASON ; NOEMIC REASON. There is a jump in the 
 powers of mind between the human reason and the reason of 
 brutes. The mind deals with its various ideas, and forms 
 abstract conceptions. It forms the notion of mankind apart 
 from any particular man. The notion of heat apart from hot 
 things ; of light apart from illuminated bodies. The capa- 
 bility of using these higher abstractions confers upon all men 
 powers not possessed by the lower animals. Mankind alone of 
 all the animal creation uses words and language for the com- 
 munication of ideas ; employs fire to cook food ; lamps to 
 illuminate rooms ; electricity to convey intelligence, or tools 
 by which mechanical force is regulated. 
 
 The mind evidently reasons by two distinct methods. 
 
 NATURAL REASONING. By natural reasoning the mind 
 concentrates its attention by the organs of sensation upon a 
 matter, and forms its conclusion by the immediate images 
 presented to the mind in comparison and in combination 
 with all other images previously received. This is perhaps 
 the more common method of reasoning. The whole train of 
 thought is performed without the use of words or language. 
 The rapidity of the conclusion is not only remarkable con- 
 sidering the large amount of premises on which it is based
 
 16 ELEMENTARY IDEAS. 
 
 but is more excellent than the slower and more tedious 
 method of reasoning by words and language. 
 
 The conclusion in these cases flashes before the mind, and 
 is so indelibly impressed that it can be fought against any 
 disputant at any future time. It is employed usually in medi- 
 cal science. Occasionally I have been occupied hours in a 
 journey to examine the state of a patient as to the progress 
 of the case, and the conclusion has been formed in an incon- 
 ceivably short space of time. Sometimes I should have 
 been thankful to be relieved of the fatigue of the journey, 
 but this has been required because of the difficulty of receiv- 
 ing communications of the exact state of the case by words 
 and language. 
 
 Many medical men in large practice use the method of 
 reason by their minds in this manner to such an extent that 
 when placed in a witness-box to explain their train of thought, 
 they so far break down that, though greatly eminent as medi- 
 cal men, they appear before the court as stupid witnesses. 
 
 The natural process of reasoning is far superior to the 
 process by words and language, and all of us should practise 
 its employment on all possible occasions. It constitutes the 
 difference between the reason of the practical man and that 
 of the man who has his knowledge from books and reasons 
 by words.
 
 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IDEAS ORIGINATING IN THE MIND ITSELF. 
 
 Instincts Spontaneous Ideas Ideas of States of Matter, of Modes of 
 Motion and of Physical Forces Ideas of Modes of Human Action 
 and of Thought Ideas of Infinity, of God, of Heaven, of Hell. 
 
 VARIOUS ideas evidently come before the mind by the natural 
 process of thought arising from the construction of the brain 
 itself. In our earliest infancy we take food without expe- 
 rience and drink because we are thirsty, although we have 
 no knowledge that food will stop hunger or drink satisfy 
 thirst ; we move about when we are restless and rest when 
 we are tired. Although there may be several instincts of the 
 above character, I never could detect, either in my own mind 
 or in that of any other person, any instinct similar to that 
 which exists in the bee to guide it to make its honeycomb, 
 in the wasp to make its paper nest, in the beaver to build 
 its home, in the bird to migrate at one season to distant 
 lands and return at another season to its former abode. 
 
 These and similar instincts appear to be distinct ideas 
 implanted in the organisation of animals, and are applied 
 in action in a perfectly automatic manner by the same species 
 for thousands of years without variation, or only with that 
 limit of variation which is noticeable in all the works of 
 nature, except that the details may be somewhat modified by 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 IDEAS ORIGINATING IN THE MIND ITSELF. 
 
 the faculties of mind which are undoubtedly assigned to 
 every living creature. The situation of a nest of a bird is 
 chosen by reason, the nest itself is built upon a type or 
 general design obtained by instinct, but modified by the 
 
 Xest of Ploceus Pensilis. 
 
 Wasps' Nest. 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 materials which the bird is able to procure for its construc- 
 tion, or by the form of the branches on which it rests. A 
 pendulous bird's nest (fig. 4) is a good example of the result 
 of instinct. 
 
 A remarkable instance of the effect of instinct in regu- 
 lating and modifying action may be seen in a nest of a 
 paper-making wasp belonging to Mr. Bowerbank. The nest
 
 IDEAS ORIGINATING IN THE MIND ITSELF. 19 
 
 is invariably constructed tier by tier arranged vertically 
 downwards. The branch on which the nest was fixed, 
 by some accidental circumstance, broke, and the nest was 
 thrown out of its position. True to instinct, the creature 
 still formed its layers of cells working in horizontal layers, 
 and thus the nest was constructed in two axes, one of hori- 
 zontal layers of cells placed one above the other for a cer- 
 tain distance, and then when their horizontal position was no 
 longer maintained, by other layers laid horizontally at an 
 angle from the first set of layers. This operation was an 
 instructive example of pure instinct (fig. 5). 
 
 Many ideas appear to arise spontaneously in the mind 
 during the course of its ordinary operation. Thus the idea 
 of matter is obtained from that which acts upon the organs 
 of sensation, of number from the nervous filaments excited 
 to action. So also the ideas of form, volume, composition, 
 cohesion, crystallization, hardness, softness, solidity, fluid- 
 ity, position, are derived from the manner in which the 
 ultimate elements of the organs of sensation are acted upon 
 by particular forms or conditions of matter when those 
 actions are carried to the brain and registered therein. 
 
 The mind recognises also modes of motion, which, as they 
 occur, are called electricity, galvanism, magnetism, chemical 
 action, heat or cold, light, colour, or darkness, sound or si- 
 lence, and the general power by which matter influences 
 other matter gives rise to the idea of force. The relative 
 rapidity in the changes of matter originates in the mind the 
 idea of time. 
 
 The changes which occur in organic bodies suggest to us 
 the idea of life and the absence of change death. 
 
 From the different modes of human action ideas are 
 formed of courage, cowardice, confidence, fear, rashness, 
 prudence, justice. The state of the mind affords us the ideas
 
 20 IDEAS ORIGINATING IN THE MIND ITSELF. 
 
 of meekness, irascibility, arrogance, modesty. Differences 
 in our conversation suggest the ideas of ability, folly, plea- 
 santry, ribaldry, buffoonery ; of our mode of life suggest the 
 notions of temperance, drunkenness, gluttony," abstinence ; 
 and our conduct one towards another gives rise to the ideas 
 of kindness, cruelty, liberality, prodigality, ostentation, 
 meanness, magnanimity. The comparison of one set of mental 
 images with another affords the ideas of truth, falsehood, error, 
 conviction, belief ; and the further comparison involves the idea 
 of conscience, by which we tell whether a thought or action 
 is right or wrong. Accordingly, as extraneous matter acts 
 upon the organs of sensation, we derive the ideas of plea- 
 sure or pain, and from a consideration of painful or pleasur- 
 able impressions the ideas of good or evil, of virtue or vice, 
 of joy, happiness, or misery, come before us. 
 
 There are a vast number of these ideas which appear 
 spontaneously to the mind, to which there can be no occasion 
 at the present time to draw particular and special attention 
 further than to remark the fact that the ideas of these so- 
 called principles are constituted by the mental operation of 
 the mind itself. 
 
 The totality of all actions on the nervous system appears 
 to the mind as infinity. When this idea is associated with 
 cause an Infinite Cause or God appears to the mind ; when 
 associated with time infinite time or eternity appears. The 
 association of infinite time and pleasure gives to us the idea 
 of heaven of infinite time and pain of hell. 
 
 These ideas occur in the ordinary operation of the mind, 
 and come before us without teaching. They are, as it were, 
 implanted in us by virtue of the mode of construction of our 
 brain. "We cannot discard these thoughts, nor do I believe 
 that any man of unimpaired intellect can separate them from 
 himself during the whole period of his existence.
 
 IDEAS ORIGINATING IN THE MIND ITSELF. 21 
 
 It is quite true that, reasoning by words and language, 
 men have sometimes denied the existence of a God, of a 
 future state, of heaven, or of hell. To reason by words is 
 inferior to the reason by the mind, and such special pecu- 
 liarities of belief, contrary to the intuitive belief of all 
 mankind, may be attributed rather to the imperfection of 
 language than to any inferiority in the pure and natural 
 action of the mind itself.
 
 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 Consciousnses Consciousness only during part of existence During 
 sleep Perfect unconsciousness Deep thought and partial conscious- 
 ness Dreams Anxiety Consciousness depends on physical state 
 Mechanism of consciousness Origin of consciousness. 
 
 I HAVE traced the mechanism of the mind beginning with 
 material objects in the external world, and then by examining 
 the manner in which under the influence of certain phy- 
 sical forces an action is produced on the organs of sensation, 
 and from them transmitted by the nerves to the brain where 
 some change takes place, which ever afterwards has its 
 influence on the mental processes. 
 
 This organisation appears to be purely physical, and to 
 a certain degree intelligible on anatomical and physiologi- 
 cal grounds ; but how do we distinguish between a thought 
 and a reality ? How do we obtain our idea of consciousness ? 
 How, in fact, do we know that we are here at all ? We do 
 know it nevertheless. I have asked suddenly numerous indi- 
 viduals, from the child to the old man, How do you know 
 you are here ? The answer comes back ' I know it.' The 
 answer is true, they do know it, but how ? 
 
 All other operations of the mind can be traced to phy-
 
 CONSCIOUSNESS. 23 
 
 m sical causes depending upon material organisation, but this 
 one idea of personal consciousness baffles our understanding. 
 No combination of physical elements can produce conscious- 
 ness, and no complication of mechanism can afford the idea 
 of consciousness. 
 
 None of us are conscious more than two-thirds of our 
 entire time. During sleep we are all unconscious. In 
 some states of the body consciousness is lost, as, for instance, 
 during the coma of apoplexy, or during the continuance of 
 an epileptic fit, when, although the heart beats, and the 
 organs of sensation are perfect, and the nerves could carry 
 the impressions to the brain, no effect is registered in that 
 organ, and we are dead to the external world, and have, as 
 it were, no existence, no self-knowledge. 
 
 In a state of the most perfect consciousness and fullest 
 wakefulness the mind sometimes attends to two matters at 
 one time. Sometimes even three operations of the brain occur 
 simultaneously, besides many slighter matters which the 
 mind apprehends, but takes but little notice of, such as the 
 ticking of a watch, the passage of a figure before the eye, 
 an odour affecting the nose, or a slight pain or twinge in 
 any part of the body. 
 
 This duality or plurality of mental action or thought is 
 a matter of habit. With me it is so constant that it is my 
 custom to read or even to write upon one subject when my 
 family are conversing upon another. Most of my published 
 treatises have been written after having been thought out, 
 when I have been talking with my family and friends upon 
 the ordinary subjects which are discussed at a family gather 
 ing on a winter's evening. 
 
 At times the mind requires to isolate itself, as it were, 
 from the external world, and concentrate thought upon the 
 subject to be worked out. The ear must not hear nor the
 
 24 CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 eye see. This has been the case in the thought required 
 for the development of this work. Many times I have 
 been so thoroughly absorbed in developing the general 
 scheme that, whilst walking the public streets I have found 
 myself standing still to grasp, as it were, the relation of 
 one part of the complicated details of the subject to another ; 
 and one day when it poured with rain I was amused on 
 passing a friend to find that I had said, ' A fine day,' so 
 entirely was my mind engrossed by the consideration of the 
 matter before me. 
 
 There are times also when we are only partially con- 
 scious and not fully and thoroughly alive to all which 
 is going on around us. When our minds are fully conscious 
 our friends say that we give them our attention ; but if we 
 carefully examine ourselves it is surprising to find to how 
 small an extent any of us are thoroughly attentive even 
 when fully awake to every thing which is passing around. 
 
 During sleep we are in the same way frequently not so 
 fully asleep as to be entirely dead to the external world and 
 lost to our own thoughts so that between the most perfect 
 wakefulness, the most concentrated thought, and the most 
 profound sleep, there are innumerable varieties of degree 
 wherein consciousness is more or less perfect. 
 
 Particularly under disturbances of the digestive organs 
 fanciful images appear to our minds which eventually startle 
 us from our sleep. When we awake we know that the ideas 
 are but dreams, and our returning consciousness makes us 
 aware that the pictures we have seen had no existence, and 
 were but the fanciful creations of a disturbed mind, occurring 
 probably from some error of diet and the concomitant irrita- 
 tion in the brain. 
 
 When the mind is distressed by anxiety the same subject 
 appears again and again before us, the mind is unsettled
 
 CONSCIOUSNESS. 25 
 
 and sound sleep is prevented. We then do not become totally 
 unconscious, and neither the mind nor the body are re- 
 freshed to that extent which the loss of consciousness in sleep 
 provides. During this partial sleep it by no means follows 
 that the dominant idea should continue to appear, for in 
 this disturbance of the mind ideas may appear having no 
 relation to those which have distressed us. Dreams caused by 
 some simple bodily irritation may bring before the mind 
 distressing pictures having no relation to any circumstances 
 at the time surrounding us. The dream of a fall down a 
 precipice, and of multitudes of other nightmares which 
 we might name, are familiar and frequent examples. 
 
 The best remedy for sleeplessness from anxiety and 
 the continual reappearance of painful ideas before our minds 
 contrary to our desire, is the observation of the works of 
 Nature. The study of natural objects exercises our bodies, 
 employs the organs of sensation, exhausts our nervous sys- 
 tem, and promotes the unconsciousness of sleep by which 
 our bodily strength is rendered more capable of bearing up 
 against any trouble which may oppress us. 
 
 Returning consciousness after disturbed sleep shows that 
 the ideas then presented to the mind are but dreams, and 
 our returning consciousness makes us believe that conscious- 
 ness is strictly referable to physical mechanism, but con- 
 sciousness still remains the great unsolved problem, as we 
 cannot perceive its relations to the mechanism of our or- 
 ganisation. 
 
 Without physical organisation there is no consciousness. 
 Without physical organisation in its healthy state there is 
 no consciousness ; so whilst we admit that the human mind 
 cannot understand how a material organisation may pro- 
 duce, or be associated with, consciousness, so we are com-
 
 26 CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 pelled to declare that consciousness is not manifested without 
 a material mechanism. 
 
 In all other respects our brain and nervous system are 
 strictly analogous to a watch which shows us time, or to a 
 machine which judges of the weight of coins, or to a steam- 
 engine which exercises force ; but no inorganic material 
 mechanism is conscious of its existence, nor can any com- 
 plexity of mechanism produce any result in any way 
 similar to consciousness. 
 
 The nature of this self-knowledge has been unknown in 
 all ages, is now unknown, and probably will ever remain 
 unknown. How consciousness is affected by the material 
 structure of the brain, and what relation there is between 
 that structure and consciousness, is a matter which utterly 
 baffles our understanding. 
 
 Every other thought or act of reasoning, or effect of 
 mental power, is strictly referable to physical organic 
 mechanism ; but consciousness appears to be a power by 
 which we view our structures from a point without our- 
 selves, and yet we can only do so when the bodily structure is 
 entire and evinces healthy action. 
 
 The particular mechanism on which consciousness de- 
 pends appears to be that which gives a knowledge of what 
 takes place within us. It is the mechanism of somaisthenics 
 or of bodily sensations in contradistinction to coenaisthenics, 
 or sensations derived from external force. 
 
 Sleep is the rest of the brain and the cessation of con- 
 sciousness. How the brain ceases to act during rest, how con- 
 sciousness during sleep is suspended, are phenomena as 
 recondite as consciousness itself. 
 
 Up to the present time from the study of external phe- 
 nomena alone, we have no clue as to why matter generates
 
 CONSCIOUSNESS. 27 
 
 force, and likewise up to the present time we have no clue 
 as to why organised creatures evince consciousness. 
 
 As it is the province of inorganic matter to evince force 
 by an inherent property, is it not possible that organic beings 
 may exhibit consciousness also as an inherent property ? In- 
 organic matter can only evince the power of attraction from 
 a capability conferred upon it in the beginning by a su- 
 perior power extrinsic to matter, so may not consciousness be 
 conferred upon organic beings by the same extrinsic power, 
 the Creator of all things ?
 
 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE WILL AND LAWS OF HUMAN ACTION. 
 
 Human action Automatic action Voluntary action Actions regulated 
 by former ideas Will not altogether voluntary Laws of the will 
 The action of man regulated by pleasure and pain Free-will and 
 necessity. 
 
 AFTER receiving an impression through the medium of the 
 senses, and comparing it with all other similar events which 
 have come before the mind at a previous time and with all 
 the moral laws which we have learnt or developed for our- 
 selves, action ensues. 
 
 The muscular action which is performed by the body is 
 sometimes purely automatic, for when a sensor nerve is 
 irritated, certain definite muscular movements are deter- 
 mined, and really many of our muscular movements are 
 of this character, and are not governed by mental action, 
 that is to say, the particular muscular movements which are 
 determined, are not regulated by mental action, but act 
 automatically, without passing through the higher parts of 
 the brain affected by all former knowledge there regis- 
 tered. 
 
 When a frog is deprived of a great part of the cerebral 
 hemispheres it will continue to crawl up when balanced on 
 the hand. This action involves a curious and complicated
 
 ON THE WILL AND LAWS OF HUMAN ACTION. 29 
 
 combination of muscular movements, which still take place 
 after the active part of the brain is destroyed, so that they 
 cannot be regulated by such general powers of mind as are 
 bestowed on the frog. 
 
 The actions which are governed by the mind are called 
 voluntary, and are determined by two distinct causes. 
 The one emanating from the external world ; the second 
 originating in the mind itself. Man is incited to action, 
 
 1. By the immediate excitation of the nervous system, 
 from an action originating in the external world which 
 passes through the brain and is modified by all preceding 
 experiences existing in the mind. This kind of action is 
 rapid, and is regulated by the immediate impulse rather 
 than by experience. It is called the impulse of the 
 moment, and is frequently injudicious, because the mind 
 has not had sufficient time fully to regulate the line of 
 action. 
 
 2. By the occurrence of a thought spontaneously arising 
 in the mind from images of actions registered in the brain, 
 and regulated by all the impressions which have been before 
 received, or by ideas which have been taught us since 
 infancy. 
 
 3. By a spontaneity or desire for action arising within 
 our organisation. This tendency to action exactly re- 
 sembles the tension of a voltaic battery, and when suffi- 
 ciently strong to cause action is regulated by all the ideas 
 existing in the mind. This tendency to action, regulated 
 by the mind, is the will. The will is an impulsion to action 
 set in motion by the state of the nervous system, and there 
 is no reason whatever to suppose that the will is something 
 outside matter which sets in motion the body through the 
 nervous system, as the parts of a puppet are moved by its 
 wires.
 
 30 ON THE WILL AND LAWS OF HUMAN ACTION. 
 
 It is plain to me, though we may flatter ourselves that our 
 minds are perfectly self-willed, and that we always act as we 
 please, that we really in every case, more or less, do act not 
 only on the immediate impression of the external worM, 
 but on all the former experiences and moral laws existing 
 in the mind. Our actions, regulated by our minds, run in a 
 groove, as surely as the steam locomotive runs on the rails. 
 To run out of a definite groove, a violent disturbance of the 
 mind must occur, just as much a disturbance as would 
 be required to cause the engine to leave the rails. 
 
 The mind is governed by circumstances, the laws of the 
 influence of which may be learnt by study and observation. 
 The will is not a directing influence to act in any uncertain 
 manner, but is the direction of the mode of action of which 
 the entire mind is the regulator. 
 
 Example 1. A man follows a suggested action when 
 the action is itself attended with present pleasure, and is 
 free from present pain; when experience of similar past 
 actions proved them to be accompanied by pleasure and 
 devoid of pain ; when from all known events registered in the 
 mind the action may be supposed to lead to future pleasure 
 and be devoid of future pain, and according to the infinite 
 law will insure infinite future pleasure and avoid infinite 
 future pain. 
 
 Example 2. A man avoids a suggested action when it 
 immediately produces pain and leads to no pleasure, when 
 similar antecedent actions caused pain and were not ac- 
 companied with pleasure. When the action may, from 
 all known experience, lead to future pain without plea- 
 sure, and when the moral law points out that the action 
 will involve infinite enduring pain and prevent infinite 
 enduring pleasure. 
 
 To guide us to the knowledge how any individual man
 
 ON THE WILL AND LAWS OF HUMAN ACTION. 31 
 
 will act under any question submitted to him, we ought 
 to be informed of the ideas existing in his brain as to 
 whether the action would be attended with present plea- 
 sure, present pain, past pleasure, past pain, infinite en- 
 during pleasure, infinite enduring pain. Having this infor- 
 mation we should know, with perfect certainty, his mode 
 of action. 
 
 The case is very simple when we have simply an af- 
 firmation and negation of pleasure and pain in the pre- 
 sent, past, future, and infinite ; but sometimes the idea 
 existing in the mind is unknown, and then our forecast of 
 action is a question of greater or less probability, and a 
 judgment of the extent of that probability can only be 
 inferred by the number of times pleasure occurs in relation 
 to pain, as may be deduced from the following table : 
 
 Present. Past. Future. Infinite. 
 
 + + + + Decided action 
 
 + + + Highly probable action 
 
 00 + + Probable action 
 
 000+ 
 
 - + + + 
 
 0000 Unknown 
 
 + 000 Probable action 
 + +00 
 
 + + + 
 
 + 00 Probable inaction 
 + _ 
 
 + Highly probable inaction 
 
 No action 
 + Pleasure . . Unknown . . Pain 
 
 Perhaps it is fortunate that we have not so intimate a 
 knowledge of the ideas existing in each other's mind, or we
 
 32 ON THE WILL AND LAWS OF HUMAN ACTION. 
 
 might know the course of action likely to be adopted by 
 each, as surely as we calculate a sum in arithmetic. 
 
 Different persons are affected in various degrees by these 
 effects of pleasure and of pain. In some the immediate im- 
 pression is more active in which case they are called impul- 
 sive. In some the fear of the future is more active when 
 they are called timid. Again, all considerations have their 
 due weight when they are called thoughtful ; and, lastly, the 
 consideration of the infinite governs the action of some who 
 are called religious. 
 
 If pleasure and pain in the present, past, future, and 
 infinite, really govern men's actions, how important is pain 
 in the government of mankind. It has been asked why 
 pain should have been allowed by a beneficent God ; but, as 
 man is created, it is a necessity for the protection of the 
 creature. Pain helps to govern our action and protect our 
 bodies from injury and death in this world. 
 
 Pleasure, however, has more influence in the govern- 
 ment of mankind than pain. The hope of pleasure is 
 greater than the fear of pain ; but the utmost possible 
 effect is produced on man by holding out the prospects 
 of much pleasure, and, at the same time, holding out the 
 fear of some pain. 
 
 On a study of the laws of human action we find that the 
 child is born with a will which is unrestrained and free to 
 act in any manner. An impulse stimulated from the' ex- 
 ternal world and outside of the body, or from a desire ori- 
 ginating from within the body itself, leads to action without 
 regulation or restraint. The child at birth has free will, 
 subject only to natural instincts implanted in his organisa- 
 tion. As soon, however, as the brain has received impressions 
 from the external world, or from teachings of other persons, 
 the will is no longer free, but is governed by necessity. The
 
 ON THE WILL. 33 
 
 conduct of the parent influences the child, experience regu- 
 lates the will, so let us teach our children that they may be 
 necessitated to do right, and that their wills may be re- 
 strained by the perfect moral law of God, so that pain 
 may be avoided and pleasure promoted both in the present 
 time and for all time to come.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 ON EDUCATION AND FACULTIES OF MAN AT DIFFERENT 
 PERIODS OF LIFE. 
 
 Faculties at different periods of life Diagram The mind in childhood 
 In youth In Manhood In Senility Education through the 
 organs of sensation Education by written knowledge. 
 
 I HAVE already noticed that the mind of man exhibits five 
 great faculties, which are exemplified to a different extent 
 at the different stages of life. The child is distinguished 
 by the quickness of apprehension through the medium of 
 its senses, which decreases from early youth to extreme old 
 age, the boy for an aptitude for receiving ideas either from 
 observation, or from communications received from other 
 persons, a power which diminishes as years advance, the 
 man for thought and design, which led him to brilliant 
 actions, though both these powers vanish in senility, the 
 old man for deriving his chief solace from the contemplation 
 of the infinite, a property which diminishes at extreme age. 
 
 The accompanying diagram illustrates the powers of man 
 at different ages. It shows how each faculty of the mind is 
 developed, arrives at maturity, and passes away. It points 
 out the relative extent of the powers which man possesses at 
 each period of life. When I had finished my drawing I 
 was delighted with it, as it placed the subject vividly before
 
 ON EDUCATION AND FACULTIES OF MAN. 35 
 
 the mind. It speaks emphatically, more than volumes can 
 teach, that at every period of life a different capability is 
 conferred upon us. It cries out, trumpet- tongued, Lose not 
 to-day, or to-morrow will suffer. This day will never return. 
 The man cannot repair the omissions of the boy, nor age 
 those of manhood. An untaught youth leads to an unskilful 
 man, and unskilful manhood to imbecile age, when the eye 
 can no more see, the intellect understand, nor the hands 
 execute. The intellectual man passes away showing the 
 outward form, but not the inward mental power. 
 
 To the teacher it indicates how education should be con- 
 ducted. In childhood the eye should be taught both 
 accurately to see and to distinguish what is seen ; the ear to 
 hear and know what is heard ; the nose to smell, and to dis- 
 tinguish the character of the odours smelt ; and the tongue to 
 taste, and the quality of the savour tasted. Childhood is 
 eminently the aisthenic age, when knowledge is obtained 
 directly from the organs of sensation. 
 
 In early infancy the child obtains much knowledge of 
 the external world, and remembers before it has any use 
 of language. It knows, for example, a dog from a cat, an 
 elephant from a horse, and one person from another. At a 
 later period it can assign names to these external objects. 
 It can by signs and gestures convey its desires to the mother 
 or nurse, much in the same way as a pet animal does to 
 its master, and it is only at a much later period it can use 
 language to explain itself. In time, however, the brain be- 
 comes developed, and in a very rapid manner the child speaks 
 by words and not by signs, and shows the more noble qua- 
 lities of man. 
 
 In the period of youth, the knowledge of objects with 
 the proper name to be assigned to each and the knowledge 
 of simple facts is mostly acquired. The power of obser-
 
 36 ON EDUCATION AND FACULTIES OF MAN AT 
 
 vation increases with its exercise. The youth taught to 
 observe bestows his attention on everything around him, 
 whilst the untaught passes heedlessly by the most interest- 
 ing objects, and takes no notice of the most striking facts. 
 In youth the observation and registration of facts should be 
 carefully cultivated and practised. 
 
 Every fact may be regarded as an unit of knowledge, 
 and those who acquire the largest number will have an 
 advantage over those who possess less. In Germany, youths 
 are taken as a recreation to the fields to be shown the flowers 
 and plants, so that they may acquire botanical knowledge ; 
 to the hills, to have the rocks, and stones, and soils indicated 
 to teach them some rudimentary knowledge of mineralogy 
 and geology. 
 
 If England desires to rival Germany she must do as 
 Germany does, by teaching her sons and daughters a know- 
 ledge of natural objects before they study the abstract 
 sciences at our great universities. Accurate syndramic 
 knowledge is a department of education which requires 
 cultivation in England. 
 
 In manhood the higher powers of thought are exercised, 
 and the faculties of the mind come into play. This is emi- 
 nently the noe'mic age, in which the powers of the mind are 
 shown. Mental power must have facts upon which to rely, 
 and according to the extent and the vividness with which the 
 ideas have been implanted in their youth, so will be their 
 power to lead to noble conceptions and designs. 
 
 It is by means of these conceptions and original designs 
 that man is led to brilliant actions, which in the arts 
 give rise to the great painter, sculptor, and architect; in 
 literature, to distinguished authors and poets ; in the army 
 and navy, to heroes ; and amongst professional men, to our 
 brilliant philosophers, engineers, physicians, and lawyers.
 
 DIFFERENT PERIODS OF LIFE. 37 
 
 The noemic power is only potential in manhood, and 
 vanishes in senility, when memory is defective, thought 
 powerless, action impotent, and when the chief solace is a 
 contemplation of the infinite. 
 
 During the period of education teachers should always 
 seize upon the more active faculties of the mind, and work 
 from them to those which are less developed. Much loss 
 of time and impairment of intellectual power often result 
 from teaching abstruse grammars and dead languages to 
 children at a period of life when their minds desire to 
 obtain knowledge by their organs of sensation. This 
 course greatly weakens the powers of the mind in after-life, 
 as the mind does not have a proper and vivid impression of 
 objects and facts in the external world on which future 
 reason must depend. 
 
 Personally, although I had the advantage of an edu- 
 cation at that great seminary, St. Paul's School, which was 
 founded by Dean Colet, and which ranked amongst its 
 pupils Milton and Marlborough, yet my masters, whose 
 kind friendship I ever retained, could not influence me 
 to take advantage of their teaching, as my mind was 
 thoroughly occupied from my early childheod with a love 
 of the study of natural objects. 
 
 At that time that knowledge of nature and of natural 
 laws had to be obtained under difficulties and disadvantages. 
 Whatever came before me I seized with avidity, and it is 
 lamentable to contemplate how many minds there must be 
 throughout England who now yearn for the means of 
 acquiring a knowledge of natural objects and of natural 
 sciences who are yet compelled to devote their entire time 
 to the acquisition of the dead languages. 
 
 From infancy to the present time I have ever remained 
 he child. A new plant or a new animal delights me as
 
 38 ON EDUCATION AND FACULTIES OF MAN. 
 
 much, now as it did then, though I have found it necessary 
 to study the use of language, the laws of thought, and other 
 abstract sciences. 
 
 Although some individuality appertains to every living 
 being, as an instance of a variation between certain limits, 
 yet the table of the faculties of the human mind at the 
 different periods of life, may be taken as a fair average 
 representation of the proportionate development of the 
 powers of the human mind at the different epochs of life. 
 
 In the education of youth, and in the regulation of our 
 minds in later life, it is desirable so to divide our attention 
 that we may continuously obtain knowledge directly from 
 the observation of nature, whilst at the same time we re- 
 ceive ideas through the medium of words, language, and 
 pictorial representations. 
 
 Nothing refreshes the mind so much as the observation 
 of natural objects. It gives a freshness to our thoughts, 
 improves our knowledge, quiets our passions, and imparts 
 wisdom to our understanding. 
 
 The people are happier and exhibit more mental power 
 in proportion as they are afforded an opportunity of study- 
 ing objects in nature, of viewing fine examples of art, and 
 of reading the written knowledge contained in our choice 
 literature. How far these opportunities may be afforded 
 in the utmost extent to the multitude should ever in all 
 countries be a source of anxious care to the governing 
 authorities.
 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. 
 
 The importance of using every organ The practice of the use of the 
 organs of sensation Of memory The practice of abstraction by 
 thought, reflection, and comparison The value of books in testing 
 our personal knowledge Value of conversation Contemplation 
 Subjugation of our thoughts to moral laws Benefits of Christianity 
 Evils of matter worship Kegulation of our actions. 
 
 As every complicated machine requires careful treatment, 
 so the brain, the most intricate of all organised machines, 
 demands at our hands the most careful discipline to enable 
 it to perform its functions in the most perfect manner. 
 
 It appears to be a province, and perhaps we are justified 
 in saying that it undoubtedly is a peculiarity of all organic 
 structures to improve by use and to deteriorate by rest ; 
 hence it is necessary that the brain should be regularly 
 exercised, and that the mind should be continually and 
 judiciously employed. Firstly, with regard to the external 
 world, all the organs of sensation should regularly be 
 brought into use : the eye to see, the ear to hear, the nose 
 to smell, and the tongue to taste. The extreme limits of 
 the powers of the organs of sensation should be daily em-
 
 40 DISCIPLINE OF THE MIXD. 
 
 ployed, for only thus can the utmost delicacy and sensitive- 
 ness of these organs by which we obtain a knowledge of the 
 external world be secured. 
 
 The powers of the organs of sensation having been in- 
 tensified and perfected, the images carried to the brain and 
 there registered should be carefully and repeatedly ex- 
 amined to prove that each image is a true and correct 
 representation of objects in the external world. When we 
 regard a flower we should practise our mind to register an 
 exact image of all the parts of that flower. When we 
 inspect a picture we should register in the mind every fea- 
 ture of that picture, such as the objects depicted, their rela- 
 tion to each other, the colour of each part, and, in fact, 
 every thing which, the picture can represent to the mind, 
 so that it may reappear hereafter in all its perfection of 
 original detail. When we accurately examine the images 
 existing in our own minds, we find how imperfect all our 
 observations are, how much we might have recorded which 
 we have omitted, and how much we might have seen, 
 heard, felt, or tasted, which has passed before us unnoticed 
 by our senses and unheeded by our mind. 
 
 In leisure moments images fixed in the brain should be 
 recalled by an act of memory. This exercise of memory 
 promotes the power to remember, and the image of the 
 object itself registered is again more vividly implanted in 
 the mind. Good photographs are a useful aid to the 
 memory of that which has been seen by the eye, and it 
 has been my custom to possess myself of the finest and 
 most perfect photographs and representations of the most 
 beautiful objects and lovely scenes which it has been my 
 good fortune to observe, that I may recall to the mind the 
 former scenes which have been witnessed, and thus enjoy the 
 present by a memory of the past. Whilst we endeavour to
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. 41 
 
 strengthen the impression of the beautiful, so we ought also to 
 seek to efface the images of the ugly and bad, and as far as 
 possible to throw them into a subordinate position that they 
 may not recur to our mind to harass or annoy us. This 
 discipline of our memory is unquestionably difficult, for the 
 horrible will recur without great and constant care to sup- 
 press and lower its power ; nevertheless, much may be done 
 by constant vigilance and determination. 
 
 As the images of former objects and events reappear 
 before the mind they should be carefully compared one with 
 another. Those which have properties in common should 
 be associated together ;' those which have properties unlike 
 should be separated, that our knowledge may be arranged 
 and thus rendered more easy of access for the purposes of 
 thought and of future action. 
 
 Images and combinations of images registered in the 
 brain and represented to the mind should by thought and 
 reflection be compared with human knowledge derived from 
 all sources, so that our own knowledge may be compared 
 with that which has been obtained by other observers ; by 
 this means any discrepancies or errors of observation may 
 be detected, and, as near as possible, the absolute truth 
 upon any one subject may be obtained. 
 
 In making these comparisons, the attainment of truth and 
 success entirely depends upon the value of the written know- 
 ledge of other persons with which the comparison is made. 
 Good literature leads to truth and an admiration of good 
 literature ; bad literature leads to falsehood and a love for 
 debased and degrading writings. 
 
 Besides consulting books and the written records of other 
 observers, all philosophers agree that part of our time should 
 be spent in the company of other men, that by conversation 
 we may ascertain how the same facts and images appear to
 
 42 DISCIP1INE OF THE MIND. 
 
 different minds, each having a separate experience. Social 
 communications with the good, the great, and the learned, 
 are powerful adjuncts to accurate thought. The resultant 
 of the thoughts of two or more minds is generally more 
 accurate, and more powerful than the single thoughts of one 
 man ; and when the same opinion appears separately to the 
 minds of two or more persons upon a deliberation of facts on 
 the same subject, independently observed, then is the con- 
 clusion as true as can be obtained with the state of our know- 
 ledge, and experience shows that such judgment deserves 
 the gravest attention. 
 
 As we pass from the deliberation of more simple subjects 
 to higher and more profound generalizations, a more intense 
 mental effort is required. Deep thought and profound 
 meditation is best* practised immediately after sleep, and 
 especially before we rise from our beds in the early morning. 
 Even during sleep itself we appear, if not in profound sleep, 
 to exercise our minds. I have never found thoughts during 
 even light sleep of any use. The images on the brain over- 
 lap, and whilst I have tried to catch on many occasions a 
 thought, I have never found it of practical value, as it 
 always on close examination presented some deficiency or 
 infirmity, and I have rarely had a trustworthy statement 
 that the experience of others is different. 
 
 Contemplation is undoubtedly favourably exercised 
 amidst the works of nature whilst the body is in a state of 
 repose, especially if the state of atmosphere is genial, and the 
 scene around joyful, so that the mind is serene, and the bodily 
 feelings comfortable. Contemplation amidst the works of 
 nature should be kept well under subjection, or the works 
 themselves may pass unheeded. A friend has told me that 
 when amongst the works of nature beautiful passages from 
 the poets appear before his mind, and as a consequence
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. 43 
 
 many phenomena are lost to him whilst contemplating the 
 observations of others. 
 
 A dead silence and perfect stillness is not always favour- 
 able to deep study, as the mind is then liable to be startled by 
 the slightest noise. On the contrary, a slight general excita- 
 tion of the nervous system, to which practically no attention 
 is given, is more favourable to thought and deliberation. A 
 prosy, dreary sermon, monotonously delivered, particularly 
 stimulates thought in my own mind, to the utter neglect of 
 the discourse itself ; and as a singular instance of excitement 
 of thought, I may record that this chapter was designed and 
 thought out whilst hearing a pleasing light operetta at 
 Paris. The memory of the songs and scenes of the operetta 
 which delighted me at the time, was totally lost, though this 
 chapter was so deeply and powerfully impressed in my mind, 
 that only the mechanical labour of writing was required to 
 produce it two or three weeks afterwards. Not only ought 
 we to rely upon thought and comparison to decide specific 
 cases which come under our judgment, but by contemplation 
 and the subjugation of our thoughts to infinite right and 
 wrong, to infinite good and evil, we should so construct 
 general laws, and have them ever before our minds, that we 
 are ready at any moment to instantly adjudicate upon any 
 question submitted to our judgment. By this plan alone can 
 we obtain determination of character, and promptness of 
 decision, and it is in this manner that religion, rightly used, 
 has such important influence in producing constancy and 
 fortitude. 
 
 Christians not only regulate their thoughts on these 
 higher considerations of right and wrong, but profess also 
 to conduct their lives after the model of Jesus Christ, whom 
 they recognise as the perfect man with whom to compare 
 their own imperfect natures. Christians study the life of
 
 44 DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. 
 
 Jesus Christ as detailed by the Evangelists and seek so to 
 regulate their own lives that they may in some degree par- 
 take of His glorious perfection. The experience of nearly 
 2000 years shows the importance of Christianity to the world. 
 By comparison the Christian standard of human action is 
 infinitely more perfect than that laid down hy any other 
 person since the beginning of the world, and consequently is 
 the best test for comparison. Christians may now rely upon 
 the universal experience of mankind, and their minds accord- 
 ingly would be affected by doctrine and experience. . 
 
 Those who associate the infinite God with Jesus Christ, 
 are more powerfully affected from their religious belief, by the 
 ideas existing in the mind, but the moment the infinitely 
 perfect man is recognised, in all his actions, which are in 
 obedience to the laws of God, the effect on human thought 
 is similar. 
 
 Great as is the power of any perfect religion for good, 
 great is equally the power of any materialistic religion for 
 evil, and the experience of the world has shown the evil 
 and degrading character of matter worship in any form, 
 and how far the mind should be disciplined against its use. 
 
 When a man by thought and deliberation has come to 
 a conclusion after meditating on all the circumstances 
 of the case he has a definite object to seek. When he prays 
 that that object may be accomplished there is a high pro- 
 bability that he will obtain it. For prayer to be effectual 
 it should be made when every other thought of the mind 
 other than the object solicited is absent, and when there is 
 the fullest belief in the desirability of the end sought for. 
 
 The mind having determined, after thought, upon a mode 
 of action the act itself requires care and circumspection in its 
 performance. It must be suited in time to the nature of 
 surrounding circumstances, and its degree of energy must
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND. 45 
 
 be commensurate with the resistance offered. No more 
 strength should be exerted than what is necessary. No 
 more hurry than what is required. Calmness and gentleness 
 should temper rashness and furiousness to obtain without 
 passion the object which is desired. 
 
 The different powers of mind should be subordinate one 
 to another. Each should have its proper influence, none 
 should be in the ascendancy, for if there be any variation in 
 the relative position of any of the faculties of man, difficulties 
 may anise. Every part of the mind should be brought into 
 its regular exercise that each may attain an equal strength 
 and none attain to an ascendancy to the detriment of the 
 rest. "When any man uses any part of his mind to the 
 neglect of any other part, the whole degenerates, and there 
 is no longer that perfection of which the human mind 
 is capable. When a man only exercises his organs of 
 sensation he becomes sensual, and delights entirely in eating, 
 drinking, and in the exercise of animal appetites and in- 
 stincts. When his mind rests solely upon simple ideas he 
 is a matter-of-fact man, without originality or thought, a 
 bore to himself and everybody around him. When his 
 mind is solely dedicated to musing upon his own ideas, he 
 is dreamy and non-realistic ; but when every part of the 
 brain is maintained in perfect efficiency of action, then does 
 the human mind show its great and glorious perfection.
 
 46 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 i 
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Mind of man superior to that of other animals Evolution Hypothesis 
 of the kinds of matter Hypothesis of evolution of mind Develop- 
 ment from infancy to manhood Can matter produce organic beings, 
 and organic beings man ? Experience of evolution Limits of varia- 
 tion in organic beings Tendency of varieties to resume their original 
 type Spirit The soul Specific creatures and evolutions. 
 
 WE have hitherto observed that the human mind origin- 
 ates in that physical structure of the human body called 
 the brain. This organ in man is not heavier, relatively, to the 
 weight of the entire body than the brain of some inferior 
 beings is to their bodies, but, on the contrary, inferior 
 creatures have in some instances a brain of higher relative 
 weight than that of man ; nevertheless, the mind of man is 
 incomparably superior to that of any other living creature. 
 Some animals have the power of emitting light, others of 
 electricity ; but not one can use artificial light, electricity, 
 or any other material force, nor can any one use words and 
 language in the manner in which we use them, either to 
 record their observations or reason by them, although they 
 may use the song of joy or cry of distress. No animal but 
 man has the power of abstraction or of using abstract ideas. 
 The first question which perplexes the minds of men at
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 47 
 
 the present time, is whether the superiority of the minds of 
 men has been the result of a slow progressively higher 
 development from that of the lower animals, or whether 
 man has existed as man from the earliest period, and was 
 specifically created to manifest his superior faculties at the 
 time he first appeared at the earth's surface. 
 
 The doctrine of gradual development or evolution of 
 the higher animals from the lower has received a great 
 accession of support of late years from the labours of the 
 great naturalist, Darwin, who has adopted some of the views 
 of his distinguished ancestor, Dr. Darwin, of Derby, a 
 powerful writer in the last century. Many learned men 
 now adopt his hypothesis. Most of the rising young men 
 of the universities accept it, though many of our natural 
 historians, and of those who watch the habits of animals, 
 entertain grave doubts on the question. 
 
 My mind does not for one moment assent to the propo- 
 sition, that the very complicated contrivances which exist in 
 the works of nature are the result of spontaneous or acci- 
 dental selection. Such a doctrine is really a caricature of 
 reason, and widely differs from a development or evolution 
 upon preordained and fixed laws. 
 
 Nevertheless, there appear to be some persons who 
 imagine, that every conceivable form of organic being is 
 produced by chance, or a fortuitous concurrence of atoms; 
 and of these all which, are not suitable for surrounding 
 circumstances perish, and only those which are suitable for 
 the circumstances live. 
 
 When we regard the intricate complexity of many parts 
 of organic beings, to say nothing of the requisite relation of 
 one organic being to another, as for instance an insect to a 
 flower, it requires a much stronger exercise of faith than such 
 persons they themselves would like to admit, when they adopt
 
 48 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 a theory of chance where infinite contrivance and wisdom so 
 abundantly abounds. 
 
 In my ' Sources of Physical Science,' I have myself 
 speculated that there is but one kind of matter composed 
 of atomic particles, and that the various kinds of so-called 
 elements are but different members of these particles aggre- 
 gated together, so that they cannot again be separated. I 
 further have ventured to suppose that these particles, when 
 attracted together, constitute all the objects in the universe, 
 and that the action of a new attraction on particles of matter 
 before attracted together gives rise to all the phenomena of 
 physical forces. The latter part of this hypothesis is capable 
 in my judgment of full demonstration, to which I must 
 refer in my lecture on the ' Monogenesis of Physical 
 Forces ; ' but the former portion as to the nature of the 
 elements of which all things are composed, is purely 
 theoretical, as it has not been proved that any element 
 can be separated analytically into other component parts, 
 nor put together synthetically from any other elements. 
 
 The extreme extent to which the hypothesis of Darwin 
 might be carried, is to suppose that an organic being might 
 have sprung from matter under the influence of physical 
 forces, without any direct or specific act of creation by a 
 power external to matter. If this organic being has been 
 produced at any time spontaneously from matter acted 
 upon by material forces, there would be no reason to deny 
 that some such primitive beings might not now be in the 
 act of production, and that new organic beings were now 
 being formed. After an organic being appears it multiplies 
 and gives rise to other organic beings. These successors of 
 the primitive organic being present slight variations, such as 
 is seen between the likenesses of any two men or of any two 
 animals. It is further supposed that these variations occur
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 49 
 
 in various directions, and each varied type or separate 
 branch does, over a series of hundreds of thousands of mil- 
 lions of years, continue to vary, and by a series of minute 
 changes produce different genera and species ; so that all the 
 plants and creatures now existing on the face of the globe, 
 are said to have thus sprung from matter acted upon by other 
 matter. They thus assume that no specific creation has 
 occurred to construct man with his intellect, or the animal 
 which walks the ground, the bird which flies in the air, the 
 fish which swims in the water, the worm which burrows in 
 the ground, or any other of the innumerable creatures which 
 dwell on the earth. 
 
 Philosophers who hold these views point to the analogy 
 of evolution in the development of plants from spores and 
 seeds, and of the growth of animals from ova, when member 
 after member unfolds itself from apparently inert matter. 
 To fully appreciate this wondrous unfolding of the members, 
 break an egg every day from the commencement of the 
 sitting of a bird. On the third day the marvellous heart 
 with its vascular area appears, from which time day by day 
 some part is evolved till the twenty-first day, when out 
 comes the perfect chick, capable of running upon the earth 
 and finding food for itself. 
 
 Following these observations of the evolution of animals 
 from ova, and of the stately tree from the minutest seed, we 
 observe that the mind of man is developed step by step and 
 day by day, from the infant which at birth scarce presents 
 any trace of mental power till the man in whom the full 
 intellectual qualities are exemplified. 
 
 As a further corroboration of the argument, it is noticed 
 in the examination of geological strata, that different kinds 
 of animals, mostly now extinct, are found at different periods 
 of the world's history adapted to their special surrounding
 
 50 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 circumstances ; and hence it is argued that animals arise 
 adapted to any condition of the earth's surface. If par- 
 ticles of matter could aggregate under any definite 
 circumstances into a mass, which by a series of minute 
 changes, extending over boundless epochs of time, could 
 give rise by the influence of natural physical forces to the 
 intricate and wonderful structures which we observe in 
 plants and animals, and more particularly in the brain and 
 nervous system of man, then we must concede that matter in 
 the beginning must have been endowed by a power outside 
 matter, with qualities and properties higher than those which 
 hitherto had been assigned to it, the more especially as 
 every particle of inorganic matter is at one time either in 
 the solid, fluid, or gaseous state, whilst an organic being 
 invariably is and can only exist in a partly solid and partly 
 fluid state. 
 
 We must all admit the boundless power of God, as 
 exemplified in the wonderful works of nature. We cannot, 
 therefore, limit that power to a requisition that each exist- 
 ing thing should be particularly created by His Almighty 
 Hand ; and we must admit that a Creator of infinite power 
 might at the beginning have so endowed matter, that it 
 should evolve life under any circumstance which might 
 arise at any future time. 
 
 The goodness, the greatness, and the omnipotence of God 
 areas much shown whether He specifically created each organic 
 creature, or whether He, ordained at the beginning that each 
 creature should be evolved as it was required on the earth's 
 surface. Great, therefore, is the blame to him who seeks to 
 establish infidelity on the doctrine of evolution, and equally 
 great is the blame to him who charges infidelity on its belief, 
 for all things are possible with God. 
 
 When we regard our own personal experience on the
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 51 
 
 doctrine of evolution, we find that the spontaneous ap- 
 pearance of even the lowest plant has never been clearly 
 proved, but on the contrary, the most careful experiments 
 have ever taught us not to accept the fact. It is true that 
 some years ago acari were reported to have been gene- 
 rated on the electrolysis of matter, and we had presented 
 to public notice the acarus of Cross (fig. 6), and the acarus of 
 "Weeks (fig. 7). I have no hesitation in stating that to my 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 mind, according to my experience of electrolysis, which has 
 been enormous, there was an error of observations and that 
 these creatures were not formed tinder the circumstances 
 stated. The argument of evolution derives no support from 
 the recorded changes during the longest period which history 
 unfolds. The most ancient delineations of man and of 
 animals depict them as they now "exist, but it is fair to 
 mention that the evolutionists consider this an argument for 
 the necessity of minute changes to occur over series of hun- 
 dreds of thousands of years. 
 
 Although every man and every individual organic being 
 differs in some slight degree from every other man and from 
 every other organic being, the difference appears always to
 
 52 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 be restricted within certain limits of variation, and every 
 breeder of cattle knows that this difference has a tendency to 
 be lost, and that the deviating individual or successor has a 
 tendency to revert to its original type. No practical man 
 doubts that if our breeds of animals, which have been 
 artificially selected with great care by the intelligence of 
 man to suit some special want, were left to themselves, 
 all would revert to the original typical form, and that the 
 distinctive character would in a short time be utterly lost. 
 In fact it requires unremitting care to maintain any deviation 
 from the typical form. 
 
 Our minds clearly perceive that all men are developed in 
 a manner similar to the fowl from the egg, each member 
 being formed by a continual progressive change to perfection ; 
 and the brain, which is the material mechanism of the mind, 
 is developed before the phenomena of the mind itself can be 
 exemplified. 
 
 There is no evidence whatever that there is anything 
 beyond that mechanism which exists within us or about us 
 to regulate our mental action or direct the brain how to work 
 the muscles of the body ; nevertheless many good persons 
 suppose that there is a something besides that organic struc- 
 ture which is independent of it, and they believe that some- 
 thing to be a spirit. 
 
 Some believe that this spirit has the power of leaving the 
 body of one person and of communing with the spirits of 
 others who are living, or even with the spirits of those who 
 have lived at a former time. 
 
 Such opinions appear to be utterly unfounded in fact, and 
 the supposed circumstances are doubtless acts of memory 
 occurring in persons in a state of not thorough consciousness, 
 when the image of the second person and of his former say- 
 ings appear in combination with ideas already existing.
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND. 53 
 
 The idea which the mind entertains of a soul is that of a 
 personal individuality which we are forced to believe has 
 an infinite existence. This idea of an infinite enduring 
 personal identity which is ever before the mind is utterly 
 incapable of demonstration as a fact either by experiment 
 or experience. 
 
 To those who refuse to admit that a personal identity can 
 endure for ever, I have ever found that comfort could be 
 afforded by demonstrating to them that no intuitive idea has 
 ever been implanted in vain. The bee builds its comb upon 
 a plan which never fails. The hen sits upon her nest and 
 the chick comes forth from the egg. The child drinks and its 
 thirst is quenched, and so we may trust with safety in the 
 idea implanted within us, that our mind in its personal identity 
 will endure for ever. 
 
 Unquestionably with our present knowledge the doctrine 
 of specific creations presents less difficulties to the mind than 
 the evolution of the brain and mind of men from matter 
 itself. Either theory equally points to the infinite power 
 and wisdom of God, and we may say of both with the 
 Psalmist who sung thousands of years ago upon the develop- 
 ment of the members one by one, ' which day by day were 
 fashioned, when as yet there was none of them/ that ' Such 
 knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me ; I cannot 
 attain unto it.'
 
 54 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 Pleasure and pain regulate action Influence of one person on another 
 Influence by personal statements, by anonymous writings Value 
 of repetition of statements Imperfection of arguments Self-taught 
 persons not liable to influence Modes of influencing the minds of 
 others Sympathy Government of criminal classes Punishment of 
 criminals Regulation of our own minds to withstand the influence of 
 others. 
 
 THE mind is influenced by the immediate impressions it re- 
 ceives from the external world. It is also guided by the 
 experience of the past, and also by the general principles 
 and moral laws which have been communicated to the 
 brain. It is as a resultant from all these considerations that 
 man is guided to action : he seeks pleasure and avoids pain. 
 In practice, very complex cases are presented for con- 
 sideration. As a consequence of any particular line of action, 
 we may receive pain at the present time and expect a con- 
 tinuance of pain in the future. Thus, if we expose our finger 
 to excessive heat, the present sense of burning would be 
 highly painful, and ever afterwards we should be de- 
 prived of the use of the finger. By another action we 
 may incur immediate pain, but receive therefrom future
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 55 
 
 advantage and pleasure: for example, it is a painful act 
 to have a foreign body taken from the eye, though that would 
 be attended with future pleasure by preventing damage to 
 the eye and by preserving the sight, and who would not 
 willingly suffer the one for the sake of the other. Again, 
 by other actions we may receive immediate pleasure, but 
 incur the certainty of future pain. All men who drink 
 to excess derive, what they conceive to be pleasure at the 
 moment, though drink lays the seeds of disease for the 
 future, and thereby causes pain. 
 
 By every possible manner that pleasure and pain can be 
 associated, any definite act of life may be determined. When 
 one person desires to affect the mind of another, it is 
 necessary for him to consider what are the ideas which 
 the person to be aifected already possesses. The experiences 
 of one man are not those of a second, therefore, that which 
 will influence one person will not affect another. Whilst 
 it is necessary to study the ideas already existing in the 
 mind of a person to be affected, so it should be a matter 
 of care with all not so far to expose any weaknesses which 
 they may have detected in their own minds, so that 
 they themselves may be rendered liable to be improperly acted 
 upon by designing persons. 
 
 If once all the ideas existing in the mind of any person 
 be accurately ascertained, then his mode of action under 
 any definite circumstances can be predicated as certainly 
 as though his brain were a watch or other piece of 
 mechanical mechanism, for very few persons indeed deviate 
 from an habitual course of action. A sudden impulse is 
 always dangerous, because it is liable to control the actions 
 of any man. An immediate prospect of benefit, which in 
 philosophical language may be interpreted to be, the 
 probability of immediate pleasure, is apt to captivate the
 
 56 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 mind, and cause it to neglect other experiences. This may 
 be a source of danger to those who are to be influenced, 
 but it is a source of strength to those who seek to influ- 
 ence the actions of other persons. 
 
 A sudden attack on the mind is but transitory in its 
 effects, and to be powerful must be followed by immediate 
 action ; for if once the new idea is received, it is commingled 
 with the ideas which have before been implanted in the 
 brain, and possesses no more special power than any 
 former idea. It simply takes its proper place amongst all 
 the notions which a man has at any time obtained. 
 
 Reflection dispels the illusion of its particular importance, 
 thought compares it with all former ideas, and its true 
 value is rightly appreciated. 
 
 To avoid the effects of a sudden impulse, time should, 
 in all cases, be taken for decision. The action of to-day 
 may be from impulse, that of to-morrow, after reflection, 
 from pure reason, when the new idea will be associated 
 with every other idea existing in the mind, and a deter- 
 mination of the course of action will be regulated by a 
 consideration of the whole case. 
 
 A good rule which is very commonly practised, is not 
 to come to any important decision without having slept 
 upon the facts which have been presented to the mind 
 in order that each may have its legitimate value. The 
 mind on the return of consciousness after sleep is refreshed, 
 and is then in the best condition to solve satisfactorily com- 
 plicated problems submitted for its decision. 
 
 When it is desired to affect mankind, it is important 
 that vivid impressions should be brought before the mind, 
 and especially that these impressions should be derived from 
 examples in the external world which are observed by the 
 person himself through his organs of sensation.
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 57 
 
 What men see they are prone to believe, nevertheless, 
 they often see what does not occur, or do not see all which 
 has occurred, therefore a very grave discretion must be 
 used in judging of the truth of that which is seen. 
 
 A well-observed fact has a most important influence 
 for good, a badly- observed fact an equally important in- 
 fluence for evil. To affect mankind, therefore, any fact 
 which men see for themselves has most influence, but the 
 person to be influenced must well judge of the value of 
 the observed fact. 
 
 An appeal to the higher powers of reason does not affect 
 many men very powerfully. The dogmatic or self-willed 
 man is usually rendered more stubborn by any argument 
 against his particular notions, and even with highly educated 
 persons reason is of but little avail to change their views, as 
 it frequently happens that the facts and arguments employed 
 do not accord with the experiences and the reasonings of 
 the person sought to be influenced, and the whole train 
 of argument is discarded as fallacious. To affect any person 
 by reason, the premises should be thoroughly appreciated 
 and admitted by him, for when two persons have exactly 
 the same antecedent ideas they come to the same conclu- 
 sions ; hence little is practically done to influence mankind 
 by reasoning processes apart from the facts upon which the 
 reason is founded. 
 
 There is generally less to fear that the human mind will 
 not reason rightly from the facts presented to it than that 
 the facts should have been wrongly appreciated either from 
 erroneous interpretation of what the senses have apprehended, 
 or from a distortion from their being communicated by other 
 persons. Clergymen frequently do mischief in the pulpit to 
 the cause which they advocate by injudicious reasoning, with- 
 out properly estimating the character of the ideas existing
 
 58 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 in the minds of their hearers. A discordance is detected 
 between the facts, which are true according to the expe- 
 rience of his hearer, and the reasoning of the pastor. By 
 this unskilful mode of proceeding perhaps more infidels are 
 made by teachers, although earnest and well meaning, than 
 by any arguments or writings of the professed sceptic. Every 
 argument used which does not accord with the balance of the 
 experience of any of a preacher's congregation, is calculated 
 to have an effect contrary to that which is intended. 
 
 The majority of educated persons are strongly governed 
 by a sense of right and wrong and a desire to act con- 
 scientiously. Not many of any class of society willingly 
 violate their conscientious belief of what is right unless they 
 are strongly led to a particular course of action by some 
 violent impulse. So strong is this desire to act rightly and 
 especially so sensitive are men to appear to act rightly, 
 before their fellows that wrong is often done. This is one of 
 the chief methods by which a right-minded man may be led 
 to do wrong. There is no more forcible method of acting 
 upon a man than to suggest that his proposed course of action 
 does not look right before the world. This idea has to be 
 controlled by every strength of mind, as there are times and 
 circumstances when the truly conscientious man to do right 
 must appear to do wrong before many persons. 
 
 It is often stated that the courts of chancery in their 
 anxiety to appear to do what is strictly equitable really 
 promote fraud. The judges feeling that their function is to 
 regulate right become so sensitive of implied falsity that 
 when fraud is charged they incautiously decide wrongly 
 to appear right before the world. 
 
 When we desire to affect the public mind by our writings, 
 we shall first consider what the minds of our readers will pro- 
 bably, having relation to their existing thoughts, appreciate.
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 59 
 
 We shall then select some prominent and strongly marked 
 idea to serve as the basis of our arguments. We then shall 
 endeavour to work from acknowledged and admitted know- 
 ledge to that which is unknown or disputed, that the minds of 
 our readers may be led by gradual stages. 
 
 When we write upon any subject upon which the public 
 think we are entitled to speak, assertions have the force 
 of our personal belief and statement under the signature of 
 our names. This is the most satisfactory of all writing, and 
 carries the greatest weight with the public. 
 
 In cases, however, where we think it desirable to affect 
 the public upon matters in which the public would not 
 consider that our own personal statement would give weight 
 and authority to the fact, we have to rely upon printed 
 documents, and trust to their internal evidence of truth. 
 By this plan the question in debate is presented to our 
 readers from a variety of aspects, and unquestionably some 
 advantage is gained from ignorance of the source from 
 whence the doctrines have been propounded. In a campaign 
 to affect the public opinion of educated men, it is necessary 
 to commence with the more unimportant facts and conclusions, 
 and tentatively to watch their effect on the mind. The 
 moment that it is found that one fact or one line of 
 argument strikes home to the convictions of our readers, 
 a point is attained from which success may be gained. 
 The potent argument must be repeated over and over 
 again, in fact, hammered into the minds of the public with 
 such variations and new arguments as whilst they afford the 
 appearance of novelty, shall only enforce the desired notion. 
 
 Until some denned idea is received by the public all 
 labour is in vain, but directly a single point is effective, 
 victory is certain. 
 
 In our relations with persons of the highest education,
 
 60 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 whose minds are not only influenced by their individual 
 experience, but also by all which they have heard or been 
 taught, the use of short documents, tending to lead to the 
 desired conclusion repeated at intervals is most effective, be- 
 cause the substance of the first is thoroughly registered in 
 the memory before the second is read. When the second is 
 received it is in accordance with the first. The third with 
 the second. The fourth with the third. Every one repeti- 
 tion of an assertion adds to the weight of any former asser- 
 tion (if it has been received by the mind, but not otherwise), 
 till the conclusion is determined, and the mind is led to action 
 in the manner desired. 
 
 Whilst I have sought to influence the minds of other 
 persons on many points which I have thought right, so I 
 have ever tried to protect my own mind from any improper 
 attack from other persons. In every first attack it is im- 
 portant to carefully weigh the premises, for if erroneous, 
 every future argument built upon them intensifies the error 
 and renders the mind more easily influenced. 
 
 Experience shows that it is more difficult to influence the 
 man who has derived his knowledge for himself from the 
 external world. In fact, in practice, it is almost impossible 
 upon any matter with which he is personally conversant to 
 influence his opinion unless some new truth be brought before 
 his mind in such a manner that he must admit it. 
 
 People who obtain their knowledge from hearsay are 
 uncertain in their convictions and mode of action. They 
 are apt to go one way at one time, another at a second, and 
 are more easily influenced for good or for evil than the man 
 who has fortified his mind by the study of natural objects 
 and of natural laws, and who by this preserves a freshness and 
 vigour of mind which is ever a preservative against wrong 
 and a confirmation of right.
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 61 
 
 When circumstances are referred to me for a professional 
 opinion, I have ever found that care must be taken in every 
 written certificate to use every word in a sense which shall 
 convey to the authorities to receive it an exact idea of the 
 facts of the case, accompanied with a statement of the sur- 
 rounding circumstances calculated to affect the judgment, 
 so that the minds of my employers may be led to conclu- 
 sions which the facts of the case ought rightly to suggest. 
 
 The government of mankind by which the community 
 as a whole, or particular men, are led to act in a defined 
 manner, is not a matter of chance, but should be conducted 
 on fixed principles ; for the mind of man may be guided to 
 actions by laws, as sure as those by which heavy bodies fall 
 to the earth, or light substances rise in water. 
 
 The leading methods by which a man may be guided to 
 act are but few in number, and for convenience may be 
 tabulated under certain heads. 
 
 The action of a man may be regulated : 
 
 1. By communicating a new idea which shall be an 
 addition or a variation of those already existing in the 
 mind. Exam. A man would act differently when he knew 
 that metals could be worked by electro-metallurgy besides 
 by the ordinary methods by fire. 
 
 2. By giving immediate pleasure for one action, and 
 pain for another. Exam. When two glasses are presented 
 to a man, one containing nitric acid, the other water. If 
 the water be drunk, it would cause immediate pleasure by 
 quenching the thirst; if the nitric acid, pain would arise 
 from the destruction of the parts of the mouth, throat, 
 and stomach. 
 
 3. By the promise of future pleasure, the threat of 
 future pain. Exam. A servant is told that by doing his 
 work he shall have a dwelling, food, firing, and wages ; but
 
 62 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 if he will be idle lie will be houseless, he will be starved, 
 cold, and have no pay. * 
 
 4. By the promise of infinite pleasure in heaven, or the 
 threat of infinite pain in hell, according to the ideas held. 
 The Athanasian creed is an example of a promise and a 
 threat of this character. 
 
 5. By physical restraint ; a man is compelled to act in a 
 defined manner. Exam. The policeman daily regulates 
 traffic, and compels men to follow a certain course ; and 
 the prisoner is locked up so that he cannot practise his evil 
 designs. 
 
 The principles to be followed for the regulation of the 
 human mind are plain enough, but in practice they are 
 difficult to apply, because it has been wisely ordained by 
 Providence that the human mind shall preserve its indi- 
 viduality, and not be subject to an undue extent to the 
 influence of other persons. 
 
 Perhaps the great key for the application of the laws of 
 government is sympathy. Rejoice when they rejoice, weep 
 when they weep, enter into feeling with every feeling, 
 whether of hope or fear, of pleasure or pain, and by degrees 
 over a long time one mind may obtain such a knowledge 
 and hold over another as to guide its actions. 
 
 The high and strong-minded man holds off from too 
 intimate association with his fellows, conceals the pleasures 
 he receives, and does not descant of the pain he suffers. 
 He keeps every other mind at a respectful distance. He 
 does not too freely communicate his ideas, and does not allow 
 any other mind to approach his too closely. 
 
 Men frequently meet every day for years without having 
 an intimate mental communion. Married persons will live 
 together all their lives without thoroughly communicating 
 their inner thoughts to each other. They have a certain
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 63 
 
 influence over each other, the stronger to a certain extent 
 ruling the weaker^ hut only to a moderate degree ; but 
 there is nothing more charming in this world than to have 
 a friend to whom a man can fairly disclose his sorrows and 
 talk of his joys, and who will confirm or declaim against 
 any course of action where from its difficulty or complexity 
 a douht may exist as to its propriety. 
 
 On the other hand, it is not unfrequent that an un- 
 educated servant will watch every act and thought of his 
 master to such an extent as thoroughly to know his inner 
 disposition ; and hy a judicious exercise of a little persua- 
 sion at any one time, as to he unobserved, and by a thorough 
 sympathy with every thought, and participation with every 
 sorrow or joy, be enabled virtually to govern his actions, as 
 almost to reduce his mind to the action of a mere machine. 
 
 It is fortunate for mankind that no man can control the 
 actions of his fellows unless he entirely devotes himself to 
 that object. Young men of immense wealth are sometimes 
 attempted to be acted upon by designing men ; but it is 
 noticed that before any person can approach the minds of 
 other persons, to govern them, as either to modify their 
 religion or take hold of their property, they must pander 
 to their passions, assist their desires, and sympathise with 
 their lowest vices. 
 
 The government of the criminal classes is difficult, for 
 their minds are chiefly actuated by immediate impulses ; 
 religion, and the sense of right and wrong, influence them 
 but little. To reason against the impropriety of their 
 conduct is useless, as the theory of their action is comprised 
 in getting the most advantage with the least inconvenience, 
 irrespective of any other consideration. 
 
 No thief would rob if the robbery was certain to be 
 attended with greater inconvenience than the benefit which
 
 64 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 arises from obtaining the plunder which is taken. In 
 practice, the criminal obtains an immediate advantage, by 
 possessing himself of the goods of other people. He robs 
 over and over again with impunity, with only so small a 
 probability of conviction, and consequent inconvenience by 
 reason of punishment, that it seems to his mind a bare 
 possibility ; in fact, he regards punishment for his crime as 
 an accident to be deplored, but like any other injury which 
 may happen incidentally to mankind, beyond his control. 
 To be punished for robbery is to his mind like being injured 
 in a railway accident, or run over in the streets, an event 
 which may happen to any man. 
 
 A certainty of conviction for every offence committed, 
 with its proportionate pain and punishment, is the true 
 method to be adopted to restrain the criminal. As no man 
 thrusts his hand into the fire, simply because he knows the 
 pain which would arise from the burn, so no thief would rob 
 if he knew the pain he would sustain by punishment would 
 certainly outweigh any advantage he obtained from the 
 theft. If a thief can rob a hundred times with impunity 
 before, on an average of other thieves, one conviction is 
 obtained, then his mind, as a matter of numerical relation, 
 sums up the advantage to be on the side of the robbery. 
 For this reason a man who constantly robs should, as an 
 example to other ill-doers, have such a punishment as shall 
 cause inconvenience enough to outbalance the advantage 
 of all his previous robberies. 
 
 Our present system is as useless as it is unphilosophical, 
 as the professed thief goes to prison to come out and repeat 
 his career as before. 
 
 When the criminal inflicts personal pain to help him to 
 obtain the goods of his victim, the certainty of as much 
 personal pain to him self acts as a deterrent. The law for the
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 65 
 
 flogging of garotters, which was produced by the publication 
 of an anonymous pamphlet was immediately attended with 
 an important diminution of the offence. As the punishment 
 can only be inflicted a considerable time after the offence, 
 the immediate deterrent influence upon the mind of the 
 criminal must be sought in the future pain to himself being 
 far greater than the immediate pleasure or benefit he is likely 
 to derive in committing the act. 
 
 Very heavy punishment, however, creates so much fear 
 in the mind of the criminal, that he will do any act to 
 protect himself. Murder has frequently been committed, 
 not from any desire or wish to destroy the victim, but simply 
 as a protection against the punishment of a murderer for 
 other crimes. The thief reasons, ' Dead men tell no tales, 
 if I kill the witness unseen I shall escape pain ; ' and 
 hence a large number of murders are committed, not 
 from any desire of destroying life, but simply as a supposed 
 protection to the robber against his conviction for other 
 offences. 
 
 In accidental injuries, Lord Campbell's Act has had a 
 similar influence, for where an accidental injury has hap- 
 pened, the aggressor runs away and does not preserve life, 
 not from any unconcern on his part, but to escape the 
 consequences of his unintentional negligence, which may 
 ruin his position in life from the civil liabilities which are 
 entailed. In the lamentable disaster of an emigrant vessel 
 off Dungeness, where the vessel was struck by another 
 accidentally, three hundred lives were lost. Probably every 
 soul might have been saved had the vessel which caused the 
 collision stood by and saved the sufferers. The men on the 
 steamer which caused the injury were frightened at the 
 pecuniary liability which they had incurred, and steamed 
 away, hoping that in the darkness of the night, and in the 
 
 F
 
 66 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 confusion of the scene, the identity of the vessel would be 
 lost, and that they might escape. 
 
 The power to act upon criminals by religious influences 
 appears to be slight ; we cannot readily render it available 
 to control their actions. Having lived and practised for a 
 long time a certain criminal course, their minds have become 
 insensible of the impression of the higher powers of mind to 
 restrain their criminal acts. Their minds are firmly imbued 
 with the idea of immediate pleasure and gain from their 
 thefts. They have too often enjoyed the produce of their 
 theft without punishment or pain to be restrained by the 
 consideration of any future pain as a result of their wrong- 
 doing. The memory of this experience negatives the effect 
 of any religious teaching which may be supplied to them. 
 
 In the punishment of criminals with the view to their 
 cure, the idea of pain must be associated with every distinct 
 criminal act, till experience shall warn them in common 
 language that 'honesty is the best policy.' The longer 
 has been the criminal career the more certain and more 
 powerful should be the pain or inconvenience to himself 
 which should accompany the crime, so that the mind may 
 be influenced to restrain the act for the future. 
 
 In the extreme punishment of the worst criminals, the 
 hope of future pleasure should never be withdrawn, for if 
 once they hold the notion that they are submitted to per- 
 manent and hopeless pain, there is nothing left by which 
 their actions may be controlled. The moral law is absent. 
 They have no present pleasure, no hope of future pleasure, 
 and they give themselves up to insensate brutality. To 
 restrain their actions the promise of some pleasure in the 
 future must be held out, when according as their mind 
 appreciates the importance of the idea their conduct may be 
 reasonably expected to be influenced.
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 67 
 
 The case is very different when a good man is subjected 
 wrongfully to the punishment justly bestowed on the evil 
 criminal. The hope of the future infinite pleasure in time 
 and degree is ever a comfort to his mind. The idea of 
 having done right is a satisfaction to him, and he submits 
 to his persecution with resignation, trusting to an infinite 
 power to protect him. 
 
 Experience shows that the hope of pleasure is as 
 powerful to regulate the action of the human mind as 
 the fear of pain, nevertheless, the most powerful influence 
 is obtained by the promise of pleasure for any defined line 
 of action accompanied by the threat of pain if any other 
 course is followed. In using arguments for the pursuit 
 of any line of conduct, it is commonly noticed that both 
 the ideas of hope and fear must be excited. 
 
 Although in considering the influences on the nervous 
 system, we ultimately resolve all sensations into those which 
 are pleasurable and those which are painful, yet in common 
 language the idea of pleasure includes that of convenience, 
 advantage, or gain, and that of pain, inconvenience, disad- 
 vantage, and loss. 
 
 As the government of mankind is chiefly successfully 
 conducted by regulating the nature of the ideas existing 
 in every individual of the community, it demonstrates how 
 the whole population should care for the mental culture 
 of each, as it is far more practicable to confer right ideas 
 in early life than to counteract evil ones at a later period. 
 
 Every man who seeks to govern should so fortify his own 
 mind that he is not himself improperly governed, and the 
 resistance to improper impressions should at all times be 
 equal to the strength of the attack to which the mind is 
 exposed. 
 
 It would be as practicable to have a case-book to record
 
 68 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF MANKIND. 
 
 modes in which the human mind is liable to be acted upon 
 as it is usual for the medical man to have his case-book 
 to record the manner in which experience demonstrates that 
 the various parts of the body are affected by various 
 medicines. Persons employed for specific purposes use over 
 and over again similar reasons for different individuals. If a 
 particular line of argument has proved successful towards one 
 individual it is highly probable that it will be equally 
 potent on another person under similar circumstances, 
 and therefore we should ever remember that whilst we seek 
 to regulate the actions of the minds of others, our own 
 minds may in like manner be acted upon to our own 
 benefit.
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 On Words and Language Substantives Adjectives Verbs Resolu- 
 tion of a verb or sentence as it was received by the brain Induction 
 by words Deduction by words Laws of thought by words Re- 
 lational and differential machine Relational and differential slate 
 Human and Divine laws Value of the pronoun I On evidence and 
 testimony On quibbling by words. 
 
 IN the preceding chapters I have stated that external objects 
 act upon the organs of sensation ; that action is trans- 
 mitted to the sensorium ; and is probably registered in 
 a certain combination of nervous elements, to appear again 
 on subsequent occasions, constituting an act of memory. 
 
 For the purpose of communicating ideas from one per- 
 son to another, or of recording them for the purpose of 
 bringing the event again before the mind, we have recourse 
 to various signs, sounds, or symbols, which is an artificial 
 system which represents various images impressed on the 
 brain. 
 
 But from the amazing number of images which may 
 be impressed upon the brain, the use of words becomes 
 a complex phenomenon, because it would be impossible for 
 us to assign a different word to every single image formed 
 in our organization.
 
 70 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 The first class of words which we employ comprises those 
 which are termed substantives, and which, if carefully studied 
 will be found to include or embrace a large range of objects 
 under one term ; thus, when we speak of a man, we speak 
 of an object which may give rise to a vast amount of images, 
 as it comprehends white, red, and black men, good and bad 
 men, men in health and sickness, &c. 
 
 I showed that all our mental images were made up of 
 actions on a certain aggregation or combination of nervous 
 fibres, each of which might be designated by a certain 
 number, letter, or word. Thus we may use certain letters 
 of the alphabet to designate certain combinations of nervous 
 fibres. The letters indicating the combinations may be 
 further arranged in a geometric series, as in the subjoined 
 diagram, and it will be immediately observed, that in the 
 first line we have one letter, in the second two, in the 
 third four, in the fourth eight, all having relation to each 
 other. 
 
 
 A 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 B 
 
 1 
 
 1 ! 
 
 C D 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 'b i 
 
 i 
 
 e f g h 
 
 In assigning the substantive word to any action, a com- 
 bination which is common to, or forms part of, a great num- 
 ber of images is commonly selected ; thus, if a b c d form 
 a combination which is always present when a man is repre- 
 sented to our senses, we may give to that combination the 
 form man, or in symbolic language A, which will be found 
 to include these letters. 
 
 It will thus be seen that generally a substantive is a part 
 of speech given to the action on a combination of nervous
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 71 
 
 elements, which are affected in eommon by a large class 
 of objects, and is, therefore, in itself a very general term. 
 The words man, dog, ground, star, may serve as an example 
 of the noun or substantive. Grammatically a noun may be 
 denned to be a word used for some action, real or imaginary, 
 which has occurred in the brain, and really signifies an 
 action of definite combination of nervous symbols at one 
 moment of time. It is immaterial whether the images 
 to which we have given the names of nouns are produced 
 by actions through the organs of sensation, or whether 
 they are mere thoughts, and have no external existence, 
 as a word of the nature of a noun may be given to any 
 action of the sensorium. 
 
 A mere noun can convey little or no knowledge when 
 used by itself ; for instance, the word man used apart from 
 any other word, either implied or understood, would, by 
 itself, communicate no real knowledge from one person 
 to another, as it would neither express who the man was, 
 where he was, what he was doing, or, in fact, any other 
 circumstance concerning him, or even whether the image 
 to which it referred was used to signify a thought or a 
 reality. 
 
 Great difficulties arise to persons who have never seen 
 an object. It is almost impossible to make a child under- 
 stand a hill when it has ever lived on a plain, and so it 
 is impossible to communicate to a person who has never 
 seen the sea, what the ocean is like. 
 
 For the purpose of more accurately defining the noun, 
 we add some word common to another combination of actions, 
 or virtually we add a word, having some of the properties 
 of a second noun, to it ; but the second word so added, 
 we term the adjective. Thus if we speak of a good man, 
 we have defined the character of the man, or limited our
 
 ?2 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 observation to a man who is characterized by some quality 
 of goodness. If A represents a man, B comprises the com- 
 binations of the actions of the brain, which we term goodness ; 
 then if we speak of A with some portion of B conjoined, 
 we have restricted or limited our observation to the com- 
 binations of A, to which some of B are added. 
 
 It will be perceived that there is nothing peculiar or 
 definite in either A or B, which should entitle it per se to 
 the name of a noun or adjective, for either might be the 
 noun, and either might be the adjective, and yet the effect 
 would be very different. In the one case we should have 
 good man; in the other, manly goodness. In these cases, 
 the combination to which we desire to call attention is the 
 noun, and must be accurately defined, and the word by 
 which the extent of the noun is limited, is called the 
 adjective. 
 
 When we used a word adjectively and couple it to a 
 noun, the adjective implies that only a portion of the actions 
 of the brain which led to the idea from whence the word 
 is derived, is coupled with the noun; hence, as the amount 
 varies, we have various degrees of the word used adjectively, 
 as good, better, best. The information conveyed by an 
 adjective, is not of that positive character which is conveyed 
 by a substantive ; and when I say a good man, I should 
 express it by symbols, by using A for man and B ? for 
 some unspecified amount of goodness. If I said or wished 
 to express manly goodness, I should use B for goodness and 
 A ? for manly. 
 
 It follows from the above remarks, that the adjective 
 is a far less perfect part of speech and is unable to be used 
 for the communication of those absolute ideas, which may 
 be communicated by the use of the noun. 
 
 There are other classes of words which require but
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 73 
 
 little comment ; thus we employ pronouns to prevent the 
 repetition of nouns. These words have no meaning in them- 
 selves, unless some noun, either expressed or implied, has 
 preceded their use, and both grammatically and biologically 
 they must be referred to the class of nouns. 
 
 Various questions have been raised as to the use and 
 signification of the articles a and 'the. It appears to me that, 
 biologically considered, a is employed to signify any one 
 or some unknown one. The word the seems to have the 
 power of limitation to some particular one or some particular 
 class. In accurate symbolic language wherever the is em- 
 ployed, it is necessary that the additional description should 
 be applied to the noun, to mark the individual or class to 
 which the word the limits the application of the noun ; 
 thus, a man signifies any man, the man, some one parti- 
 cular man, and the word man, without any prefix, signifies 
 all men. 
 
 By the combined use of the noun-adjective and article, 
 we are thus enabled to give a more or less correct picture 
 of any real or imaginary object to a second person ; but it 
 appears most especially necessary that these words should 
 be used in the same sense by both persons, otherwise no true 
 information is communicated, and both adjective and article 
 limit the comprehensiveness of the word man. 
 
 The mere use of the noun, however, gives us by itself no 
 real information, because a second person would require to 
 be informed whether any word represented a mere thought 
 or image of the imagination, or a reality ; in fact, whether it 
 referred to an object which existed in all its integrity in the 
 external world, and which produced the action upon the 
 organs of sensation. 
 
 The words used to express this important part of the 
 idea, are termed verbs. But a verb does more than this, it
 
 74 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 signifies the relation of the thought or reality to other 
 thoughts or realities. In fact, it marks the time of the 
 occurrence of the thought or of the reality. Biologically, 
 we may define a verb to be a word used to signify the 
 successive changes on the sensorium of the respective por- 
 tions of one image, and their relation to those of other 
 images. 
 
 To explain this definition, it is important to remember 
 that the brain is one large organ, on which a series of 
 impressions are being continually made, both from the 
 action of external agents upon the organs of sensation, as 
 well as from, the changes going on within our own frame. 
 If a thought or reality occurs at the moment at which we 
 are actually receiving the second impression, then we speak 
 of the time present, and we say It is. Suppose A B C D to 
 represent primitive nervous fibrils, and w x y z to represent 
 other nervous fibrils, if the actions on B C and x y coincided 
 at the moment when x y was being excited, we should state 
 that the idea derived from B C existed at the present time, 
 or in the language of the verb is or exists. Now if we 
 examine the changes which are continually occurring in the 
 mental images, we may express them in two series in the 
 following manner : 
 
 IstAB AB AB BC CD AB 
 
 2nd 1m mn no op qr st 
 
 In the above diagram we perceive that the two series of 
 changes take place unequally. It is from this double series 
 of ideas that we derive our notions of time, for those combi- 
 nations which change least energetically, are said to occupy 
 the longest time. For practical purposes, we select one 
 series of changes as those of a clock, or the changes produced
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 75 
 
 by the revolution of the earth as a standard, and refer all 
 other changes to those. 
 
 Practically, when we use verbs, we do not set out accu- 
 rately the changes which actually take place, but we employ 
 words to signify time present, time past, or time to come. 
 All verbs may be conveniently arranged into two geometric 
 series, the one signifying time past, the second, time to 
 come, the two being divided by a line, denoting time 
 present ; or we may unite the three together into one 
 series signifying all time. 
 
 Past. Present. Future. 
 
 A P z 
 
 I 
 
 But most verbs show more than the time of the occur- 
 rence of any idea ; or rather the relation of any one idea to 
 any second idea; for if examined, they will be found to 
 communicate some knowledge similar to that imparted by 
 the noun ; and hence these verbs might be called substan- 
 tive-verbs. If I say that John sits, it not only indicates 
 John, and his existence at the present moment, but it goes 
 further, it shows his posture. In like manner if I say, I 
 think, it not only indicates time present, but it shows that 
 the idea is an action of the brain, which has not necessary 
 external existence. 
 
 Substantive- verbs communicate even a far greater range 
 of ideas ; thus, if I say that John came from Brighton, the 
 words came from would not only represent that John was at 
 Brighton and is now here, but they infer all those changes 
 which occurred during the act of coming here. And if 
 we regard the motion of the carriages, the change of the
 
 76 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 view, the number of ticks of a watch, the pulsations of the 
 heart, the occurrence of thoughts during the journey, the 
 changes would be almost infinite in number. All these 
 changes it would be too long and tedious to recount, and yet 
 they are all included in the word came. 
 
 A verb has essentially a reference to some change, for 
 without change the verbs cannot be used ; and even when we 
 mark the present time, that present has relation to the past 
 and future. 
 
 The adverb is another part of speech, which still further 
 gives exactness to our descriptions, by limiting the scope of 
 any observations. It is frequently used merely to assign 
 the value or extent to an adjective or verb, as in the case of 
 nearly, chiefly, exceedingly, very. Other adverbs perform the 
 same functions to the verb as the adjective does to the noun; 
 as in the words prudently, softly, when in these cases they 
 limit the extent of the meaning of the verb, by adding to it 
 a certain amount of the properties of prudence, softness, &c. 
 
 Prepositions are used to show the mutual relation or 
 position of separate ideas; as in the words above, below, 
 behind. In these cases they show the manner in which the 
 image is received by the senses. Biologically, they help in 
 many cases to signify the particular combination which is 
 represented to the mind ; thus, a man placed upon a horse 
 would be represented by a different combination of nervous 
 elements from that which would be produced by a man 
 below, behind, or before a horse. A very different idea is 
 signified when we say that a man came from Brighton to 
 London, from that which is communicated when we say 
 that a man came from London to Brighton. 
 
 Conjunctions are employed either to compress two ideas 
 into one, or to separate one portion from a more extensive 
 idea. In the first case, the conjunction is called copulative ;
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 77 
 
 in the second, disjunctive ; conjunctions are, in fact, equiva- 
 lent to the signs of plus and minus. 
 
 Such is a brief resumd of the mode of communicating 
 impressions made on the sensorium, from one person to 
 another. In the first place, we use a noun, which is a sort 
 of generic term given to certain combinations common to 
 many ideas. This general idea is then limited by the adjec- 
 tive, and still further by the adverb. The verb is then 
 employed to signify the time of the occurrence of the idea, 
 or to describe the changes which took place with it ; and 
 these changes are more particularised by the use of other 
 adverbs. We, however, introduce other nouns ; and their 
 relations are more accurately detailed by prepositions and 
 conjunctions. It is manifest that the whole system is 
 artificial, and whilst we must deplore its insufficiency to 
 communicate exact ideas, yet we must, at the same time, 
 marvel at the great and glorious results which it has been 
 the means of effecting. 
 
 Resolution of a Sentence. From the observations which I 
 have already made, we are now in a condition to resolve a 
 sentence, or so to set it out, that it may appear on paper as 
 it would have acted on the brain, had it been a reality 
 instead of a mere description ; and this resolution would not 
 be difficult were the idea confined to the same instant of 
 time, but a variation of time involves a succession of ideas, 
 which it is difficult to express. 
 
 In the first place, we must arrange the substantives in 
 their natural relations, and we must put those substantives, 
 which are most comprehensive in their meaning, which 
 contain the largest number of known parts, at the top ; 
 then we may place successively lower all those which con- 
 tain a smaller number of parts or specific combinations in 
 the mind.
 
 78 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 Upon this plan we should arrange the substantives, Ani- 
 mals, Brutes, Man, Reds, Whites, in the following manner : 
 
 Animals A 
 
 Brutes B Man C 
 
 D E RedsF Whites G 
 
 In this case we have three degrees of magnitude in the 
 specification of these words. Animals A may be said to 
 consist of Man C of Whites Gr, and Reds express the 
 same definition as Whites, and may be represented by 
 F. Now the word Brute in this arrangement, has the 
 same amount of definition comprehensively in relation to 
 animals as that of Man, and may be expressed by B. 
 
 'In this case I have only assumed one letter for the 
 specific qualities of each noun ; but if the signification of 
 any word can possibly be disputed, then instead of one letter 
 we must use a series of letters expressive of the qualities in 
 such a way, that there can be no dispute upon the exact 
 limit of the word, for until any two disputants agree 
 precisely upon the signification of the word, any super- 
 structure in argument based upon it may be rendered of no 
 effect. When the meaning of any word is under dispute, it 
 must be unravelled by other words, till the disputants have 
 the same ideas for the same words. 
 
 Naturalists use, in some respects, a similar mode of 
 describing different animals ; as when they divide them 
 into individuals, species, genera, orders, classes, &c. ; and 
 chemists more accurately note the composition of substances 
 by symbols in an analogous manner. 
 
 When arranging substantives into their relative position, 
 we should bear in mind any word which is appended to 
 them to limit their signification, such as the adjective ; for 
 instance, if I speak of ' a man,' ' a white man,' ' a happy
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 79 
 
 white man,' I have three different degrees of limitation in 
 the three different cases. 
 
 So also with regard to the adverb joined to the adjective, 
 the meaning is more particularised, as ' a very happy white 
 man ' bears a different amount of limitation to that ex- 
 pressed by ' a happy white man.' 
 
 As, moreover, prepositions have so far an effect upon the 
 meaning of the noun, as to limit, or particularise its signifi- 
 cation, we must also add their value to the noun in any 
 formal resolution of a sentence, as different significations 
 would be expressed by ' to London,' ' into London/ ' upon 
 London,' ' above London/ ' below London/ ' around Lon- 
 don/ ' about London.' 
 
 When two nouns are joined together by a conjunction, 
 they collectively form one idea, as ' John and Thomas/ 
 Sometimes the idea is limited by their use, as 'all but 
 Thomas/ where the meaning is lessened by the conjunction. 
 In this way the copulative conjunction is equivalent to the 
 sign plus, and the disjunctive to the sign minus. 
 
 Perhaps, upon the whole, nouns having certain proper- 
 ties in common, had better be divided into the geometric 
 series, 2, 4, 8, 16 ; and thus every term might be distin- 
 guished from every other term. By this arrangement, every 
 word would signify the half of a word above it, and would 
 conjoin the meanings of two words below it. This division 
 appears to me well deserving the attention of naturalists, 
 chemists, and other writers requiring the use of a large 
 number of words. In application, partial difficulties would 
 frequently arise, because practically odd numbers would 
 interfere, but nevertheless, by a little management, such a 
 division might doubtless be usefully effected. 
 
 Having considered the best mode of arranging the nouns, 
 we are naturally led to consider their mutual relations,
 
 80 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 together with the effect of the verb upon them. Yerbs 
 appear to signify a more complete set of actions than the 
 noun, and in my ' Instinct and Reason,' I have shown that 
 animals do not appear to have the power of appreciating 
 their use. Some verbs simply show existence of an idea, as 
 a thought, or a reality, at the time present. This hardly 
 requires a sign for its designation ; for it might be under- 
 stood, that when we say, 'John, here,' that he is here. 
 But any idea, be it a thought, or be it a reality not now 
 existing, must have either existed at some former period, or 
 may exist at any future time ; and the time either present, 
 past, or future, may be represented with accuracy in a series 
 as before described. 
 
 But the verb, besides describing the time at which the 
 event occurred, expresses some substantive idea, then this 
 addition must be appended to the noun to which it refers, as 
 ' John runs ; ' the word runs gives two ideas, one that John 
 is in the act of running or performing the motion of run- 
 ning ; the second, that this action is now taking place. 
 
 In many cases, verbs have relation to two substantives, 
 as * John killed Thomas.' In this expression, we under- 
 stand that at some time past, the act of killing was done by 
 John on Thomas, the first individual performed certain 
 actions which caused a second set of actions to supervene 
 on Thomas. The verb here modifies the ideas which we 
 derive of both nouns ; and the sentence gives us the idea 
 of at least three different states. 
 
 First, John and Thomas both alive. 
 
 Second, John in action Thomas being acted upon. 
 
 Third, John alive Thomas dead. 
 
 These series of changes or sequences stand in relation as 
 Cause to Effect, and in language may be rendered, that John 
 caused the death of Thomas.
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 81 
 
 If we regard the origin of our ideas of Cause and Effect, 
 we find that the idea of Cause is deduced from a change of 
 matter acting upon other matter : the first change is called 
 the Cause ; the second, the Effect. Thus when we say that 
 the fire causes the water to boil, we mean that the coal is 
 combining with oxygen, and the two are being converted 
 into carbonic acid, which change acts upon the water and 
 turns it to steam ; the first change being the Cause ; the 
 second, the Effect. They may thus be regarded as primary 
 and secondary changes. 
 
 The limitation of the verb by the adverb, may be treated 
 as we limit the signification of the noun by the adjective ; 
 so, also, parts of a sentence coupled together or dissevered 
 by conjunctions, may be treated as when used with nouns. 
 
 We are now in a condition to express any definite sen- 
 tence by a series of letters, and give to it a definite form, for 
 the purpose of disputation or study. It is absolutely neces- 
 sary to set out the meaning of each word, so that its signifi- 
 cation may be accurately defined ; and hence, in some cases, 
 it may be requisite to express a word by the combination of 
 ideas which constitutes that word ; thus if we use the word 
 John, it may be necessary in some cases to show that John 
 is of a certain family, and that he is a citizen, a Londoner, a 
 white, a European, a man, an animal, an organised being. 
 
 In the resolution of a sentence we first set down the 
 designation of the thing or person that first undergoes a 
 change. This becomes a cause. The causality may be 
 expressed by other letters, and designated according as we 
 are enabled to communicate the manner of the cause. We 
 next note the noun which is effected, and the value of the 
 effect produced; and, finally, we designate the time at which 
 the whole series of changes occurred. 
 
 As an example of this mode of notation, we may set 
 
 G
 
 82 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 down, 'John and Thomas killed "William/ Let J stand 
 for John, T for Thomas, C for causality, D for death, E for 
 effect, W for William, P for the past ; which according to 
 the natural process of thought would point to different distinct 
 ideas having mutual relations, thus : 
 
 JTC WED P 
 
 In the first place, John and Thomas underwent certain 
 changes, in consequence of which, in the second place, 
 William underwent certain changes to death, the whole 
 happening at some time past. 
 
 This mode of notation may, at first sight, appear more 
 complicated than ordinary language ; but if carefully studied, 
 it will be found to afford us an artificial mode of reasoning, 
 which, although immensely inferior to that which is in 
 actual operation by the elaborate machine furnished us by 
 nature, yet as far as it goes, may be conducted by fixed and 
 immutable laws. 
 
 In reality the various changes indicated by the verb 
 occur at different times. In any process of thought arising 
 therefrom, the whole appears to the mind at one time. This 
 constitutes a great difficulty in the notation of a sentence by 
 cyphers, and can only be effected by several series of geo- 
 metrical arrangements. One would be required for the 
 description of the object changing, another for the descrip- 
 tion of the nature of the change, a third for noting the 
 object effected, a fourth for the nature of the effect, and, 
 lastly, we should require one series to denote the time of the 
 whole series. This last had better be divided into three 
 parts instead of two, to signify the past, the present, and the 
 future.
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 83 
 
 5 
 M 
 
 1 " 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 J_ 
 
 b 
 
 2 
 C 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 E 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 G 
 
 1 
 
 R 
 
 i 1 
 
 1 1 
 e f 
 
 m n 
 
 Induction. I have now to treat of the method by which 
 the mind classifies a series of facts, so as to represent them 
 by the shortest possible method. It is a faculty of great 
 importance to man, inasmuch as by it he is enabled to com- 
 municate a large number of facts in a few words. 
 
 The process of induction consists in finding a definite 
 and constant connexion between two or more parts of any 
 images, or sequences of images. When, for instance, we 
 find that every individual person dies, whether male or 
 female, we learn a number of individual facts, or rather, we 
 ascertain that a number of human beings have ceased to live, 
 and taken on the various changes of death. We then 
 ascertain that that which we call Humanity is common to 
 all the cases, as one part of the fact ; and that that which 
 we call Death, is common ; and this constitutes the second 
 part of the fact : hence is induced that man is mortal, or, in 
 other words, that humanity and death are invariably con- 
 joined at one time or other. 
 
 To illustrate the nature of induction, we may take a 
 number of combinations of nervous elements, and call them 
 by letters. If the combination A represents that part of an 
 idea which is possessed by all men, and W the combination 
 given by a sense of feeling, then, if we find that where A is 
 present W is present, we have acquired a most important 
 information ; for if A is present ten thousand times, there 
 will W exist. If B represents that which is common to 
 man, and we find it always conjoined with X, denoting 
 rationality, then we know that all men are rational ; so if C 
 represents that which is common to whites, and Y denotes
 
 84 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 happiness, and D represents the peculiarities of Englishmen, 
 and Z the characteristics of freedom, then by this series of 
 inductions we have acquired most important knowledge. 
 
 But we observe, that man partakes of the properties of 
 A B, therefore, he is "W X, or is possessed of feeling and 
 rationality. Whites possess the characteristic of A B C, 
 and therefore manifest W X Y, that is to say, they feel, 
 are rational and happy. Lastly, Englishmen being desig- 
 nated by A B C D, manifest the properties of W X Y Z, or 
 evince feeling, rationality, happiness, and freedom. 
 
 The above statements may be also arranged as two 
 geometric series, which for many causes are more convenient 
 for study. 
 
 
 1 
 A 
 
 I 
 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 L 
 
 1 
 E F 
 
 I JL 
 
 n LM 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 N (I 
 
 II 
 
 By this arrangement in the first series, A would stand 
 for animal, B for man, D for whites, H for English. In 
 the second series, it is manifest that feeling, rationality, 
 happiness, and freedom, do not possess any immediate 
 relation to each other, and therefore in the absence of any 
 definite knowledge upon this matter, they may be arbi- 
 trarily assigned the symbols of m, n, p, r, in the fourth row. 
 
 It may be useful to consider a few specimens of induc- 
 tions arranged in different classes, that we may the more 
 properly estimate their value to man. For this purpose, we
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 85 
 
 may consider them under six heads : Absolute Inductions, 
 Probable Inductions, Possible Inductions, Inductions of 
 Means, Inductions of Limits, Hypothetical Inductions. 
 
 Of absolute inductions we find good illustrations in the 
 properties of numbers : thus, if one be added to one, it 
 makes two; if two be multiplied by two it makes four. 
 These instances are so familiar, that we are apt to forget 
 that they are inductions ; but if I state that the square of 
 any number is equal to the sum of as many consecutive odd 
 numbers beginning with units, as there are units in that 
 number, as thus, 6 x 6 = 1+3+ 5 + 7 + 9 + 11, there 
 probably will be but few of my readers who would be aware 
 of the fact, and would only believe it after they had satis- 
 fied themselves upon the matter. Other examples of abso- 
 lute inductions may be observed in our knowledge of the 
 properties of geometric figures. 
 
 The next class of inductions which we have to consider, 
 may be termed Inductions of Probabilities, because we 
 induce a law of probability from a certain number of facts. 
 This induction will not express to us the absolute fact in any 
 one particular case. As an example of a probable induc- 
 tion, we may instance that of the sex of children, which for 
 our present purposes we may assume to be half male and half 
 female. From this induction our knowledge is so far 
 incomplete, that we cannot tell when a child is about to be 
 born, whether it will be male or female ; though we can 
 calculate with tolerable certainty that out of a thousand 
 children, five hundred will be males, five hundred females ; 
 but we cannot tell from this knowledge which five hundred 
 will be males and which five hundred females. 
 
 Of possible inductions, we may take in illustration the 
 following assumed fact : amongst a thousand children one is 
 born with six fingers, and we have no information as to the
 
 86 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 precise one which is the subject of the monstrosity. It is 
 manifest that with this knowledge, it is possible that any 
 one may be the subject of the disease. 
 
 The Induction of Means is another kind of knowledge 
 of considerable utility. This species of induction consists in 
 ascertaining the sum of the values of a certain number of 
 objects, when by dividing it by that number, we obtain the 
 mean value. If we discover that four men weigh four hun- 
 dredweight, then we know the mean weight of each of the 
 four men, though we do not know in any one case the abso- 
 lute weight. 
 
 The Induction of Means is much increased in value 
 when we have the limits of variation between the different 
 individual instances ; thus, a mean of 4 may be obtained 
 between the limits of 7 and 1, 6 and 2, or 5 and 3. 
 
 There is yet one other mode of induction, which inves- 
 tigators frequently employ with advantage. Having care- 
 fully examined a single fact they assume a law from it, and 
 they compare other facts to see how far they agree or dis- 
 agree with that law. This is called a Hypothetical Induc- 
 tion. This form of induction is most valuable if the inves- 
 tigator never forgets that it is a mere Hypothesis ; but, on 
 the contrary, if he bends his other facts to suit the Hypo- 
 thesis, then this form of induction is in the highest degree 
 dangerous, as tending to error. 
 
 On Deduction. As by the process of induction we are en- 
 abled to classify a large number of facts under one general 
 rule ; so by deduction we are enabled to apply this induced 
 knowledge to any particular instance. As an example of a 
 deduction, we may take, as an illustration, the deduction : 
 ' Man is mortal,' or, in other language, man A always 
 suffers death Z. From this induction we rightly deduce that 
 John A + B is liable to death, because John contains A,
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 87 
 
 the properties of a man, in his organisation; or we may 
 express the fact by symbols, that A + B is conjoined 
 withZ. 
 
 Deductions are of two kinds, perfect and imperfect. 
 In all cases of perfect deductions, the inference derived 
 from the law is certain ; thus, if I have twenty pounds, and 
 add thereto twenty pounds, I may of certainty deduce that 
 I shall then have forty pounds, because I have previously 
 learnt by induction that twenty and twenty make forty. 
 
 Imperfect deductions may be divided into several depart- 
 ments, for every deduction is imperfect in which the law 
 which is sought to be applied is not absolute. From this 
 cause it follows, that a deduction, or hypothetical induction, 
 or an induction of means and limits when applied to any 
 particular instance, is necessarily incomplete and unsatis- 
 factory. 
 
 As an example of an imperfect deduction, I will assume 
 as a law, that amongst great masses of children half are 
 boys, half are girls. From this law it follows deductively, 
 that of one thousand children we should probably have five 
 hundred of each sex ; but it by.no means follows that out of 
 ten children we should have five of each, for it might happen 
 that the boys and girls are grouped together in masses of 
 each, and therefore the law would not apply to very small 
 numbers. 
 
 Laws of Thought. I have shown how every word may 
 be expressed by a cypher ; and I have pointed out the man- 
 ner in which we can express all ideas by this mode of 
 notation. These symbols when rightly arranged as a 
 geometric series, have certain properties to which the laws 
 of thought are obedient, and are most important to be 
 studied and thoroughly understood, and it will be now 
 my business to endeavour to explain them.
 
 88 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 Each symbol expresses something in nature which does 
 not stand alone, but has certain relations to other symbols. 
 If we arrange these symbols as a geometrical series, each 
 letter would comprise the properties of a part of a symbol 
 above it, and those of two symbols below it, and differ in 
 some condition from those beside it : thus, let A represent 
 animals, B brutes, C man, D blacks, E whites. 
 
 A 
 
 I 
 
 D E F G 
 
 In this case A possesses properties common to the whole 
 symbols ; B, properties common to D E. 
 
 These symbols, geometrically arranged, may be called 
 higher, lower, and equal : the higher comprise those in which 
 the characteristics are more general, such as A in rela- 
 tion to B C ; the lower, those in which they are more spe- 
 cific, as D in relation to B, as B to C ; and the equal, those 
 of similar relation of definition. 
 
 The laws of these relations constitute the entire laws of 
 thought, and all which possibly can be learnt by the reason- 
 ing powers from any given facts. 
 
 1. Symbols such as a letter or word denoting ideas, are 
 
 limited in number, although that limitation is so enor- 
 mous that no man will ever be cognizant of them all. 
 
 2. Each symbol denotes a positive action, or combination of 
 
 actions, in the brain, as D may stand for a black man. 
 
 3. A mere negation only expresses that an action or a sym- 
 
 bol is absent, as no B would denote the absence of B. 
 
 4. A positive symbol with a negative attached, limits the 
 
 signification of the positive symbol, as if we used B E, 
 or a minus of some subdivision of E.
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 89 
 
 5. Every symbol has something in common with every other 
 
 symbol, as both D and G would have some property 
 of A. 
 
 6. Higher symbols confer their entire power upon all their 
 
 lower symbols, of which they are composed, such as 
 what is affirmed of A is affirmed of B C D E F Gr. 
 
 7. Lower symbols confer some power upon all their higher 
 
 symbols, as what is affirmed of Gr is partially affirmed 
 of C and A. 
 
 8. Equal symbols do not directly affect each other, as what is 
 
 affirmed of D does not necessarily affect G. 
 
 9. A combination of symbols possesses the combined powers 
 
 of each separately, such as what is affirmed of D E F G 
 combined, is affirmed of B C A. 
 
 10. A symbol partially affects some of the higher sym- 
 
 bols of its equals. What is affirmed of D partially 
 affects A. 
 
 11. A symbol does not affect the lower symbols of its 
 
 equals. What is affirmed of B has no direct effect 
 
 on EG. 
 
 As the act of thinking by words consists in comparing 
 the relations of symbols, so that of judgment determines 
 whether the two sets of symbols agree or disagree. By 
 judgment we determine Affirmation, Negation, Probability, 
 and Possibility. 
 
 1. Affirmation consists in the absolute agreement between 
 
 two sets of symbols ; thus, A B and A B are alike. 
 
 2. Negation, on the contrary, consists in a non-agreement 
 
 between two sets of symbols ; as A is not A B, A B C 
 is not A B, C is not A B. Cases of negation resolve 
 themselves into three classes, first, those which com- 
 prise cases in which the two sets of symbols agree, as 
 far as they go, the second set being deficient in
 
 90 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 amount ; secondly, those in which the symbols agree 
 up to a certain point, but the second has something 
 added ; and, lastly, those in which there is an entire 
 non- agreement between the symbols. 
 
 3. Probability consists in the concurrence of all the known 
 
 symbols in one set of symbols with those of a second 
 
 set. 
 
 Thus ABC plus some unknown, is probably A B C D. 
 The degree of probability in different cases is inferred 
 
 from the extent of the concurrence ; or rather we may 
 
 say, from the proportion of the amount of unknown 
 
 parts. 
 
 4. Possibility consists in the absence of any positive discord- 
 
 ance between the unknown symbols of two sets. 
 Thus, X Y plus some unknown may be possibly A B 
 with some unknown, because both sets may consist 
 of ABXY. 
 
 5. An answer is absolute when the two sets compared con- 
 
 sist of known symbols. 
 
 6. An answer is only probable or possible if a probable or 
 
 possible symbol enter into either of the two sets com- 
 pared. 
 7 An answer is only to the average, if either set of symbols 
 
 contains an average statement. 
 
 I have now shortly detailed the laws of thought adapted 
 to words and language, and exemplified by the use of sym- 
 bols. For the purpose of studying these laws, the student is 
 referred to the geometric series of symbols at page 91 ; and 
 he will readily perceive their importance and truth. In all 
 disputes and discussions, having once referred the words 
 employed to their proper relation in the series, the legiti- 
 mate deductions can be immediately learned, and thus a 
 far greater certainty may be given to our mode of reasoning.
 
 91 
 
 -K- 
 
 -p- 
 
 o 
 
 -rt- 
 
 -a- 
 
 
 -PQ- 
 
 -o- 
 
 -w- 
 
 -lit 
 
 -o- 
 
 o 
 
 -bc-l. 
 
 I fl 
 
 PQ- 
 
 c3
 
 92 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 Relational and Differential Machines. From the laws 
 which have been already detailed, it is apparent that 
 thought is amenable to fixed principles. By taking advan- 
 tage of a knowledge of these principles it occurred to me 
 that mechanical contrivances might be formed which should 
 obey similar laws, and give those results which some may 
 have considered only obtainable by the operation of the 
 mind itself. 
 
 In order to induce a general law from specific instances, 
 and deduce the application of a law to a particular case by 
 means of mechanical contrivances, we must take advantage 
 of the geometrical arrangement of words formerly described, 
 and denote each word by a cypher, and lastly arrange 
 them in such a manner that each cypher may bear its 
 proper relation to every other cypher. 
 
 The application of the geometric arrangement of cyphers 
 may be best represented by any contrivance, the parts of 
 which continually divide by a hinge joint into two portions. 
 Nothing apparently can be more simple than this arrange- 
 ment ; though, practically, for large series, the details are 
 so troublesome, that it has required much more labour to 
 bring it into a working form than I had originally antici- 
 pated, owing to the difficulty which arises from the neces- 
 sity of a large number of parts being compelled to move 
 all upon the other parts of the contrivance, which is abso- 
 lutely necessary to the construction of the machine. 
 
 I have before me, whilst I write, seven or eight varieties 
 of these contrivances, some of which have their fixed points 
 at the top of the geometric series, and some at the other 
 extremity of the same. Perhaps the construction of the 
 latter may be illustrated by a number of lines and letters as 
 in the annexed diagram for a series of sixteen, thus :
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 A 
 
 93 
 
 $ 
 
 I 
 
 33 
 
 J 
 
 L 
 
 B 
 
 < 
 
 -i 
 
 ' ] 
 
 ) 
 
 I 
 
 L 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 
 D 
 
 
 D 
 
 : 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 ? 
 
 C 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 
 b 
 
 c 
 
 d 
 
 e 
 
 f 
 
 g 
 
 h 
 
 i 
 
 j 
 
 k 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 In this case the fixed point of every line is at the bot- 
 tom of the diagram, and each is represented as fixed upon 
 a board. The whole is now shown as open, but it will be 
 seen that when closed the act of opening any one of the 
 lowest set would partially influence its corresponding cypher 
 in the series above it. This form illustrates the principle 
 exceedingly well, is simple in its construction, and by a 
 proper use of readings is applicable in all cases. 
 
 Upon the whole, however, perhaps the fixed point had 
 better be placed at the upper part of the series, and as there 
 are some difficulties in constructing it to work as a triangle, 
 it may be arranged to shut up as a parallelogram. 
 
 This kind of motion, requiring whole series of move- 
 ments to move upon other movements, is a new requisite 
 in mechanical contrivances ; or at any rate I am unac- 
 quainted with its use amongst the machines which abound 
 in this great metropolis. 
 
 When the vast extent of a machine sufficiently large to 
 include all words and sequences is considered, we at once 
 observe the absolute impossibility of forming one for such 
 an extended application, inasmuch as it would cover an area
 
 94 
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 exceeding probably all London, and the very attempt to 
 move its respective parts upon each other, would inevitably 
 cause its own destruction. Nevertheless, those lesser ma- 
 chines containing but a few elements, exemplify the prin- 
 ciples of their operation, and demonstrate those laws of 
 
 RELATIONAL MACHINE. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 induction, deduction, and relation, the right use of which 
 cannot fail to render our thoughts more accurate, and our 
 language more precise. 
 
 I have also devised a relational slate which the student
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 95 
 
 may profitably use in the study of thought or for accuracy 
 of reasoning. It is thus marked. 
 
 If we examine the results which can be obtained from 
 the use of the relational machine, we observe that an action 
 represented by an opening at any point represents a similar 
 action upon every other element placed below it in the 
 series, and also a partial action of every element having 
 relation to it at the higher part of the series, hence the 
 value of every expression, and its relations to other expres- 
 sions, can be read off. 
 
 The machine, however, can do more than this ; for two 
 or more facts, or two or more assertions, can be represented 
 by actions in a similar manner. Like the human brain, it 
 is competent to give the resultant of any number of pro- 
 positions be they ever so numerous, and show their mutual 
 bearings upon each other. 
 
 If the machine were sufficiently extensive to comprise 
 every fact or principle which has been ascertained, then 
 when any new fact is learnt it might be appended, and its 
 bearings upon more general instances, or more particular 
 cases, would be immediately shown. 
 
 It is thus apparent that this mechanism gives an ana- 
 logous representation of the natural process of thought, as 
 perfectly as a human contrivance can well be expected to 
 afford ; yet we perceive how limited is the knowledge which 
 it is competent to convey, when compared with that which 
 is obtainable by the mind through the natural operation 
 of the brain, 
 
 In examining the relations derivable from a knowledge 
 of sequences, we must have recourse to that artificial system 
 of notation described in the chapter on the resolution of a 
 sentence. We must record the substantive changing in one 
 geometric series ; the nature of the change, in a seeond ;
 
 96 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 the substantive acted upon, in a third ; and the nature of 
 the changes which it undergoes, in a fourth. If all the 
 words in each division were placed in their proper relation, 
 then any action on the machine indicates every principle 
 which is inducible, or every fact which is deducible from 
 the assertion. In like manner, the resultant of any num- 
 ber of assertions is immediately shown in the form of in- 
 ductions or deductions. It is not necessary in practice to 
 have a separate series for each subject, for the force of each 
 word can be studied separately, together with its relation 
 to other words, and their relation to the other subjects can 
 be ascertained. Supposing that the machine could be made 
 sufficiently extensive for all practical purposes, yet the 
 labour of employing it would be so great, that persons 
 would soon rely upon the abilities which it has pleased 
 Providence to give to them, and not seek assistance from 
 extraneous sources. 
 
 The relational machine can also be employed, to a slight 
 extent, as either an addition, subtraction, or multiplication 
 machine, with all the advantages attached to the use of the 
 functions of the geometric series. To all who understand 
 the use of logarithms, this must be sufficiently apparent, 
 without troubling my readers with a further description. 
 
 The relational machine may be so constructed, that when 
 one of the higher or more comprehensive symbols is exem- 
 plified upon it by an action to an unknown extent, as in 
 the general assertion of some, the deductions in the lower 
 series, or more particular series, will exemplify the uncer- 
 tainty as to the particular ones which are effected ; thus if 
 we know that some men are short and some tall, then in 
 the lower readings we shall find that it is impossible to 
 indicate from that general principle, which particular ones 
 are short or which are tall.
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 97 
 
 RELATIONAL SLATE. 
 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A | B 
 
 | D 
 
 a 1 b | c | d 
 
 e | f | jr 1 h 
 
 a|b|c d | e | f | g | h 
 
 i|k|l m | n | o | p | q 
 
 The Relational Slate is divided into a geometrical series 
 of spaces. For the purpose of ascertaining the effect which 
 any statement may have upon other cases, the words ex- 
 pressing that which contains the subject to be investigated 
 should be inserted in any one compartment about the 
 middle of the slate. All other words are then placed in 
 relation to these in the following manner : Words bearing 
 the same meaning must be placed in the same compartment. 
 Words designating a portion of the objects which are 
 described under the first word are placed in lower com- 
 partments, each having its proper relation to the rest. 
 These lower words obey the properties of lower geometrical 
 symbols. Words which comprise a greater range of mean- 
 ing than the first words are placed above the first words, 
 and obey the properties of higher symbols. Words which 
 are neither more comprehensive, nor more limited in their 
 meaning, and of which no relation is known, should be 
 inserted in some other part of the series, completely beyond 
 the highest words whose relations are known, and obey 
 the laws of extraneous geometrical symbols. Lastly, if no 
 relation is known for a word, it may be inserted at any 
 point with a query after it. Having placed the words in 
 relation, the assertion is entirely true of all the lower words, 
 and only partially true of all the higher words, and has 
 no bearing upon the extraneous words. 
 
 Example. Required to know the inferences deducible 
 from the premisses All men die. Savages are a portion 
 
 H
 
 98 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 of mankind. All men who are not savages are civilised. 
 Organised beings comprise animals. The New Zealanders 
 are a portion of the savages. John is a civilised man. 
 Cats are a portion of animals, but not of men. Stones are 
 not a portion of organised beings. Flint is one of all 
 stones. Plants are a part of organised beings. 
 
 RELATIONS. 
 
 ORGANISED BEINGS. 
 
 I I 
 
 Stonea 
 
 
 Animals 
 
 Plants Cats 
 
 All 
 
 Mint 
 
 Civilised Savages 
 
 I I 
 
 I I I 
 
 John New Zealander 
 
 Answer. Savages, Civilised People, John, and New 
 Zealanders are lower symbols, consequently they all die, 
 Organised Beings and Animals are higher symbols, there- 
 fore some of each die ; but Plants, Stones, and Flint are 
 extraneous symbols, therefore nothing is stated with regard 
 to their deaths. 
 
 Example of a resultant of several Propositions. Civilised 
 Men die. Stones are not organised beings ; Trees die ; 
 Savages die; Plants comprise trees and other vegetables. 
 All men are either civilised or savages. Those animals 
 which are not men die. Plants and animals comprise the 
 whole of organised beings. Required to know what infer- 
 ence may be drawn from these premisses.
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 99 
 
 RELATIONS. 
 
 ORGANISED BEINGS. 
 
 Animals Plants Stones 
 
 r iii 
 
 All Men All Animals but Men Trees 
 
 Civilised Savages 
 
 Answer. Civilised men and savages confer their whole 
 power on all men, therefore they die. All men, and all 
 animals but men, confer their whole power on animals, 
 therefore they all die. Trees confer some power on plants, 
 some of which consequently die; and all animals, and 
 some plants, confer a partial power on organised beings, 
 some of which therefore only die. Stones, being extra- 
 neous to the subject, are not affected by these premisses. 
 
 By the natural powers of thought the mind also possesses 
 a spontaneity, a power by which bygone impressions appear, 
 constituting an act of memory. These the mind treats 
 according to all the symbols impressed on the brain, and 
 moulds them into one harmonious whole to constitute an act 
 of imagination. This property, ever active in the fertile 
 minds of our dramatic and novelist writers, is never exer- 
 cised without due regard to the experiences which have 
 been afforded of the natural sequences of events. The mere 
 conception of an idea would be useless unless its relation to 
 other ideas and other events was fully shown ; and the 
 exercise of the faculties of remembering, combining, and 
 comparing ideas, is amply shown in man, and indicates a 
 power of adaptation in his cerebral organisation as given by 
 Nature infinitely superior to any human contrivance how- 
 ever ingenious. We thus perceive that, whether we study
 
 100 
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 the mechanical arrangements of the bones, the optical 
 structure of the eye, the hydrostatic apparatus for the 
 circulation of the blood, the acoustic arrangements for 
 hearing, the mechanism of muscular motion, the generation 
 of force, or that physical structure which is the instrument 
 of the mind, we are equally astonished at the infinite per- 
 fection of their design. This cannot fail to show to man his 
 utter insignificance in his inventive skill, as displayed in his 
 mechanical contrivances, when contrasted with the wonderful 
 example of creative power which his own beautiful and 
 perfect organisation affords, and must make him deeply feel 
 the infinite perfection of Nature. 
 
 Not only can we take advantage of the laws of induction 
 and deduction, and exemplify them by mechanism, but we 
 can also in the same way exemplify the laws of judgment 
 by pieces of mechanism of a different description, which may 
 be termed the differential machines. 
 
 In estimating the differences between any two assertions 
 by artificial contrivances, it is necessary to have some 
 mechanism to represent each assertion. For this purpose 
 we may take a wire or pin, and divide it by spaces, 
 represented by certain symbols. Opposite to each symbol, 
 which must represent some word or fact, we must have the 
 means of noting whether the character of the subject is 
 absolutely known, or unknown, by using some appendage 
 of two different dimensions (A B, fig. 9). By this con- 
 
 r L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 -H 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 PL 
 
 B|A| 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 101 
 
 trivance, we can accurately set out one side of the case. 
 Opposed to this, we must use a second pin, with appendages 
 competent to represent by three different sizes, ABC, 
 either similarity, dissimilarity, or unknown ; then by 
 bringing the two series together, an answer as to its 
 actual, probable, possible, or negative concurrence may be 
 obtained. 
 
 For instance, if in a definite set of symbols the value of 
 each is known, each would be represented by a space of one. 
 If, on the other side, the value of each was similarly 
 represented, then the two might shut together in the space 
 of two, and the reading would be ' Yes.' If on either side 
 some of the values of the cypher or the word were unknown, 
 then the two when brought together would occupy the 
 space of three, and the reading would be ' Probable ; ' but 
 if for any one cypher the value on both sides was unknown, 
 the space occupied would be four, and the reading given 
 would be ' Possibly.' Lastly, if on the two sides any two 
 symbols disagree, that want of accordance would be repre- 
 sented by a contrivance occupying the bulk of four on 
 the second side, and when brought together the amount 
 would be five, for which the reading of ' No ' would be 
 given. 
 
 By the differential machine it would be possible on one 
 side to arrange all the facts or principles which should direct 
 a judgment on a given point, by which means, when specific 
 facts were registered on the opposite side, the concurrence, 
 non-concurrence, probability, or possibility, would be imme- 
 diately shown. Perhaps this might be beneficially brought 
 into use by those who use fixed and unchangeable creeds ; 
 for if they be arranged correctly then any deviation from 
 them would be immediately registered. It must be apparent 
 that such a machine would not estimate the quality of the
 
 102 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 creed, but only show whether any new creed, or portion of 
 creed, coincided or not with the former creed. For whether 
 the creed inferred a belief in the true God, in Mohammed, 
 in ibises, crocodiles, or saints, the effect would be the same, 
 as these beliefs being assumed as true, the truth of that 
 which is compared with them is ascertained according to 
 them. There are many other cases where such a contriv- 
 ance might be beneficially employed ; for whenever passion 
 or powerful feeling is likely to interfere with a sober and 
 correct judgment, then the examination of each part sepa- 
 rately is likely to be properly used when the mechanical 
 answering upon the whole case will be, although immediately 
 performed by a human contrivance, according to those 
 principles which regulate the action of the brain in such 
 circumstances. 
 
 Nothing can show more usefully than this machine the 
 futility of guessing at any decision without any or sufficient 
 information upon which to form an opinion ; for if, at 
 random, certain actions be rendered on both sides of the 
 machine, then the almost ^ certain impossibility of ever 
 arriving at a true concordance will be speedily found upon 
 trial. What is true of this piece of mechanism is true of 
 the mind, which sufficiently teaches how slow we should be 
 to pass an opinion without a knowledge of all the facts 
 which bear upon the question. 
 
 By using the relational and differential machines to- 
 gether, we are enabled to obtain the bearing of any facts, or 
 to arrive at any conclusion to which the mind by itself is 
 competent. From any definite number of premisses the 
 correct answer may be obtained by a process imitating, as 
 near as possible, the natural process of thought. 
 
 It would be a great boon to the community if the Judges, 
 notwithstanding their high integrity, would use such an
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 103 
 
 instrument, as then what one calls right would not be called 
 by a second wrong. A mechanical judge would be a boon 
 to the whole civilised world. 
 
 The Differential Slate is designed to illustrate the laws of 
 judgment, and to show their application to complex instances. 
 For this purpose lines are ruled upon the slate to form spaces 
 in which to insert every statement in one of the cases with 
 which a second is compared. Two lines are then drawn to 
 give a small space for each case. Each of the two sets of 
 statements is examined separately, and when a statement 
 is known to exist, the number 1 is appended at the upper 
 part ; if it is unknown, the number 2 is appended. When 
 the same statement exists in the second case, the number 1 
 is placed in the second row; if it is unknown whether it 
 exists or not, the number 2 is appended ; and if it certainly 
 does not exist in the second case, the number 4 is inserted. 
 The numbers are then added up. If all the added numbers 
 are 2, the two statements are identical. If any one of the 
 added numbers is 3, the statements are only probably the 
 same ; and the number of 2s in proportion to the 3s deter- 
 mine the degree of probability. If any number 4 is present, 
 the second assertion is only possibly the same as the first, 
 and the degree of possibility may be in some degree inferred 
 from the proportion of the numbers 2 or 3 to 4. Lastly, if 
 the number 5 is present, the second assertion is not the same 
 as the first. 
 
 Example 1. John is the only man who is tall, fat, fair, 
 long-haired, wide-mouthed, has a limp in his gait, and a 
 peculiar squeak in his voice. This morning a woman saw a 
 man steal a leg of mutton, and she did not know his name, 
 but she states that he was tall and fat, his countenance was 
 fair, and his hair streamed over his shoulders. When she 
 looked at him his mouth seemed to stretch from ear to ear.
 
 104 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 As he walked lie limped in his gait ; and when she called 
 after him he squeaked out a terrible oath. Required to 
 know whether this man was John. 
 
 . 
 
 
 4 
 
 r ido-mouth. 
 
 5 
 
 P. 
 
 ! 
 
 squeaking 
 
 
 EH 
 
 
 
 EH 
 
 ^ 
 
 i-q 
 
 <J 
 
 4| 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 1st Case 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 2nd Case 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Yes 
 
 From the above premisses, the man who took the meat 
 was certainly John. 
 
 Example 2. Another person saw a man steal a fowl ; he 
 was tall, fat, of a fair complexion, and long-haired, and had 
 a limp in his walk, and that is all the account he could give. 
 In this case, in the second instance, as the existence of the 
 wide mouth and squeaky voice would be unknown, they 
 would be represented by 2, which being added to the 1 
 of the first case, would be 3, and the answer would be 
 * Probably.' 
 
 Example 3. Supposing we did not know whether the 
 above-recited peculiarities were not common to several men 
 and we have no other specified peculiarity to distinguish 
 him then ' other peculiarities ' must be added in another 
 column ; and as we are ignorant whether they exist or not, 
 the figure 2 must be inserted in the first case ; and also if 
 the same want of knowledge existed in the second case, 
 another 2 must be inserted, when, the sum being 4, the 
 answer would be 'Possibly/ 
 
 Example 4. Suppose the man observed to commit an 
 offence had a bass voice instead of a squeaky voice, then in
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 105 
 
 the second case the figure 4 must be inserted opposite to 
 squeaking voice, which being added to 1 would make 5, and 
 the answer would be ' No.' 
 
 Human and Divine laws, There are two modes by which 
 the human mind may be affected, and all our actions regu- 
 lated to a common purpose ; one by the impression of the 
 nervous system by induction from below upwards, that is, 
 from the action on the nerves of sensation through the 
 mind to general laws, and the other from the effect of 
 general laws which act downwards by deduction to the 
 particular instance. 
 
 The one by induction is the ordinary result of the 
 natural mind as detailed in this work. The one by deduction 
 is by the reception of the laws of God as given us by religion. 
 
 Is religion and reason discordant ? No ! One effects 
 from above downward, the other from below upward, and 
 if both are right they must agree, they cannot possibly differ. 
 The doctrines of religion would be vain unless they are 
 the laws of God, and the word of God. In like manner, it 
 must be remembered that the inductions of the human mind, 
 if made in sincerity and truth, are equally the result of the 
 mechanism created by God. 
 
 Man should therefore accept as a fact that the results 
 of the true reason of man are identical with the laws of 
 God, and the one originating inductively from the human 
 mind should accord deductively with the results which are 
 obtained by the ordinances of religion. 
 
 Mentally, if both are right, there can be no disagreement, 
 for whether we examine the question from above downwards 
 or from below upwards, no difference can possibly exist, 
 inasmuch as the mind is one whole. Then why should be 
 therefore these continual differences between the teachers of 
 religion and the teachers of science ? At the present time it
 
 106 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 is difficult to enter a church without hearing the name 
 of science being held from the pulpit to disrespect ; and it 
 is equally difficult to enter the chambers of science without 
 hearing the pastor of religion in a like manner spoken of 
 with dissatisfaction. And why? The pastors of religion 
 are, as a rule, profoundly ignorant of the physical laws 
 which govern the universe, and the teachers of science are 
 equally ignorant of the moral laws which govern the actions 
 of mankind. 
 
 For example, to love thy neighbour as thyself is a great 
 Christian doctrine, which is a general law, which should 
 affect every act of ourselves deductively ; but to induce that 
 law inductively, a greater experience must have occurred 
 than really could be anticipated by the knowledge of any 
 one man, yet the experiences of all men might be collected 
 into a general law, when it would accord inductively with 
 the results which are derived deductively from the law of 
 Christ. 
 
 The fault of the present day is the education of teachers 
 of religion at one school where physical science is not only 
 discarded but ignored, and the education of teachers of 
 science at another school where the laws of religion are 
 almost as equally ignored. 
 
 The remedy for this gigantic evil would be to teach 
 all men to a certain extent knowledge in common, so that 
 when they diverge afterwards into their special studies, 
 science shall not be without religion, nor religion without 
 knowledge. 
 
 Another remedy for the present unfortunate position 
 of the mind of the age would be for different classes more 
 freely to interchange ideas. The tendency of the period 
 is for society to group together in classes ; even the Royal 
 Society for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge is most
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 107 
 
 exclusive to all but actual followers of natural science. The 
 clergy separate themselves, the doctors congregate together, 
 but a continual intercourse in a right spirit has a tendency 
 to perfect the mind of all ; and whether they work in the 
 upper, lower, or middle departments of their minds, all 
 should accord. 
 
 The priest trained to the study of the external world 
 and of the natural operations of the human mind, is a totally 
 different man from the priest who ignores knowledge and 
 the effect of reason. The one sees Nature and God as they 
 are, the other only by his own unenlightened mind, which 
 leads many to inconstancy, idolatry, and man- worship. 
 
 It is sufficient for every well-meaning member of society 
 to know that the mind is a circle one and indivisible ; and, 
 whether affected in one direction by the general laws of 
 God to the particular instance, or in the other from the 
 particular instance to the laws of God, 
 induced therefrom, the effect of our 
 actions would be alike regulated by 
 general laws. 
 
 Religion 
 
 t 
 
 General laws. 
 
 4- 
 
 Wherever religion and science do 
 
 not exactly accord the discrepancy Particular instance.. 
 
 marks error. It is then worth any 
 labour to make them agree by the 
 conjoined operations of the labourers 
 in religion and science that truth may prevail. 
 
 For the last five- and- forty years I have been a regular 
 attendant at St. Paul's Cathedral, and consequently have 
 heard most of the preachers of mark in the metropolis of 
 this century ; it is clear to any rational mind there is error 
 in the pulpit ; one affirms, another denies, whilst it is the 
 property of truth ever to remain unchanged, and to stand 
 the test of fair inquiry.
 
 108 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 For the last five-and-forty years I have also been mixed 
 up with most of the scientific inquiries of this eventful 
 century, and had constant communications with the pioneers 
 of knowledge. Many have expressed their extreme regret 
 that the teachers of religion should not acquaint themselves 
 with the knowledge which is obtained from the external 
 world by the mind, but should give themselves to fancied 
 deductions and crude imaginations which have no expo- 
 nents in the external world. 
 
 Those who love their church, and view it as an ines- 
 timable blessing to mankind, most earnestly wish that the 
 pastors should so discipline their own minds by knowledge 
 that they appeal to the minds of their hearers from the 
 general law to the particular instance, and from the par- 
 ticular instance to the general law, for the teachings of 
 religion and science must be identical when both are true. 
 It is a lamentable fact, but nevertheless one which admits 
 of no contradiction, that religion, as frequently taught in 
 the pulpit, is not the religion of the mass of the congrega- 
 tion of ordinary kno wled ge and intelligence. Religion is often 
 brought forward in a form positively distasteful to the minds 
 of many. The omnipotence of God, and the importance 
 of His almighty laws, are neglected for human traditions 
 and mediaeval superstitions : this very serious position cannot 
 long remain without danger to the community, for reason 
 and religion are one, and cannot be divided ; and, above 
 all things, it is of paramount importance that religious 
 teachings, involving as they do the laws of God, should be 
 in every minute particular based on absolute purity and un- 
 swerving truth. 
 
 Value of the pronoun I. In the human brain impressions 
 from the external world are continually being received, 
 are there registered, and remain to produce their influence
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 109 
 
 on the comparison between new and bygone knowledge. 
 As far as the mechanism of the brain exceeds that of any 
 human contrivance, so is the result of the proper applica- 
 tion of the mind more trustworthy than the artificial con- 
 trivances of reasoning by words, cyphers, or mechanical 
 inventions. 
 
 From this cause great respect is paid to any trustworthy 
 person, when he boldly declares that he himself believes 
 that any opinion which he promulgates is true. In writings, 
 therefore, nothing can exceed the value and force of the 
 word I, either implied or used ; and although there are 
 not found wanting persons who scoff at the pronoun, and 
 attempt to ridicule its use by recounting the number of 
 times per page it occurs as an act of egotism, yet its more 
 abundant employment would have saved the world from 
 much sophistry, deceit, and falsehood. 
 
 Almost all untrue statements are based upon arguments 
 by words, and the person who writes them never gives his 
 opinion unequivocally. His arguments by words throw 
 the responsibility of the conclusion on his readers, from 
 the facts which he has recorded ; and there is nothing to 
 show how many other facts or parts of facts he has sup- 
 pressed. But if he makes an assertion of his own belief, 
 his readers have the result of the natural process of thought, 
 if he be but honest and trustworthy. 
 
 By avoiding the use of the word /, a newspaper editor 
 in America actually conducted two journals of totally 
 opposite politics at the same time. In both cases he 
 showed certain arguments, and the conclusion legitimately 
 deducible from the premisses ; but he took care not to 
 include the little word /, or, in other words, to show the 
 belief which his own natural process of thought led him to 
 adopt.
 
 110 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 In all professional subjects the opinion of the profes- 
 sional person should be obtained. In the case of a lawyer, 
 he should distinctly give his opinion upon the whole 
 facts of the case ; so a medical man should be expected 
 to state a definite opinion from all the materials which 
 he can collect upon the subject. It has always been my 
 practice for years, however difficult a case may be on 
 which a report is given, first to state the difficulties of 
 the case, and finish by an opinion as it presents itself to 
 my mind, on all the facts of the case. In giving this 
 opinion, a result is obtained which has been derived from 
 the mind, the immediate work of God. In setting out 
 an argument by words or symbols, a result is obtained by 
 a process of mechanism devised by man. 
 
 Evidence and Testimony. Trials are employed to determine 
 the truth of an accusation against a certain person or persons, 
 that is, whether he or they at a certain place did something 
 which constituted a cause which produced an effect, the 
 whole occurrence having taken place between certain times. 
 This constitutes the charge, for instance, 'John, at No. 1 
 Peaceful Cottage, beat James, last Monday, at ten o'clock.' 
 For the purpose of ascertaining whether the offence was 
 really committed, a number of witnesses are called, and the 
 evidence which they each received, through the medium 
 of their senses, is recorded. If the images received upon 
 the sensorium of the witnesses, according to their statements, 
 correspond entirely with the images which such a charge 
 should have produced, the guilt of the party is said to be 
 proved by the concurrence. 
 
 In carrying this process to the very utmost possible per- 
 fection to which the system is capable, every word should 
 be so described that no possibility of wrong interpretation 
 could occur. Then, and only till then, can the statements
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. Ill 
 
 of the witnesses, when they express that which they re- 
 ceive upon the brain by symbols or words, be relied upon, 
 and no error be likely to occur from ambiguity. When 
 the sets of words or symbols derived from the witnesses 
 are compared with the words or symbols constituting the 
 charge, and are found to exactly concur, then a mere piece 
 of mechanism would be sufficient to show the guilt of the 
 party. 
 
 But we rarely can procure the evidence of witnesses to 
 prove charges in serious offences. The eye of man is shunned 
 at such periods, and thus no one sees the deed, and the 
 entire evidence is scarcely ever procured. In these cases, 
 the guilt of the party must of necessity be one of probability 
 or possibility, as there cannot be an absolute concurrence 
 between the symbols of the evidence and the symbols of the 
 charge. Nevertheless, upon that probability the law has 
 wisely ordained that criminals should be convicted, and ex- 
 piate their crimes by the highest punishment. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, ' John is charged with killing 
 Thomas with a knife, at 1 Miniver Place, at two o'clock on 
 Monday.' In this case, evidence might be adduced that 
 John was there at that time, that John's knife actually 
 killed Thomas, and that John was badly affected towards 
 Thomas, for no one would take the trouble to kill another 
 unless he had a motive. Now, in this instance, the mode 
 of the act of killing would not be proved but from the 
 concurrence in all other particulars, and the total want of 
 disagreement between the charge and the facts proved. 
 John is probably guilty, and the jury would doubtless return 
 such a verdict. 
 
 This verdict, however, is only one of high probability, 
 and we must not forget that James, of whom no evidence 
 was given, and against whom no charge was made, might
 
 112 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 have taken the knife from John's pocket, killed Thomas, 
 and then put the knife back again, totally unknown to John. 
 There can be no question but that in the annals of English 
 jurisprudence, notwithstanding all its care, innocent persons 
 have fallen victims from probable or possible guilt having 
 been confounded with actual guilt. 
 
 The laws of affirmation, negation, possibility, and pro- 
 bability, might be turned with good account to prevent this 
 serious mischief. The accusation might be clearly set out ; 
 the evidences of the witnesses might be taken before the 
 jury, who are manifestly the proper persons to assign a 
 right word or symbol to the impression which the witnesses 
 received of the event in question. Having arranged these 
 symbols, one by one, opposite the corresponding symbols of 
 the accusation, my differential machine would describe the 
 possible, probable, or actual guilt of the person accused. 
 
 Although I have assumed a criminal case for the pur- 
 pose of my argument, yet the same reasoning would hold 
 good in every civil case. One man sustains a damage at 
 the hands of a second ; the charge is set out, the witnesses 
 give their testimony, and the question of identity between 
 the charge and testimony is one which may be determined 
 by mechanical contrivances when the words in the two 
 instances are accurately set out. 
 
 In every case the intervention of the jury is necessary 
 to assign a word to express that which the witness describes, 
 because it would be impossible to obtain witnesses who shall 
 be enabled to declare the particular nervous fibres which 
 were excited when the event occurred. Moreover the exa- 
 mination of every word with such minuteness, would be very 
 tedious, though it might admit of minute investigation. 
 The meaning of every important word should be fully un- 
 ravelled in every instance.
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 113 
 
 When the defendant answers a charge, he should, if it 
 be unfounded, admit every circumstance which is true, and 
 deny only the circumstances which are false. By this pro- 
 ceeding, the attention of the jury is likely to be concen- 
 trated upon the immediate point in dispute, and thus be 
 enabled carefully to estimate the value of the testimony 
 adduced. By this course, the accused destroys the apparent 
 effect of that high probability which is likely to be pro- 
 duced by an extensive concurrence between the charge and 
 the evidence. 
 
 In most cases of testimony the assertions of all the wit- 
 nesses do not agree. Some give evidence of one kind, some 
 of the opposite, so that the evidence upon the same point 
 is contradictory. In these cases, the laws of induction and 
 deduction are applied by the jury, to judge of the value of 
 the testimony, and that which affords most probability, or 
 that which most coincides with former knowledge, is re- 
 ceived. 
 
 We thus perceive how imperfect, at best, are our con- 
 clusions, even when based upon the most approved evidence. 
 We cannot fail to observe, that however carefully a jury 
 may investigate a case, however unbiassed and unprejudiced 
 they may be, yet, nevertheless, their verdict, in a majority 
 of cases, can only be considered as proving the probability 
 or possibility of the guilt of any person. In every instance 
 the result is obtained by the artificial means afforded by 
 words and language, and we should never forget that wher- 
 ever words are employed, there errors may creep in. 
 
 Quibbling. The imperfections of logic have been for so 
 many ages employed by mankind for quibbling, deceiving, 
 and leading to wrong conclusions, that we cannot do better 
 than restrain its application to the same derogatory pur- 
 poses ; and instead of showing how, by extraordinary acumen 
 
 i
 
 114 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 and a high exercise of mental power, it may. serve to a good 
 object, we shall at once describe the usual methods by which 
 it serves for a contrary purpose. 
 
 For proving what is false from any given premiss, logic 
 is extremely convenient, as the system does not note with 
 sufficient accuracy the signification of various words, and 
 their mutual relations, unless, indeed, we except any very 
 gross ambiguity in the middle term. A pun consists of 
 good reasoning upon words having one sound or spelling, 
 but two senses. By the natural process of thought, unless 
 the individual is, indeed, exceedingly obtuse, the mind, as 
 soon as the conclusion is brought before it, perceives the 
 joke, and the auditor laughs at the deception, Example, 
 ' John, as you are light you can illuminate this passage.' 
 
 Puns, however, are such glaring cases of using appa- 
 rently the same word in different senses, that a deception 
 could very seldom be practised by them, yet in a less degree 
 errors may certainly arise in that manner. 
 
 One great and frequent deception which can be effected 
 under the logical system, is by using a noun in one term, 
 and a qualified noun in a second. But to be successful, the 
 qualification must not be apparent, it must be understood. 
 If I say ' I had a bird for dinner,' then the qualification 
 'cooked' is understood. The further removed this quali- 
 fication can be placed from the noun in any argument, and 
 the smaller it is in amount, the more successful is the quibble 
 likely to be. A humorous story is quoted by Professor De 
 Morgan, which is a good example of a transparent quibble 
 of this character. ' A servant who was roasting a stork for 
 his master, was prevailed upon by his sweetheart to cut 
 off a leg for her to eat. When the bird came upon table, 
 the master desired to know what was become of the other 
 leg. The man answered, that storks had never more than
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 1 1 5 
 
 one leg. The master, very angry, but determined to strike 
 his servant dumb before he punished him, took him the 
 next day into the fields, where they saw storks standing, 
 each on one leg, as storks do. The servant turned tri- 
 umphantly to his master, on which the latter shouted, and 
 the birds put down their other legs and flew away. " Ah, 
 sir," said the servant, " you did not shout to the stork at 
 dinner yesterday ; if you had done so, he would have shown 
 his other leg too." 
 
 Another common mode of deception for those who ad- 
 mire that course, is to link two sets of things together ; and 
 thus it has happened that when a statement has been made 
 true in all particulars but on some trifling point, a total 
 denial has been given to the whole, and then the auditor 
 was allowed to infer that the whole was not true. Example, 
 'Are there not persons involved ?' Answer, 'No.' It was 
 afterwards discovered that there was one person. 
 
 The converse method is frequently employed by un- 
 scrupulous counsel in their cross-examination of witnesses, 
 to make a fact appear to the jury contrary to what it really 
 is. For this purpose they ask a question as to a qualified 
 noun, the answer to the noun in its general signification 
 being negative, the qualification positive, or vice versa. For 
 this mode of quibbling, the qualification should be as much 
 concealed as possible. The object of this quibble is so to 
 put a question that a direct answer either way is both par- 
 tially true and partially false, thus, 'Did you go there 
 soon ?' Now either Yes or No would be partially true and 
 partially false, because ' I went there, but not soon/ 
 
 The value of logic to deceive or give a wrong inference, 
 by extending or limiting the sense of a word, cannot be 
 overrated. It is so perfect, that probably no well-instructed 
 logician would fail to evolve an argument, and give a totally
 
 116 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 different conclusion from that which is correct. On all 
 these occasions the error should be thrown over as many 
 words as possible, that it would become a matter of much 
 labour to discover its exact locality. 
 
 The verb is a word upon which the quibble may be 
 turned. In the first place, the substantive character con- 
 tained in the verb may be altered a little by attenuation or 
 amplification, with precisely the same results as though the 
 quibble had been made by the noun. The quibble may be 
 made by extending or limiting the signification of the time 
 so little that it is scarcely noticeable, and yet the meaning 
 may be greatly altered. At times even the effect which the 
 verb has upon the meaning of the nouns to which it apper- 
 tains, may be in like manner altered. Whenever we can 
 add or subtract ever so little from the true signification 
 of a word, the meaning may be entirely changed. 
 
 A common form of quibble amongst dishonest men is to 
 give an answer inferring a premiss which renders a sup- 
 posed fact impossible; for instance, when a cardinal was 
 accused of taking an oath to persecute Protestants, he an- 
 swered to the effect that cardinals were not required to take 
 the oath ; and to this day nobody knows whether he took 
 the oath or not. The quibble consists in the value of the 
 proposition, * Cardinals are not required to take the oath.' 
 for it is possible that cardinals may be excepted, but that 
 he in another capacity took it. 
 
 There is a mode of practising mendacity which is imme- 
 diately apparent. It consists in using two words to signify 
 the same person or thing, one being used in one case, the 
 second in the other, and then the assertion which is made 
 of one is denied of the other. When one priest was reviled 
 for the influence which another exerted on the mind of an 
 old man to cut off the entire fortune from his own children
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 117 
 
 to bestow it on the priest, lie replied that the statement was 
 false, for that his name was not mentioned in the will. 
 The son rejoined, ' No, but the name of the vicar apostolic 
 was :' the vicar apostolic and the priest being at one time 
 the same person. 
 
 A telling mode of quibbling is much used by quacks. 
 In this case the quibble is thrown upon causality. They 
 enter into an elaborate argument to prove truly that 
 something undergoes a change, and thus may become a 
 cause ; they repeat the argument upon the something which 
 changes and becomes an effect; but the cause and effect 
 have no manner or kind of relation, the cause being the 
 cause of another effect, and the effect the result of another 
 cause. 
 
 There is a form of quibbling which is powerful in scur- 
 rilous writings ; for instance, we may give a man credit for 
 the love of some virtuous action, in doing something which 
 is manifestly not virtuous, and hence, from the result, infer 
 the contrary to that which is expressed. As if we said that 
 A B, no doubt from a love of honesty, religion, and high 
 principle, keeps the money left to the orphan and fatherless, 
 applies the wealth bequeathed to the friends for his own 
 purposes, seizes upon all which he can obtain by law, and 
 not by equity, and makes a merit of giving to charities 
 money which morally belongs to others. The mind is first 
 led to anticipate honesty and high principles ; but in the 
 end it discovers moral delinquencies, and the villany of the 
 action is inferred by premisses not given, but intrinsically 
 belonging to it. 
 
 A serious quibble in use in this country is the infer- 
 ence of a fraudulent design in the motives of men, and 
 an appeal then to judges in Chancery. It is so telling that 
 judges set aside contracts, reverse acts and lead to extor-
 
 118 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 tion, as proverbially to render the courts in the minds of 
 foreigners a terror. 
 
 A quibble is sometimes practised by some action, having 
 a definite signification, being used in addition to the words 
 spoken ; thus, if a person asks -a pew-opener to show him 
 into a seat, and at the same time rattles the money in his 
 pocket, the pew-opener would certainly infer that he was 
 to receive some reward for the performance of his duties ; 
 but if the visitor, on gaining a seat, took his hand out again 
 without bestowing the gratuity, doubtless the official would 
 be so much astonished that his devotions for that service 
 would be materially interfered with. 
 
 The meaning of a word may be totally altered by mere 
 change of emphasis, and hence this plan is often used for 
 quibbling. The words from the Bible, 'Saddle me the 
 ass, and they saddled him the ass,' may be totally varied 
 in their signification by a change of emphasis on the word 
 him. 
 
 A fallacy which is frequently employed is, to allow a 
 question of high probability to be inferred as a certainty ; 
 and conversely, a question of certainty to be inferred as 
 only one of high probability ; as if we said, that John was 
 found guilty of murder, therefore his innocence is impos- 
 sible. So, also, a possible supposition may be extended into 
 a reality, and many men are ruined by investing money in 
 concerns which are only possibly good. A mean in the 
 same way may be used without reference to the variation 
 of the limits ; thus a man might be drowned in a river 
 whose mean depth was only one inch, because occasionally 
 it may be six feet deep. 
 
 An assurance office might grant annuities upon the 
 assumption that the mean age at which a man died was 
 forty. It turned out that half the persons died before the
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 119 
 
 age of two, and consequently the remainder died on an 
 average at a higher age. The annuities were granted to 
 persons above two years of age, when the office would neces- 
 sarily have failed. 
 
 In conversation, persons frequently take two sets of 
 words, each having the same meaning, and argue that one 
 is true because the other is, when, in reality, neither is true. 
 Thus ' John is a tall man,' because he is a person of con- 
 siderable height. By this mode of quibbling the mind is 
 thrown off from the manner in which information was ob- 
 tained of his height, and the probable value of that assertion. 
 This is called circular quibbling. 
 
 People are often thrown off their guard by being asked 
 a reason for that which is not true, and by which they are 
 led to infer that a falsity is true. Example, ' How can lead 
 be turned to gold ? ' To answer the question centuries were 
 spent in attempting the conversion. The question involved 
 the understood premiss, that lead is convertible into gold. 
 
 Conversely, persons are deceived by reasoning upon that 
 which can be reduced to a matter of fact. 
 
 One of the most certain of all forms of quibbling is to 
 describe the same thing by a totally different word. In 
 this way the greater part of Paganism has been handed 
 down under the much-abused name of Christianity. 
 
 By a variation in punctuation a complete subversion of 
 the meaning of words may be produced. At various times 
 I have met with curious exemplifications of the possible 
 mode of quibbling by a variation in the punctuation ; and 
 once a person actually told me that he never punctuated his 
 letters, that he might make them read in various ways if 
 that course should be required. The fear of the effect of 
 any punctuation is so great, that legal documents are 
 never stopped.
 
 120 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 Sometimes quibbles turn upon assuming a conclusion as 
 proved, which is termed begging the question ; and at other 
 times the mind is distracted by a second person answering 
 away from the main point, which is an evasion of the ques- 
 tion. By skilful quibblers both these modes may be ren- 
 dered sufficiently effective to deceive others. 
 
 There is a form of quibble much practised by senators 
 and other great men. They give a right conclusion, but 
 conceal, increase, or alter, the whole or a part of the pre- 
 misses from which the conclusion has been drawn. I admit 
 the necessity of keeping back facts at certain times, but 
 fearing the danger of any kind of quibble, it appears to me, 
 that a man in power should have the option of submitting or 
 concealing the facts, rather than that he should be com- 
 pelled to resort to any form of untruth whatsoever, even for 
 the benefit of the state. 
 
 By introducing hypothetical facts amongst direct asser- 
 tions, an inference may be given to the mind of a second 
 party that such fact exists, or that there are good reasons to 
 believe the possibility of the fact. Example : He is a good 
 lawyer, a clever man, a person of great industry and ability, 
 and will be admirably adapted for your purpose if he is 
 honest. By this quibble the man's "honesty and general 
 character are questioned. 
 
 There is a quibble used by controversial writers, as they 
 frequently contrive to throw the quibble upon the value 
 of an authority ; thus the author must be wrong be- 
 cause Hunter says differently. This assertion involves the 
 false premiss, that everything which Hunter says is 
 right. 
 
 It not unfrequently happens that persons quibble by 
 denying the desire to do a particular act while they are 
 actually engaged upon it : thus, ' I do not wish to be guilty
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 121 
 
 of the bad taste of praising my own piece of sculpture ; but 
 yet, when I examine the charming proportion of its parts, 
 and the beauty of its finish, truth compels me to declare that 
 there never was any piece of work equal to it.' 
 
 The multitudinous quibble is generally practised by our 
 Transatlantic brethren in the formation of companies. They 
 state a general fact in a prospectus, and then support it by 
 various statements in newspapers, letters, &c., so that they 
 get a combination of statements all tending to one con- 
 clusion. It is practically found that very few persons have 
 mental power sufficient to withstand the combined and reite- 
 rated assertions of a number of people all varying in their 
 statements, but yet tending to the same end. 
 
 A rather refined quibble is occasionally practised by 
 taking advantage of some abnormal state of the second 
 party, when he is not likely to see things in their true 
 light. 
 
 It has now been shown how man can deceive his fellow- 
 creatures by the use of that artificial system of words and 
 language, the power to use which has alone been bestowed 
 upon human beings. No matter how voluminous an argu- 
 ment maybe no matter how the truth or falsehood may be 
 involved, a man may "always be put upon his veracity in any 
 statement he may make, by asking him, ' Do you of your 
 conscience believe your assertion to be correct and calculated 
 to lead to a right inference ? ' By this question you throw the 
 difficulty from the work of man in his imperfect artificial 
 mechanism of words, to that work of Nature from which 
 emanates the mind. In obedience to this recommendation, 
 I do declare, that this work, and my treatises on which it is 
 founded, contain, to the best of my belief, correct and true 
 deductions from all the facts which I have been able to 
 collect upon the structure and the mode of arrangement of
 
 122 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 the nervous system on the one hand, and the observed 
 functions on the other ; and I feel assured that the 
 whole system is one fairly based upon the observation of 
 nature. 
 
 The use of words and language is designed especially to 
 communicate our ideas and thoughts from one to another, 
 rather than for the purpose of our own individual judgment. 
 Probably no great discovery was ever made by reasoning by 
 words, but contrariwise by the pure and natural operation of 
 the mind. Some who have made discoveries are slow even 
 to explain them by words, and much less proficient to detail 
 the train of thought by which they arrived at their conclu- 
 sions. Amongst the more noble efforts of thought upon 
 purely material questions, the properties of numbers, and 
 the science of arithmetic ; the sciences of trigonometry and 
 geometry ; the laws of the motions of celestial bodies ; the 
 laws of the relations of the physical forces, and the laws of 
 chemical combination, are the most important which have as 
 yet been developed. 
 
 These have been thought out by the mind after the facts 
 in nature had been carefully noted and registered in the 
 brain. All these inductions involve the higher depart- 
 ments of the mind ; and as the laws have been made on all 
 the facts of the case, they involve the consideration of all 
 human knowledge. 
 
 Having all the facts upon a case duly implanted in a 
 healthy brain the mind may come to an instantaneous 
 conclusion. From the natural inferiority of words and 
 language, and their inferiority to the natural process of 
 thought, it would be tedious if not impossible so to set out a 
 case by words that a comprehensive law should be developed. 
 Even when developed it is difficult very difficult so to 
 explain the train of thought as to render it thoroughly
 
 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 123 
 
 intelligible to a second person, whilst it is so tedious that 
 very few persons dare venture to attempt it. 
 
 From these considerations we should restrict the use of 
 words and language to their true and proper application, 
 the communication of facts and thoughts from one person to 
 another. 
 
 When a train of ideas is derived from the external 
 world by the mind, their bearing from the general law to 
 the particular instance, and their relation to other trains of 
 ideas, present themselves to the mind the moment they are 
 appreciated, and when the mind is active and healthy all the 
 bearings of a case are perceived with vividness. When a 
 train of ideas have to be communicated by words and lan- 
 guage, it is difficult to present them as a whole at one 
 moment, they have to be presented piecemeal. 
 
 In the city of London, amongst the higher classes of 
 commercial men, a distinguished barrister Mr. William 
 Cracroft Fooks, now a Queen's counsel commanded great 
 admiration from the extreme skill with which he drew 
 complicated deeds. One day, on being in consultation, I 
 ventured to allude to his acknowledged skill, and told 
 him that his deeds evidently showed the marks of design ; 
 and I asked him if he would favour me with the general 
 plan in his own mind by which he prepared those docu- 
 ments which had so delighted and astonished the mercan- 
 tile community. 
 
 He said that it was easy : that he extracted from all the 
 materials sent to him in any particular case the general 
 affirmative, that formed the substance of the deed. Then 
 he collected the exceptions logically and in order, then the 
 provisos, and lastly the qualifications. Whilst it was of the 
 utmost importance to collect the general affirmative, yet he 
 had to study the effect to be produced on the mind of a
 
 124 ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 second person by the general arrangement of the events, 
 and thus it was of great importance to collect all affirma- 
 tive propositions, or rather to collect every part of the 
 case to an affirmative statement.
 
 125 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 
 
 Argument of design Fixity of laws of nature Fixity of moral laws 
 Effect of prayer Power of prayer Nature of matter Origin of 
 matter Creation of the universe Omnipresence of the Deity His 
 Omniscience His Omnipotence. 
 
 THE various ideas which appear to the mind spontaneously 
 by its natural operations have been already discussed ; and 
 it has been demonstrated that in a normal state of mind the 
 idea of an infinite future state of good and evil, and of an 
 infinite Power, is ever before the human mind ; but it now 
 remains to consider how the relation of the material world 
 to the immaterial may be also deduced from formal reason- 
 ing by words and language. 
 
 The exquisite adaptation of all things to their purposes 
 throughout all the works of Nature has led Paley to the 
 adoption of the argument that every design must have had 
 a designer, and that when an intricate piece of mechanism 
 is presented for examination, where every portion has its 
 appropriate design for a purpose, that a constructor must 
 be inferred. Reasoning from the mechanism of a watch to 
 the more complicated organisation of living beings, Paley was
 
 126 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 
 
 led to infer that the phenomena they exhibited proved the 
 existence of an Omnipotent Power, who designed and 
 created the universe. This argument was followed by a 
 series of discourses called the ' Bridgewater Treatises.' 
 Without attempting to deny the importance of the con- 
 clusion of the existence of the Creator of the universe 
 from the perfection of design shown in His works, it 
 appeared to me that a formal argument may be derived 
 from the nature of every material event. 
 
 If there is one prominent fact impressed upon the mind 
 by a study of the works of Nature, it is the fixity of the 
 laws upon which the universe is governed. Everything 
 runs its prescribed course, and appears not to have any 
 direct interference by the Creator of all things. 
 
 The general tenour of the beautiful Book of Psalms is 
 to infer that God does immediately interfere in the course 
 of the universe either for the benefit of the good or the 
 punishment of the bad. Nevertheless it is constantly 
 stated how the people unheeded His laws, really as though 
 they did not believe this direct and special interference 
 with the course of events. 
 
 When we carefully and critically examine the events 
 which happen around us it is impossible to come to any 
 other conclusion than that human operations are subject 
 to moral laws as certain as those which appertain to matter. 
 Have not those laws existed from the creation of matter, and 
 do they not affect a single person or a nation for good or 
 for evil on this great earth, as surely as the light and 
 warmth of the sun promote vegetation, and will they not 
 in the future lead to infinite enduring pleasure, and infinite 
 enduring pain? 
 
 The question now before us is the population of the 
 world governed by moral laws, designed by God, coequal
 
 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 127 
 
 with the appearance of man or even of matter, or is there 
 constant interference with or suspension of natural opera- 
 tions? The answer by any intelligent, watchful mind, 
 must be that moral laws as well as physical laws have been 
 ordained from the beginning and are immutable. 
 
 The doctrine of the direct interference of Providence in 
 the details of human affairs has been enforced by designing 
 men and turned to account as a political engine to rule 
 mankind and govern princes. On the assumption of this 
 direct interference they have claimed power from God to 
 cause the Almighty to suspend the operations of His 
 Almighty laws at their particular desires. Upon the faith 
 of this claim they have ruled potentates and kingdoms, 
 drawn to themselves the contributions of individuals and the 
 property of families ; and those who believed in the laws 
 of God and disbelieved these pretenders have been subjected 
 to injury ; and in the annals of history, the sacerdotal rule 
 has led to persecution, torture, and death of untold thousands 
 under the mask of religion. 
 
 For this reason some men, learned in many sciences, have 
 called in question the efficacy of prayer to alter the natural 
 course of events. These men argue that because God 
 governs the world by immutable laws, He heeds not prayer. 
 
 Experience shows that the direct course of the affairs of 
 the universe is not interrupted by prayer : the sun never 
 reversed its course in consequence of prayer ; nor did any 
 person rise contrary to gravity from one floor to another 
 by praying. 
 
 But a study of the human mind indicates that in all 
 human actions prayers have great effect in governing men's 
 actions, and leading to results. When a man prays with 
 earnestness and sincerity it affects his whole mind, and all 
 his actions are directed to obtain the result for which he
 
 128 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 
 
 prays. When many men pray for one object, the purpose 
 of many persons is directed to one end, and all combine in 
 heart and will to obtain the desired object. 
 
 The influence of prayer on human actions, if tested by 
 experience, will be found to be immense. In producing 
 resignation, and in confirming action, its power is great, 
 although its influence to control the laws of the universe 
 is void and of no effect. 
 
 If every action is governed by moral laws, the result of 
 any act would have been preordained hundreds of millions 
 of years ago, and the provision for every act of man under 
 every surrounding circumstance would have required as high 
 an act of Creative Power, as the formation of the uni- 
 verse on fixed laws. 
 
 It by no means follows because the consequences of any 
 act in relation to its surrounding circumstances have been 
 preordained from all time, that any man has been predestined 
 to that result. On the contrary, all human experience is 
 opposed to such a notion, and indicates that the mind is 
 regulated by its experiences, and governing moral laws, 
 and that the result is determined therefrom. The doctrine of 
 preordination leads to thought, activity, and dependence on 
 the moral law, whilst the doctrine of predestination leads to 
 indolence, recklessness, and a total neglect of the ordinances 
 of God. 
 
 All physical phenomena and physical forces are trace- 
 able to atoms of matter which have a property of acting on 
 each other by the power of attraction. 
 
 Having traced the manner in which the material uni- 
 verse is composed of atoms, or ultimate particles, to which we 
 give the name matter, and that the term matter is given 
 to whatever attracts, the mind of man is naturally led to 
 consider how and from what cause matter attracts, and by
 
 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 129 
 
 that attraction produces all the varied phenomena observed 
 in the physical world. 
 
 The first question that naturally suggests itself to the 
 mind that attempts this investigation, is the probability 
 which is given to the attachment of some imponderable or 
 essence to matter, by virtue of which attachment, the power 
 to attract is bestowed on material particles. Such a ques- 
 tion appears to be answered without much depth or pro- 
 fundity of reasoning, for if matter exerted attraction by 
 virtue of some principle, essence, or imponderable attached 
 to it, then would that principle exert attraction without 
 matter, or at least we cannot perceive why it should not 
 exert that property. 
 
 From the general views that are forced upon us by our 
 present mode of studying physical phenomena, we must 
 assume that attraction was first exerted before new attrac- 
 tions could produce the effects of electricity, galvanism, 
 heat, light, sound, &c. As attraction must have preceded 
 the greater number of physical phenomena, we may also 
 presume, or, in fact, we must admit, that attraction itself 
 had a commencement. And the idea of time, we have already 
 shown, is derived from an old attraction resisting a new one 
 acting upon it. Each event, consequently, must have a 
 commencement and a termination. To increase the num- 
 ber of these events will not assist us, for, how far soever 
 we carry back the events, still their character is immutable ; 
 there must have been one event which was prior to all 
 others, and that first event must have had a beginning. 
 
 The beginning of the first event affecting matter was 
 the primary attraction, which the subsequent attraction 
 sought to disturb ; and the great question which the human 
 mind desires to speculate upon, is the cause of this first 
 exertion of attraction. 
 
 K
 
 130 RELATION OF MTND TO GOD. 
 
 The first exertion of attraction, probably, did not arise 
 from any principle attached to matter ; but still, even if it 
 owed its power of attraction to an imponderable, the cause 
 of the imponderable attaching itself to matter would be the 
 obscure point on which the human mind delights to contem- 
 plate ; for the first exertion of attraction, however arising, 
 would alone give to matter its material properties, or, in fact, 
 there would not have been matter (according as we define mat- 
 ter) without the capacity of its particles to set up attraction. 
 
 This power of matter to generate attraction in the first 
 instance could never have arisen from anything inherent, 
 we therefore are compelled to admit that from something 
 extraneous it derived its power. If we look at the means 
 necessary to endow matter with the property of attraction we 
 are instantly astonished at the unbounded magnitude, mag- 
 nipotence, and magnipresence of that power ; for we have 
 evidence to show that that power was evinced over enor- 
 mous masses of matter, separated by hundreds of thousands of 
 millions of miles. If that power is continually being exerted 
 the author necessarily appears as the governor of material 
 phenomena ; but if the government of the world is con- 
 tinually being affected, we discover that no variation has 
 taken place in the general properties evinced by matter 
 since the world began ; the earth still continues to run its 
 daily and yearly course ; matter continues to be hot, illu- 
 minated, and capable of caiising sound when acted on in a 
 peculiar manner ; and, as far as we can learn, not the slight- 
 est alteration has occurred since the earliest human event 
 was recorded. 
 
 Whether that power was, in the first instance, implanted 
 for once and for ever, or, whether by a continuance of the 
 exertion of that power, matter continues to attract, are sub- 
 jects for contemplation far beyond the capacity of human
 
 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 131 
 
 intellect to deduce from physical phenomena. We can only 
 admit that the same power which first caused matter to 
 attract, may also cause, at any given moment, that phe- 
 nomenon to cease. 
 
 To the source of that immensity of power, which we see 
 either has been exerted once, or which continues to be ex- 
 erted, we attach the name of the Creator, or Almighty. 
 
 The attributes of the Creator of all material particles 
 naturally form a subject of the most sublime contemplation 
 for all beings endowed with reason sufficient for that pur- 
 pose. But here, again, we must refer to our incapacity to 
 enter into a subject so much beyond human understanding, 
 for man can only appreciate things which are material, and 
 which, by virtue of their properties, communicate impres- 
 sions through material organs to the human mind. We find 
 that we cannot determine the absolute attributes of the 
 Deity from physical science, but only infer certain attributes 
 by not attributing to His divinity the properties of matter, 
 which solely derives its properties through the exertion of 
 His power. In fact, nothing is more erroneous than the 
 comparison of perfections in God with natural qualities 
 in man. Out of this have arisen incalculable mistakes. 
 
 If we review the properties of matter we find that its 
 first property is number, that the juxtaposition of units 
 forms addition and multiplication, and the mass of matter 
 so formed is susceptible of diminution and division. The 
 material character of number forbids us to attach that pro- 
 perty to the attributes of the Almighty, for His attributes 
 are clearly immaterial, having no connexion with the pro- 
 perties which His mighty power caused matter to evince. 
 Natural philosophy, therefore, teaches us that the Almighty 
 has no relation to number ; that, consequently, He is in- 
 divisible, and incapable of addition. For ages the great-
 
 132 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 
 
 est disputes have arisen, and schisms and heresies sprung 
 up throughout Christian communities, by attributing the 
 properties of number to the Deity, and conferring material 
 virtues on the Almighty. It is equally incorrect to attach 
 unity as plurality to His indivisibility, for unity infers a 
 possibility of plurality, and therefore a possibility of being 
 amenable to number, which property matter solely derives 
 from the will of the Creator. 
 
 As we must discard the very idea of number as being 
 an attribute of God, so must we also deny the possibility of 
 any attribute arising from attracted number. We cannot 
 therefore give to His majesty form or size, for these are 
 properties of His created matter. His presence, moreover, 
 cannot be limited to one spot, for position is a material 
 effect. He must extend over space, and consequently 
 omnipresence must be a characteristic attribute of His 
 greatness. 
 
 His omnipresence cannot be interfered with by the pre- 
 sence, in certain positions, of created matter. Impenetra- 
 bility is a property of matter, perhaps by virtue of attrac- 
 tion, and therefore cannot interfere with the Immaterial. 
 The omnipresence of the Deity will not be prevented by 
 attracted matter ; but He must be present in the structure 
 of the hardest stones, the most massy rocks ; in fact, 
 throughout the matter of this great globe, and even 
 throughout the matter existing over the universe. 
 
 The phenomena of electricity, of galvanism, of motion, 
 are in similar manner material actions, which alone have 
 their existence by virtue of attraction. The immaterial 
 character of the Almighty forbids these phenomena to be 
 attached to His attributes ; indeed, we scarcely imagine how 
 the Deity, whose attribute is omnipresence, can have the 
 property of motion.
 
 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 133 
 
 As the material character of the preceding properties 
 forbids their assumption as an attribute of the Creator, so 
 are we compelled to deny the possibility of time, with its 
 dependencies, to be a phenomenon to which the Author of 
 that time should be amenable. The Almighty consequently 
 could have no beginning, no end. Eternity is His distin- 
 guishing attribute ; and time can have none, no, not even 
 the feeblest quality of eternity. Time, however exaggeratedly 
 it may be increased, never becomes eternity; for time is 
 made up of a series of events, each having a beginning and 
 an end. Eternity is not made up of events, and has there- 
 fore no beginning, no end. 
 
 The actions called heat, light, and sound, are similarly 
 material, appertaining to particles of matter alone. The 
 Maker of all things cannot therefore be supposed to be 
 subject to phenomena which exist by His Almighty fiat. 
 
 We have thus seen, that whilst all the properties of 
 matter are strictly material, so the attributes of the imma- 
 terial are purely immaterial. Science, therefore, directs us 
 to attach materiality to the material, immateriality to the 
 immaterial ; and by no means at any time, under any cir- 
 cumstance, to confound the properties of matter with the 
 attributes of the immaterial, or the attributes of the imma- 
 terial with the properties of matter. 
 
 It is, then, the property of matter to attract, and by 
 virtue of that attraction to yield number, size, form, 
 duration. It is the attribute of the immaterial not to yield 
 number, to be omnipresent and eternal. Matter attracts by 
 virtue of power conferred upon it by the immaterial. 
 Matter is matter by the volition of the Creator. 
 
 And we speak of volition. Is not volition a hum an ^ and 
 therefore material quality, and consequently a word inap- 
 propriate for the attribute of the Almighty ? "Words are
 
 134 RELATION OF MIND TO GOD. 
 
 wanting to designate the attributes of God ; and so when- 
 ever we use words for this purpose, they must be understood 
 in a sense having no relation to material qualities. 
 
 The power which conferred attraction on matter is pre- 
 sent not only where matter is, but even where matter is 
 not, inasmuch as position is a material phenomenon. In 
 consequence of that omnipresence, we may infer that 
 He is cognizant of every alteration of each respective 
 particle of matter, which omnicognizance is called the 
 omniscience of the Deity. Our material bodies allow 
 certain impressions to be carried to the mind through cer- 
 tain material organs called the senses, and therefore we 
 only appreciate those impressions which act upon those 
 senses. His omnipresence must know every single change, 
 without respect to any material conditions. His omniscience 
 cannot be interfered with by darkness, quiescence, or tempe- 
 rature. Darkness is no darkness with Him ; the stillness of 
 an action cannot cause it to be hid from His observation. His 
 omniscience is derived from omnipresence, not from the 
 properties of matter from which man derives his knowledge. 
 
 We, therefore, are compelled to admit and believe, that 
 matter owes its properties to a power conferred upon it by 
 the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal Creator, 
 who first by His Almighty fiat commanded matter to attract, 
 and who, by the same Almighty fiat, may at any instant will 
 attraction to cease, when worlds would end, when time would 
 be no more. As far as regards all material properties, He 
 must have absolute power. At any moment He may dissolve 
 the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and as instantaneously 
 summon their particles to assume new shapes, to occupy new 
 positions. This infinite power, or omnipotence, is totally of 
 a different character from our power, which is derived from 
 the properties of matter. Man's boasted power is derived
 
 RELATION OF MlJND TO GOD. 135 
 
 from availing himself of attraction. The Deity can control 
 that property, and from that we infer the attribute of omni- 
 potence. 
 
 It is useless to conceal that these great and glorious 
 perfections are quite incomprehensible to our senses ; we 
 can only appreciate material impressions ; all else is quite 
 incomprehensible to our mind. To say that God has no 
 relation to number is as unintelligible as His omnipresence, 
 His omniscience, or His eternity. We cannot conceive the 
 nature of such attributes, though we are compelled to 
 believe them, because we cannot conceive that such attri- 
 butes should not exist. 
 
 What positive attributes belong to the Almighty we 
 are incapable of ascertaining by physical science ; and even 
 the contemplation of His immateriality will suffice to fill 
 our minds with an amazement, productive of reverence, 
 submission, and humility. 
 
 Man in his present condition has not the power of 
 comnmnicating with the immaterial, for man has not the 
 mechanism for such a purpose. Matter can only be affected 
 by matter, and man is not competent to have direct relation 
 with spirit so long as he retains the material mechanism of 
 his body.
 
 136 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 Influence of religious thought Influence of the Deity Of idolatry Of 
 moral laws Spurious teachings Necessity for the eradication of 
 heathenism Different appreciation of religion Danger of the 
 period Religion and mental phenomena Physical and moral laws 
 Difficult cases Exact definition of physical laws Want of defi- 
 nition of moral laws Necessity for prudent action Indications of 
 future action. 
 
 IN our examination of the properties of the mind we have 
 observed the paramount importance of religious thought in 
 governing the actions of mankind. It exercises the most 
 powerful influence over every idea existing in the mind, 
 and when true most beneficially regulates our conduct, but 
 when false prejudicially impairs our actions. 
 
 We have already discovered that religious thought 
 and mental thought are one. Religious thought acts 
 chiefly from above downwards, from the general law to 
 the particular instance ; and mental thought from below 
 upwards, from the particular instance to the general law. 
 In their passage through the various faculties of the mind 
 both should absolutely concur, for if there is any difference
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 137 
 
 error is marked either in religion, or in reason, or in both, 
 which demands immediate rectification. 
 
 In the first place, reason proves and religion declares 
 that it is of the very highest degree important to assign 
 to the material material qualities, and to the immaterial 
 immaterial attributes, so that at no time under any cir- 
 cumstances should one in the remotest manner be con- 
 founded with the other. 
 
 The first element of pure religion is the idea of the 
 Almighty. He is ever before our minds, and the idea of 
 His power by virtue of His infinity and immateriality 
 should have an influence on all our actions. 
 
 This great primary truth which overgoverns all our 
 thoughts, all our ideas, and all our actions, has not that 
 hold at the present time over the minds of men which its 
 infinite importance demands. 
 
 Not but man is deeply impressed by his natural reason 
 on the contemplation of the beneficence and power of the 
 Almighty, although his mind is too often distracted by 
 lesser ideas from the great primary religious fact that God 
 is the Author of all things. 
 
 With this overwhelming fact before our minds it is 
 singular that the teachers of religion should so constantly 
 and persistently neglect the teachings of the attributes of 
 the Deity to the people, for scarcely one of a thousand 
 discourses from the pulpit has the slightest reference to 
 this prominent and primary religious idea, upon which 
 every other religious teaching should depend. 
 
 In the appreciation of the glorious attributes of the 
 Almighty, reason on the one hand and religion on the 
 other concur, and no religion can approach purity without 
 a thorough coincidence between the ideas of God taught 
 by religion with those deduced by the mind.
 
 138 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 It evidently requires the higher powers of mind to be 
 properly exercised and duly taught to rightly appreciate 
 the Majesty of the infinite Creator, for men in all ages 
 have been prone to fall away from the true belief in 
 the immaterial which only appears before the mind on 
 earnest contemplation, for the idea of some material object 
 or idol which they can see and feel. 
 
 Whenever an idol is set up for worship, whether it be 
 a man, a woman, a brute beast, or an image, the ideas from 
 religion and reason cannot concur, and there is a conflict 
 of thought. The mind is debased and distracted, and 
 religion has not that due control over the actions of man, 
 and ceases to be affective, or at any rate acts to a much 
 less extent as a regulator of action. 
 
 Unless the attributes of God are rightly appreciated it 
 is impossible that the laws of God can take a proper hold 
 on the mind. A thoughtful man sees God from His glorious 
 works from below upwards in his mind till he attains the 
 idea of infinity, and so contrariwise, he can never hear the 
 name of the Almighty without perceiving in his mind the 
 operations of His omnipotence as existing in His works. 
 
 Religion should declare the works of God and the laws 
 which govern the universe. ' The heavens declare the glory 
 of God, and the firmament showeth His handy work.' 
 
 The mind cannot in the feeblest way even realise the 
 idea of the attributes of the Creator without dwelling at 
 the same time on the perfection of His created work. The 
 relation of the Creator to the creature, of the creature to 
 the Creator, must appear simultaneous from the cause to 
 the effect, and from the effect to the cause, in the natural 
 operation of thought. 
 
 As a defect of the period, it is not only the custom when 
 the teachers of religion allude to the Creator to take no
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 139 
 
 notice of the created, but as a frequent and ill-advised prac- 
 tice they speak in no very measured terms against all those 
 men who seek the laws of God from His created works. 
 
 Great mischief is done by this course of misdirected 
 teaching, for the mind is diverted from the idea of the 
 fixity of the physical laws of the universe, and is led to 
 all sorts of fanciful imaginations, which allow the unwisely 
 taught to fall into the most ignorant errors. 
 
 Not only are the laws of God by which the universe is 
 governed of importance in the consideration of religious 
 thought, but also of similar importance are those moral 
 laws of God which govern the actions of mankind and serve 
 as our rule of conduct one towards another. 
 
 A moral law is like a physical law, a law of God, and 
 thus when a man is taught a moral law it should affect 
 the mind in the same way from the general law to the 
 particular instance till it regulates his actions, and his 
 experiences should accord in all parts of his mind with 
 the effect of this infinite moral law, and both should be 
 identically the same throughout his entire thoughts. 
 
 It is deeply to be deplored that as a matter of policy 
 the moral law handed down to us was intermingled in the 
 early ages with heathen doctrines, and the true God which 
 St. Paul preached unto his hearers has been to a great 
 extent neglected for superstitions and idolatries. 
 
 It is more to be deplored that instead of teaching the 
 moral law as the law of God, and consequently as an effec- 
 tive regulator of all the actions of man, the pretended 
 teachers of the moral law have for centuries sought to 
 turn it to account for their own personal rule of mankind 
 and their self-aggrandisement, that they might make all 
 kings bow before them, and keep the minds of men under 
 their abject subjection.
 
 140 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 With this view they have constantly threatened men 
 with insanity in this world and eternal punishment in the 
 next for disobedience to their injunctions, and have freely 
 taken money on the pretence of securing a place in heaven 
 for their souls. All this is the remnant of heathenism, 
 which has never been eradicated from pure religion, and 
 which now must give way before the concurrence of the 
 laws of God with laws derived from true reason. 
 
 Religion should now be restored to its pristine purity. 
 Every form of heathenism which has been so powerfully 
 denounced in the Holy Scriptures must be eradicated from 
 our faith, and men must seek in earnestness and truthful- 
 ness the physical and moral laws of God not only by their 
 minds from the particular instance, but from religion by 
 general laws. 
 
 The position of individuals in society, their usual avoca- 
 tions, their opportunity of observing the works of nature, 
 and the mode in which they employ their minds, determine 
 to some extent the details of their religious belief. In this 
 country the gentry belong to the Established Church ; the 
 smaller shopkeepers are chiefly Dissenters ; many scientific 
 men have but little religious belief ; but the industrial classes 
 as a whole, follow outwardly no religion at all, though it has 
 been observed in many persons, especially in those who are 
 exposed to great perils, that there is a high sense of religious 
 awe, and deep reliance in the omnipotence of God. 
 
 My mind has ever attributed these differences of reli- 
 gious thought to the conflict of reason which occurs between 
 thoughts derived from ordinary experiences and the teaching 
 of religion. 
 
 Every falsity in religion leads directly to infidelity, and 
 to the negation of all religion, because every falsity creates 
 a direct antagonism between religion and spontaneous
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 141 
 
 thought. Many pastors make infidels : so great is the 
 responsibility of those who teach superstition and error 
 instead of the physical and moral laws of God. 
 
 Many of the leading doctrines of religion, such as that 
 of the omnipotent God, of heaven and hell, and many of the 
 leading doctrines of the moral law, are so firmly implanted 
 in the minds of most men, that there is but little difficulty 
 in perceiving the coincidence of religion with reason. 
 
 Contrariwise, the worship of matter or the persecution of 
 men is so discordant with reason, that there should be no 
 difficulty in rejecting any form of false religion involving 
 material or idolatrous worship. 
 
 But all religious doctrines are not so plainly right or 
 wrong that they can either be accepted or rejected at once. 
 Many must be held for a time, sub judice, and taught with 
 caution and humility, and not by arrogance and assump- 
 tion ; so that gradually, by thought and reflection, our 
 actions may be governed by laws taught us, not only by 
 religion, but by thoughts originated by the ordinary opera- 
 tions of our minds. 
 
 The danger of the present day arising from the want of 
 personal knowledge and experience of our pastors, has been 
 already indicated in this work. It has distressed the minds 
 of our philosophers ; it has alienated the minds of our 
 mechanics and industrial classes ; and those who appear to 
 follow doctrines do not do so by an intelligent appreciation 
 of the subject, but as a kind of fashionable recreation, to 
 serve as a sensational variety from the debased amusements 
 and degraded literature of the day. 
 
 Pure religion, in accordance with the physical and moral 
 laws of God, is the antidote to the spurious religion of the 
 heathen which has been handed down from the past. 
 
 Everybody should admit the immense power of true
 
 142 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 religion over every thought and action, and everybody 
 should seek with all his heart and mind to establish each 
 law of God in accordance with religion and reason, that 
 every doctrine taught should influence the mind of every 
 rational man. 
 
 It is of high importance that we should not believe any 
 doctrine of faith which we cannot accept by reason. When 
 faith and reason accord, the mind is strengthened and im- 
 proved by the religious idea ; but if any article of faith is 
 received which does not accord with pure reason, the mind 
 is unsettled and impaired, and liable to receive other false 
 articles of faith. 
 
 Some faiths and pretended religious beliefs are so out- 
 rageous, that in some cases it is not easy to know whether 
 a person has received an idea from others, or has formed it 
 in his mind as an insane idea. 
 
 Other faiths are so manifestly designed for gain, that the 
 parties holding them should not be met by serious argu- 
 ment, but placed under the supervision of the police, to 
 protect mankind from their operations. 
 
 Strength of mind can only be obtained by pure 
 religion and true reason, and he is an enemy to mankind 
 who in any way teaches anything which is false to his 
 fellows. 
 
 If we could but perceive every department of the mind 
 of a man influenced by pure religion and true reason, we 
 should find that every action would be regulated by a mind 
 having a perfect unity ; and whether the general law 
 influenced the particular instance, or the particular instance 
 led to the appreciation of the general law, the ideas produced 
 would be single, and there would be neither doubt nor 
 hesitation, and every person would be influenced by the 
 powerful force of the consciousness of truth. Happy would
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 143 
 
 be the man in such a case, and well might he exclaim, ' Give 
 me true perception and knowledge.' 
 
 During the last century the physical laws of God have 
 been denned with an increasing exactness, but the moral 
 laws during the same period have received little or no 
 contribution to exact definition. 
 
 In the complex cases presented to us in action, it is by 
 no means easy to follow what is right or to neglect what is 
 wrong. As an example : I was much struck on consulting 
 a lawyer, high in position in the City of London, as to the 
 action to be taken under a complex state of circumstances to 
 be told. ' I cannot say what the Judges will consider right 
 or what they will consider wrong, I can only advise you 
 well to consider all the facts of the case, and determine for 
 yourself what you consider right and what you consider 
 wrong, and then to act upon it. In the long run, your 
 thoughts of right and wrong will command the support of 
 the Courts of Law and of Chancery, but what will be 
 considered right in the complicated circumstances that you 
 have submitted to me nobody can tell.' But under any 
 defined circumstances, are there not in the moral law princi- 
 ples as certain to guide our operations to that which is 
 right, as there are in physical laws laws to guide our action 
 to obtain physical results ? 
 
 In every-day life difficult and complex cases arise, which 
 have to be dealt with instantaneously ; when, unless the 
 laws appertaining to these circumstances have been pre- 
 viously considered, our choice of action is an operation of 
 mere- chance, and as likely to be wrong as right. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most difficult cases of this character 
 would be found in the following combination. A man is 
 sworn to secresy ; he is questioned as to his knowledge of 
 a fact. His answer must be either yes, no, or a refusal to
 
 144 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 answer the question. If he refuses to answer the question 
 he discloses, by inference contrary to his oath, the answer. 
 If he says yes, it is a falsehood. If he says no, he says 
 truly, but violates his oath. How is he to act? I have 
 submitted this case, which is really not uncommon, to many 
 thoughtful persons, but could never get a further answer 
 than that they trusted they might never be placed in so 
 awful a position. My mind is unable to solve the difficulty. 
 
 Now the teachers of religion ought to bring all the 
 moral laws of God into the same subjection and perfect 
 application as the teachers of science develope the physical 
 laws, that they may be available by the mind for every 
 purpose for which a law is applicable. 
 
 Every good follower of religion must admit that the 
 time which ought to be spent in the elucidation of the moral 
 laws of God to regulate actions, is frequently spent in 
 discussions of the propriety of frivolous garments or the 
 vain conduct of idle ceremonies, and on the discourse on 
 vain superstitions, till those who pretend to be teachers 
 show that they ought to be taught, as they bring doctrines 
 of religion into contempt. 
 
 The time has arrived when religion will rule by reason, 
 and reason will be ruled by religion. If the same amount 
 of thought during the next fifty years be bestowed on the 
 exact definition of the laws which ought to govern our 
 actions as has been bestowed during the last fifty years, in 
 defining exactly the physical laws which govern the uni- 
 verse, religion will take its proper position in the mind of 
 man, and we shall no longer be puzzled as to what is right 
 and as to what is wrong, no more than we are puzzled at 
 the present time as to the effect of the laws of the universe 
 in any particular case presented to our adjudication. 
 
 There is less a want of desire in the present day to do
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 145 
 
 right, than an absence of knowledge how to do it. One of 
 the greatest dangers that we can possibly be exposed is to 
 do wrong that we may appear before the world to do right ; 
 and it is really a very serious matter to be associated in 
 action with any man who is afraid to do right, for fear he 
 may be thought by the world to do wrong. 
 
 With this desire to do right, it behoves us all to bestow 
 our utmost attention to develope the laws of human action. 
 All men desire it, and there is no obstacle but superstition 
 and ignorance to prevent the progression of these pure 
 principles of religion. 
 
 Perhaps there is no class of men who more earnestly 
 desire to do right than our judges. They pride themselves 
 on their strict impartiality, and do everything in their power 
 to do absolute justice. Yet how often are their decisions 
 reversed ! What is right is wrong before another. What is 
 right to-day is wrong to-morrow ; and how often a disagree- 
 ment occurs between several, when a case is submitted to 
 their conjoined wisdom. The remedy for this is to have 
 their minds thoroughly imbued with the principles wniuh 
 should govern every case, as the mathematician has laws in 
 his mind when he calculates the time of an eclipse, which 
 has occurred in a period which is past, or which may occur 
 in some time in the future. 
 
 The present position requires great circumspection and 
 prudence. It is desirable that the scholastic teachers of 
 religion should bestow their utmost thought on the great 
 questions at issue, and that the people shall assist them in 
 their arduous labours. The clergy are not inferior to other 
 persons in general training and capacity, and are vastly 
 superior to them in their knowledge of words and language. 
 They only want to be thoroughly released from the trammels 
 of insincerity and superstition, to be as great pioneers of 
 
 L
 
 146 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 action in the moral world as our philosophers have been in 
 the physical ; so that every act of our laws, whether physical 
 or moral, may be in the strictest accordance with the laws 
 of God. 
 
 "We must bear at the present time with our imperfect 
 knowledge of the moral law, but we must look forward with 
 hope and faith that the mind of man, by the reason given 
 to us by God, may give us sure laws to guide our actions. 
 Indications from the east and also from the west reveal that 
 there is a steadfast desire for pure religion ; and if it be 
 diligently and truthfully sought, it will surely be found. 
 
 Great changes in the inner thoughts of men are taking 
 place. Whether the coming reformation and withdrawal of 
 all which is evil and impure in doctrine will slowly but 
 surely enthrone true religion in the affections of men, or 
 whether the abolition of all which is superstitious and 
 idolatrous will occur by a violent disruption of the present 
 state of society, time alone can reveal. Popular opinion is 
 ripe for either course. 
 
 Within this century God has given, to our comfort and 
 benefit, a great accession to the knowledge of His laws by 
 which the universe is governed ; and we may trust that He 
 who has given this good knowledge may vouchsafe further 
 a right understanding of the moral laws, that pure religion 
 may rule our minds and regulate our actions to our unspeak- 
 able happiness for all time to come. 
 
 Religion now must have its influence upon reason, and 
 guide our thoughts to bring into relation the laws of 
 the universe induced by the mind of man, and reason must 
 also lend her aid to scrutinise minutely the teachings of 
 religion. If both these objects are conducted in the spirit 
 of truth, both must Jbe found to accord in every substan- 
 tial particular. But the very infirmities even of words
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 147 
 
 and language alone may cause us to suspect error both in 
 scientific reason and religious teachings. To eliminate this 
 error should be the desire of every honest and truthful 
 man. When, however, our laws of reason and religion 
 accord, when each particular instance is in harmony with 
 our laws, then shall we have a basis upon which to test 
 those particular ideas which now appear to be in discord- 
 ance with either religion or reason. Reason and religion 
 will then confirm a sure faith ; all ideas contrary to rea- 
 son and religion will be discarded from our philosophies. 
 The moral laws will be as much a necessity for our actions 
 towards each other as the laws of gravity and of physical 
 science are a guide to our engineers. The great result 
 of all this perfection will be to give to matter its material 
 qualities and to assign to the immaterial its immaterial 
 attributes. 
 
 As a consequence every form of idolatry will be 
 thoroughly abolished from our hearts and the true God 
 will be ever before our minds. 
 
 Let us then verify both ends of the scale of our minds. 
 Let us rigidly examine every particular instance and 
 scrutinise each general law, that we may throw out from 
 our mind, and discard from our faith, every idea which is 
 not consonant with the revelation of God from reason, and 
 a similar revelation of the laws of God by religion and 
 the moral law. 
 
 There is probably on a thorough examination of the 
 laws of reason and religion much which is good for us 
 to adopt, and but little which is wrong for us to discard. 
 
 The influence of prayer on the mind has already been 
 described in a former chapter, and it has been shown that 
 the object sought must be in accordance with the general 
 and moral laws of God, or prayer is ineffective. It is
 
 148 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 doubtful whether any person ever offers prayer for any 
 purpose involving a great violation of either general or 
 moral laws; it would so discord with his whole mind to 
 prevent his utterance. The great master of the human 
 mind, Shakespeare, seems to imply this when he says, 
 
 ' One cried, God bless us ! and Amen, the other. 
 
 ***** 
 
 But wherefore could I not pronounce Amen ? 
 I had most need of blessing, and Amen 
 Stuck in my throat.' Macbeth, Act ii. 
 
 Prayer, therefore, is only likely to be improperly 
 employed in asking for aid in cases where we are sufficiently 
 supplied with means to help ourselves, and where its 
 employment is not calculated to give any violent shock 
 to our reason, but rather to enforce the idea of our complete 
 dependence on the immutable and perfect laws of God. 
 
 Praise, however, is scarcely liable even to such improper 
 use of prayer, and has similar beneficial results on the 
 mind. Praise acknowledges the infinite first Cause ; and 
 when we utter our song of praise, the mind is powerfully 
 affected, from the highest general laws to the smallest 
 particular instance, and reflected backwards from every 
 single idea through all our abstract ideas, to those of 
 totality or infinity, on which all our higher religious 
 thoughts depend. 
 
 Let us then utter our songs of praise for the greater 
 blessings we receive through the higher powers of the mind, 
 to the blessings of the single ideas which are immediately 
 derived through our organs of sensation. 
 
 Continual and daily praise increases our pleasures and 
 intensifies our joys. It diminishes our pain by bringing 
 most powerfully before the mind the mercies which everyone 
 receives, and proves that our very troubles are gains. It
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 149 
 
 lessens our woes, by giving us comfort in the thought of the 
 goodness and greatness of God, and confers upon the mind 
 the highest pleasure, by an exercise of one of the noblest of 
 all human feeling, gratitude. 
 
 ( He that is ungrateful has no guilt but one, 
 All other crimes may pass for virtues in him.' YOUNG.
 
 150 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Action of one man to another Right and wrong Moral law the law of 
 God Truth Absolute Truth Moral law universal Particular 
 moral laws Duty Necessity for more exactness of moral laws 
 Mode of proceeding of medical men Of lawyers Improved mode 
 of thought of clergy. 
 
 REASON teaches the laws of God from inductions from 
 particular instances, religion teaches the laws of God and 
 their bearing on particular instances. 
 
 Every action of man towards another human being 
 should stand the test of being in exact accordance with 
 that action which the law applicable to all mankind under 
 similar circumstances would dictate. 
 
 When there is this exact accordance we do that which 
 is right; when there is- any difference we do that which 
 is wrong, and the extent of the wrong -doing may be 
 directly measured by the extent of deviation between the 
 act done and the act which ought to be done according 
 to the moral law. 
 
 As, however, the moral law is the law of God, the 
 extent of departure in the particular instance from that 
 which is determined by the moral law is an exact measure 
 of the wickedness of the act.
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 151 
 
 In our dealings with each other, perfect truthfulness in 
 all matters is of primary importance. It was enjoined in 
 a remarkable manner in both the Old and in the New 
 Testaments. Without truth in ourselves it is impossible to 
 obtain the confidence of other men, and without truth other 
 men cannot impress us with confidence. 
 
 What, then, is truth ? Truth is the idea of the accord- 
 ance of all the images implanted in our minds with a new 
 idea presented to our mind. 
 
 It by no means follows that what we believe to be 
 truth should accord with all knowledge, for it can only 
 be compared with knowledge known to us. No truth can 
 ever be accepted by the mind with our amount of limited 
 knowledge as absolute truth, but the truth on any one 
 point should continually be tested by a comparison of all 
 known knowledge derived by different persons and under 
 different circumstances. 
 
 Under the general idea that the laws of God are im- 
 mutable, a truth when once intelligently established is 
 applicable to all men for all time, and cannot according 
 to the laws of the universe be ever changed. 
 
 The effect of falsity upon the mind when it discords 
 with all known knowledge is sometimes so great that 
 persons uttering a lie have been known to drop dead on 
 the spot, in the same way as others have immediately died 
 who suddenly have heard of some terrible event, as the 
 death of a dear relative, or those who have been over- 
 whelmed with joy at hearing that a friend who was sup- 
 posed to be dead was really alive. A great lie cannot 
 be suddenly uttered without a conflict in the mind and a 
 shock to the body, and it requires training and practice 
 to act a lie with equanimity and calmness. Short of death,
 
 152 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the telling of a lie will sometimes so upset tlie bodily func- 
 tions that an attack of jaundice, a fit of the gout, or an 
 attack of paralysis, may be the immediate result. 
 
 The importance of truth does not exist in all forms of 
 religion, as there is one which holds that truth is good, 
 but faith is better, and that for the sake of faith an untruth 
 may be told. There is no surer test of the falsity of such 
 religion. 
 
 The moral law is universal and applicable to every single 
 person. "What is good for ourselves is good for all other 
 persons. We are but one amongst the whole, so in every 
 action to obey strictly the moral law we must have no 
 more consideration for ourselves than we have for others. 
 
 To seek our particular benefit without respect to the 
 benefit of others is to be selfish, which is contrary to the 
 whole law of Christ wherein thorough disinterestedness is 
 taught. 
 
 To do unto others as you would that they should do 
 unto you is an immensely comprehensive law. It governs 
 in point of fact every action of one person towards another, 
 and every act in the particular instance which does not 
 accord with the laws for all persons and for all times is 
 vicious ; but if it will stand this test it is virtuous, and 
 may be taken as a partial exemplification of an example 
 of action under the law. 
 
 Virtue is not so easily attained under this law as at 
 first sight appears. The law is universal, and any action 
 under it must stand the test of universality. Thus if we 
 do good to any particular man we must be just to all 
 other men ; and as each of us is one of the other men we 
 must be just to ourselves. Thus when we comply with the 
 wish of any person we have to consider how the grati-
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 153 
 
 fication of that wish may affect every other person before 
 we can determine that our act has been according to the 
 law of God. 
 
 There is another difficulty. Every man has had dif- 
 ferences of experience, and has abstracted for himself some 
 differences in the law which his reason has impressed upon 
 his mind. Every man therefore is to a certain limited 
 extent a law to himself. He must not then rely on his 
 own particular unaided reason, but must compare it with 
 the laws formed by other minds over numbers of persons, 
 and extending over great intervals of time. 
 
 Another great moral law is to love one's neighbour as 
 oneself. This is a law of action to every other man, and 
 agrees with it, if it is not even subordinate to the laws of 
 disinterestedness. Do we not see this law obeyed to the 
 minutest tittle when a person sacrifices his pleasures, or 
 even his life, for the love which he shows for others? 
 
 Again, duty is a law to which all actions should be 
 obedient. To act from a sense of duty is to act strictly 
 under the moral laws which ought to govern in each par- 
 ticular case. Our duty to ourselves is to live strictly in 
 accordance with the general laws by which all men, or 
 even all organised beings, are regulated by nature ; and our 
 duty to others is a strict obedience to the moral law. 
 When we perfectly do our duty we obey the moral law 
 of God in the particular instances in which we have to 
 act. 
 
 Probably the laws of Christ comprise practical examples 
 of general laws to regulate every case of action, but Chris- 
 tian doctrine directly includes the more ancient laws of 
 the Old Testament. The ten commandments are very dis- 
 tinct general laws, applicable to a vast variety of cases, 
 and they are so plain and intelligible that they can be
 
 154 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 clearly understood by the meanest capacities and applied 
 to regulate action. 
 
 The moral law as a whole may be worked out and set 
 out in words and language so as to show under what prin- 
 ciples governments should act towards each other ; how 
 governments should act to the governed, and the governed 
 to the governments; how employers should act to the 
 employed, and the employed to the employers ; parents 
 towards children, and children towards parents; how the 
 clergy should act to their congregation, and their congre- 
 gations to the clergy ; how neighbours should act towards 
 each other ; how the poor should act towards the rich, and 
 the rich towards the poor ; and, in fact, how every person 
 should act to every other living person at every place, 
 under every time, and under every possible combination 
 of circumstances. 
 
 The law of the land to restrain offenders should agree 
 in the most minute particular with the moral laws, so that 
 every man may know what is wrong, and the punishment 
 which he is likely to incur from doing wrong. This would 
 be a great contribution towards right action. Few can tell 
 under every circumstance what should be considered right 
 or denounced as wrong, and if wrong not even a lawyer 
 can tell offhand what law bears upon the case. 
 
 The vice of the day is to neglect the action of the 
 moral law as a regulator of our actions. It is frequently 
 called contemptuously Practical Christianity, and in lieu 
 thereof the human mind is stimulated by all kinds of 
 sensational faiths which cannot have any possible bearing 
 on our action, but tend to general wrong as they dispense 
 with immediate and personal responsibility, inasmuch as faith 
 in a dogma may be used as a compensation for vice. Any 
 one who substitutes idle beliefs for the moral law is greatly
 
 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 155 
 
 damaged in action, and when false faiths are relied upon 
 to compensate for a violation of the moral law, a man will 
 act for his immediate advantage. It may be convenient 
 for him to attempt to pass for a religious man. Let no 
 such man be trusted. 
 
 We have already minutely considered how practical 
 action should in every case be an example of general law, 
 and we have indicated how these laws are not so easy 
 to be applied suddenly in any case which requires our 
 action. From this cause every man ought to think out 
 for himself sub-laws, and men may be profitably employed 
 for the general benefit in developing laws and showing 
 their bearing on every possible act which may be sub- 
 mitted for our determination. 
 
 A medical man does that for the practice of his pro- 
 fession. "When he has a case of disease presented to his 
 notice, he has already by study and thought made himself 
 acquainted with all which may happen from that disease, 
 how these several events may be controlled by various 
 treatments ; and the well - trained physician, the moment 
 he has learnt the facts of the case, knows how to apply 
 the laws of nature for his patient's benefit. Of course cases 
 arise where he has not sufficient experience to decide with 
 this rapidity, but then he brings all his analogous know- 
 ledge to bear upon the special case under the general law 
 which is the law of nature. 
 
 And lawyers, like medical men, make themselves ac- 
 quainted with general laws and subordinate bearings, so 
 that when a case comes before them they recommend a 
 line of action as soon as they become acquainted with all 
 the circumstances of the case. 
 
 Following the experiences of the doctor and lawyer, 
 all mankind ought to be thoroughly acquainted with
 
 156 RELATION OF THE MIND TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 general laws and their action upon thought to particular 
 cases, that they may be ready at any moment to perceive 
 how to do right and to act naturally upon the occasion. 
 In this manner the clergy may be of infinite use to man- 
 kind by affording a strict demonstration of the physical and 
 moral laws of God with their bearing, through every de- 
 partment of the mind to the particular case, so that man 
 may know instantaneously how to do right and to avoid 
 wrong, how to follow virtue and reject vice.
 
 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 Few ideas perfect Faith supplies imperfections Aisthenic faith 
 Syndramic faith Exercise of faith supplies deficiencies of know- 
 ledge Faith not certain but probable Conditions of true faith 
 False faith Noemic faith Pneuma-noemic faith Sure faith 
 Law of true faith Examples of tmst by faith Examples of dis- 
 trust Faith demands reason Reason should discard false faith. 
 
 DURING every operation of the mind some uncertainty is 
 liable to exist, because it is rare that we have every part of 
 an idea before the mind at one time, in its fullest detail and 
 perfection. 
 
 We deal with this unknown part of every idea by faith, 
 and therefore faith supplies the material for any gap which 
 may exist in every idea which is employed in the wider 
 operations of the mind. 
 
 Some persons would like to ignore faith altogether ; but, 
 unfortunately for them, if their mental thoughts are care- 
 fully scrutinized, we find that they are compelled to exercise 
 a large share of faith at all times, and there is scarcely an 
 idea presented to the mind that does not involve the exercise 
 of more or less faith. 
 
 And first of all, in the images obtained by the use of the 
 organs of sensation, we frequently do not have the correct
 
 158 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 and entire representation of an object, from the change of 
 structure in the eye or other cause, which gap is supplied by 
 faith. This may be called aisthenic faith. In the use of 
 the eye in a natural state, there is always a gap in the field 
 of vision, produced by a spot at the back of the eye, where 
 the optic nerve enters. We therefore never see, at one 
 time, the entire prospect ; but the part not represented we 
 fill up unconsciously by faith, and consider that we really 
 see the picture as though no such gap was present. Those 
 engaged in minute researches, with either the microscope or 
 telescope, avoid this error to the utmost possible extent. One 
 of our most esteemed Presidents of the Astronomical Society, 
 having detected a slight defect in his eye, immediately gave 
 away his magnificent telescope which he himself had con- 
 structed, because he did not consider that it was consistent 
 with the accuracy of scientific investigation to rely upon 
 faith to rectify the deficiencies of his eye which he had 
 detected. 
 
 In regarding some objects, we rely upon faith to supply 
 the picture of the parts of the object unseen. Thus if we 
 look at a ball, we do not see all the parts of the ball, but we 
 see a considerable portion. That which is seen and pictured 
 on the brain supplies an idea, to which is conjoined a picture 
 supplied by faith of the part unseen ; when the two together 
 give us the idea of a round ball. This is syndramic faith, 
 and is exercised every moment of our lives ; for scarcely any 
 one syndramic idea is represented to our minds in a thoroughly 
 perfect manner, through our organs of sensation from objects 
 existing in the external world. 
 
 In supplying the details by faith of the appearance of 
 those parts of the ball which we do not actually see, we 
 know how much faith might deceive our understanding ; for 
 the part of the ball unseen might, instead of being a circle,
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 159 
 
 have a protuberance, and then the body which we took to be 
 a sphere by faith, would have a form widely different. 
 
 Let us pause to consider the nature of the ideas which 
 faith completes, by adding to the parts which the mind 
 directly obtains. 
 
 Every exercise of faith involves the rectification of some 
 imperfection or deficiency in the natural idea existing in the 
 mind. The exercise of faith does not communicate certainty 
 to the idea, but only probability. The smaller the defici- 
 encies supplied by faith, the higher is the probability of 
 accuracy ; the greater the deficiency, the less is the proba- 
 bility of truth. 
 
 True faith involves, as a necessity, that the parts of an 
 idea which are known should exactly accord with all former 
 known knowledge ; and that the hiatus filled up by faith 
 should also so accord with it, that the image so composed 
 should agree with a similar perfect image as it would have 
 been derived from the external world. 
 
 False faith naturally may be exemplified by the part of 
 the idea deficient, but supplied by faith varying in any 
 manner from all former knowledge existing in the mind. 
 
 Every exercise of faith has therefore to be tested by 
 reason. Faith can only be safely used with reason, and 
 faith without reason is the most dangerous addition to pure 
 thought which the mind can possibly employ. Rational 
 faith is in the highest degree useful to man ; irrational 
 faith is destructive to true reason and proper practical 
 determination. 
 
 With these general considerations of faith before our 
 minds, and with the perception how gaps in our knowledge 
 can be profitably filled by faith based upon reason, we 
 obtain a knowledge how faith affects the higher depart- 
 ments of thought.
 
 160 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 Noemic faith supplies larger gaps in our knowledge. 
 When the mind has only facts sufficient to partially induce 
 general laws, faith steps in and enables us in a very useful 
 manner to induce general laws, though in every such uni- 
 versal law much remains to us unknown. 
 
 Although faith is of paramount importance in every 
 department, its extreme influence on human thought is 
 nowhere more powerfully seen than in the formation and 
 application of general laws, where frequently much which 
 is unknown, and is not before the mind, has to be supplied 
 by faith in their application to particular instances. 
 
 Rational noemic faith is of great value to mankind, 
 though irrational noemic faith is an extreme danger, 
 because it may lead to wrong action over a vast number 
 of particular instances. 
 
 To take an example ; numbers of persons within my 
 own knowledge have tried to obtain motive power and 
 the electric light upon their own formed general laws, 
 based upon irrational faith. Some have much impoverished 
 themselves in the attempt ; whereas, had they used the true 
 law now known to us, that no physical force is generated 
 without a corresponding change of matter, they might have 
 saved their money and spared their labour. 
 
 In the highest ideas of the mind, rational faith has as 
 much more importance in governing our thoughts, as the 
 extreme magnitude of the pneuma - noemic thoughts are 
 above the lower ideas of the mind. 
 
 The greatest exercise of faith, in one sense, is shown in 
 our idea of the true God and of the immortality of man, 
 because no man has seen God at any time. No one has 
 seen a man in his immortal condition. The magnitude of 
 the unknown, and consequently the extent of our faith in 
 these spiritual ideas, is immense.
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 161 
 
 On the other hand, there is, in admitting our faith in 
 God and immortality, no discordance between all the know- 
 ledge of one man or even of all men, and those ideas drawn 
 from reason and faith, and therefore we hold those ideas by 
 reason on sure faith. 
 
 There are a vast number of pneuma-noemic or religious 
 ideas, where the sureness of the faith presents differences 
 of degree, and even these degrees of sureness differ with the 
 knowledge existing in the minds of different persons. 
 
 For this reason mankind very properly allows differences 
 of religious faith in different persons, provided, and provided 
 only, that faith is governed by reason, that the part is in 
 subjection to the whole ; otherwise in the higher depart- 
 ments of religious thought, as in the lower ideas of the 
 mind, if faith without reason be allowed, irrational faith 
 occurs, which is strongly destructive to the integrity of 
 the human mind. 
 
 True religious thought and true faith should always go 
 hand and hand. Wherever faith is exercised, ' a reason for 
 the faith which is in us ' should be shown. Faith should 
 be tested by every power and thought of the mind, and we 
 should be able to ' prove all things,' that we may hold fast 
 to that which is good. 
 
 There is only one law for true faith, which acts on every 
 thought of the mind, and that is, true faith must stand 
 the test of reason. The teachers of false religions insist on 
 faith being superior to reason and independent of it, and on 
 truth being subservient to faith. There is no greater test 
 of the truth of any religious thought than its obedience to 
 all knowledge ; and any person who promotes the doctrine 
 of any faith without reason, is unworthy of credit, and his 
 religion should be discarded as false and unnatural. 
 
 "Whilst our ideas and thoughts so much depend upon the 
 
 M
 
 162 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 exercise, in a legitimate manner, of true rational faith, so 
 our actions are also profitably governed by rational faith. 
 
 When we sow seed, what a wonderful exercise of rational 
 faith is evinced ! We have faith that the world will run its 
 accustomed course, that rain and dew will refresh the earth ; 
 we have faith that the seed will germinate, that the sun will 
 cause the plant to grow and ripen its fruit ; and we have the 
 most implicit faith that the laws of the universe, that is, the 
 laws of God, will continue to exercise their operations, and 
 that the seed will be got into the barn for the use of man. 
 
 The faith which we have in sowing now to reap here- 
 after, is based upon our reasoning on the immutable laws of 
 God ; and we can but notice that we should not by any 
 means place such implicit faith if these laws were varied by 
 the will, or even at the prayer, of man. And it is good for 
 us, with our imperfect understanding in relation to the 
 infinite cause, that we have no power to vary His immutable 
 laws. 
 
 This exercise of faith must always powerfully affect us, 
 when we sow one year to reap in the second ; and when we 
 plant the acorn to produce timber one thousand years after- 
 wards, how powerful is our faith in the omnipotence of God 
 and the immutability of His laws ; for if they were subject 
 to variation or caprice, our labour would be in vain. 
 
 Passing from greater actions depending upon faith, we 
 have still intricate cases which are regulated upon faith. 
 Do we not necessarily place faith in each other? Do we 
 not frequently as implicitly place faith in the actions of 
 others as we should in the actions of ourselves ? How many 
 actions of our lives depend upon faith in the action of other 
 persons, and how rare are the cases in which our faith is 
 violated as compared with the cases where our faith has not 
 been bestowed in vain. When our house is closed at night,
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 163 
 
 and all the inmates become unconscious in sleep, how great 
 faith do we place, and properly place, in our fellow- creatures, 
 that they will do us no harm, when we are unable to protect 
 ourselves, in the unconscious state of rest, but would do 
 us any good should the opportunity be presented. 
 
 Faith, then, is abundantly shown in all our thoughts and 
 actions, and probably begins at a very early period of our 
 childhood, for how pure and beautiful is the faith shown by 
 the child in the protection to be afforded by its nurse and by 
 those around him. 
 
 Faith has to be exercised not only in time present, but 
 over events in time past, and events which are to happen 
 in time to come. 
 
 We have already seen that we are exercising faith every 
 moment of our lives, but we have to exercise a large amount 
 of faith upon events which have taken place in times past. 
 History never thoroughly satisfies the mind, from the large 
 amount of unknown events which it contains. The historian 
 puts together all the facts which he can obtain in an unity 
 of narrative. When he comes to describe motives of action, 
 he has to supply much from his own faith, and has to draw 
 much upon the faith of his readers. 
 
 And if we test past history, by a record of the events 
 taking place at the present time, we observe how imperfectly 
 we can obtain a knowledge of the motives of the actors in 
 the scene around us, and how much we must draw upon 
 faith, to mould the evident facts into one consistent whole. 
 
 With regard to the probability of any future event 
 it has already been shown how much faith we must place 
 in the immutability of the laws of God in all natural 
 events, and in the correctness of the actions of our fellow- 
 men when we place any trust in their future proceedings. 
 
 Whilst we place faith in that which our minds by our
 
 164 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 reason commend, so we place distrust in that which from 
 any imperfection does not commend itself to our reason to 
 admit by faith. 
 
 Some men we distrust from a knowledge of their great 
 want of principle. Others we distrust because their minds 
 are undisciplined, and they give way to impulse, to temper, 
 to envy, or other bad qualities, but in these cases we exer- 
 cise faith because, in the unknown, reason decides that 
 their conduct will not be satisfactory, and we have a full 
 faith that they will act wrongly. It has been already ob- 
 served that on filling up the gaps in knowledge and thought 
 by faith, those who exercise their memories and thoroughly 
 investigate all past- knowledge by imagination, and subse- 
 quent judgment and comparison, have a much higher 
 perception than those who do not exercise their higher 
 mental powers. 
 
 Imagination is based upon antecedent knowledge. We 
 can arrange the knowledge of the past in many ways and 
 examine what is certain and what is based on faith. In 
 this way we arrive at the truth of our various convictions, 
 and we apply our bygone knowledge on many hypothetical 
 events which intensifies the effect of general laws whether 
 of God or man, and this has a most beneficial effect on our 
 religious principles. 
 
 Faith has already been proved to be untrustworthy 
 without reason, and an idea involving faith is only to be 
 received by the mind upon three conditions. Firstly, 
 that the part of the idea which is known stands the test 
 of reason, from its being in exact accordance with all pre- 
 existing knowledge, and all pre-existing human laws ; and, 
 secondly, that there is nothing in that part of the idea 
 supplied by faith which is inconsistent with reason ; and 
 lastly, that the idea as a whole is conjointly obedient to
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 165 
 
 the general laws of man, to the moral law, and to the laws 
 of the universe. 
 
 If we severely test our faith by reason how many false 
 and idle faiths shall we avoid, and how spurious religion will 
 give way to that pure and holy religion which it ought 
 to be the desire of all of us to attain. 
 
 There is no question that many ideas, and especially 
 religious ideas, which have been received by many of us 
 by faith will' not stand this severe test of reason. In all 
 these cases the belief should be subjected to the thoughts 
 and reasons of many minds that true religion may prevail. 
 
 In ideas affecting a large mass of mankind, it is highly 
 desirable that the thoughts of a large number of persons 
 should be affected, as no doubt that course is more beneficial 
 than if one or two persons set up opinions for themselves, 
 and isolate themselves from the general public. It is not 
 a long time ago that witchcraft was believed by the com- 
 munity, but by universal consent this false faith was dropped, 
 and at the present time nobody is found to believe in it; 
 and many other false ideas which are now religiously but 
 falsely held, we may hope will cease by themselves, and 
 both clergy and laity should earnestly strive for pure re- 
 ligious faith. 
 
 All great rectifications of error to be effectual should be 
 gradual. Every one fully believes that there are error and 
 superstition at the present time still amongst us, probably 
 handed down to us from pagan religions. We should all 
 have full faith that we are endowed with reason powerful 
 enough, if used with all our hearts and minds, to find out 
 in the long run that which is right and to eschew that 
 which is wrong ; and it is better that truth should con- 
 tinuously and gradually unfold itself, that all matters of 
 spurious faith should drop aside. In the meantime, we
 
 1 66 ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH ON THE MIND. 
 
 should bear with each other, in the false beliefs, which 
 are fixed in some men's minds. 
 
 The continual desire for truth for the sake of truth, 
 will maintain our faith in that which is right and restrain 
 our faith from that which is wrong. Every one should be 
 shunned as an enemy of mankind who desires obedience 
 to man on blind faith without reason, and he alone should 
 be trusted who enjoins rational faith in subjection to the 
 moral and physical laws of God.
 
 167 
 
 CHAPTER XI V. 
 
 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Aisthenic fallacies Syndramic fallacies Noemic fallacies Different 
 qualities of ideas should have different words Pneuma - noemic 
 fallacies Mnemonic fallacies Fallacies of judgment and com- 
 parison : of technical knowledge : of faith : of cause : of time : of 
 pleasure and pain Dynamic fallacies. 
 
 THE mind of man, so excellent in its design and so perfect 
 in its action, might be thought at all times to evince its 
 wonderful properties : we find, like all other intricate con- 
 trivances, it is liable to go wrong and to exhibit fallacies. 
 
 First, the mechanism of the organs of sensation requires 
 to be accurately tested, for us to know that they receive and 
 are competent to admit proper impressions from the external 
 world. The eye, our most important organ of sense, is 
 liable to considerable variations. Its optical contrivances 
 may undergo some trifling change during the process of 
 nutrition, and form a distorted or imperfect image on the 
 retina, and the retina itself may not be sensitive to all the 
 colours of the rainbow. Errors arising from changes in the 
 mere physical apparatus of the eye are not uncommon, and 
 sometimes may be very serious, as when a signalman cannot 
 detect green from red, although upon that difference of 
 colour being rightly seen the lives or integrity of the limbs 
 of all the persons travelling in a long train depend.
 
 168 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 There are fallacies arising from the nose, by a wrong 
 appreciation of odour, and from the tongue by a wrong 
 appreciation of savour. All the other organs of sensation 
 may be unable in like manner to perform their functions 
 perfectly, and thus give rise to error. 
 
 Aisthenic Fallacies. The fallacies originating in the 
 organs of sensation may be called aisthenic fallacies. To 
 avoid them, our organs of sensation should be tested 
 periodically, as we test our sextants, microscopes, or tele- 
 scopes, to prevent our having any fallacious idea represented 
 to the mind. 
 
 We must then ascertain that in the external world itself 
 there is not any peculiar circumstance to guide our judg- 
 ment : for instance, a landscape would lead to a very different 
 idea if it were illuminated with a red, yellow, or blue light, 
 instead of white light, as is ordinarily the case. Our natural 
 philosophers are very careful to avoid these aisthenic falla- 
 cies, by critically examining every part of the idea submitted 
 to the mind. 
 
 Syndramic Fallacies. Syndramic fallacies are frequently 
 complicated in their causes, and without great care are 
 difficult of detection. As an example, I was looking out 
 of the window at a house on a lake in Scotland, when to 
 my surprise I saw the familiar rocks, which so delighted 
 the eye on one side of the lake, apparently transferred to 
 the other. There could be no mistake as to what was seen, 
 and for the moment I was so puzzled that I really did not 
 know what to do. The matter needed minute investigation ; 
 and on rising to discover the cause, I perceived that the result 
 was owing to the rocks of one side of the lake being reflected 
 from the surface of the plate - glass windows, which 
 reflection being added to the view of the other side of the 
 lake, resulted in a picture in which the woods and fields
 
 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 169 
 
 were conjoined with the rocks and trees of the opposite 
 shore to produce one conjoined picture. 
 
 I have taken the phenomena of pictures derived from 
 vision to illustrate my meaning, but every other organ of 
 sensation is liable to produce ideas in the mind more or less 
 fallacious. The conjurer incites fallacy in the mind through 
 the medium of the eye ; the ventriloquist deceives through 
 the medium of the ear. 
 
 Noemic Fallacies. When there is any deficiency either 
 in the organs of sensation or in the ideas derived therefrom, 
 the conclusion derived from reason would be wrong, although 
 the reason itself would be right, and that would be one 
 source of fallacy. 
 
 Another source of fallacy depends upon the relative 
 intensity of an immediately received idea, when contrasted 
 with former ideas existing in the mind ; for if either be too 
 powerful, a fallacious reasoning will result. 
 
 In the exercise of the faculty of abstraction, a want of 
 sufficient facts, or the reception of imperfect facts, is the 
 most common source of error, so much so, that it is a 
 common expression, 'Be sure of your facts before you 
 make your deductions.' 
 
 In discoursing on words and language, I have pointed 
 out the leading fallacies which may intentionally or acci- 
 dentally arise, but there are yet other fallacies in connexion 
 with reason which originate in the mind. 
 
 No fallacy is more common than to dissever an abstract 
 idea, induced from the lower syndramic ideas, from the 
 images from which it has been abstracted, and then to give 
 it the character of a single syndramic idea ; thus persons are 
 apt to think that there is a something which they call heat, 
 light, and electricity, apart from the mode of motion which 
 is called heat, light, or electricity.
 
 170 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 It occurs to me that this is owing to an imperfect 
 method of use of words and language which requires 
 rectification ; for no word used to signify an abstraction, or 
 to convey an abstract idea, should ever be employed to 
 express a syndramic idea. 
 
 Although we may look forward in the progress of human 
 knowledge to a more accurate nomenclature in the future, 
 some benefit might be obtained at the present time by using 
 words as now commonly employed by us, set up in a different 
 type in our books, for each of three sets of words adapted 
 to the three great classes of ideas. Words representing 
 pictures or syndramic ideas of simple objects might be 
 represented with a capital initial letter ; words used for 
 ideas abstracted from syndramic ideas might be printed in 
 small capitals, and words expressing ideas connected with 
 the infinite might always be printed in large capitals. 
 
 Syndramic words. 
 Dog, House, Man, Cat, Stone, Water, Land, Gas. 
 
 Noemic words. 
 
 LIGHT, HEAT, ELECTRICITY, SOUND, ODOUR, CAUSE, TIME, 
 
 LIFE. 
 
 Pneuma-Noemic icords. 
 
 GOD, IMMORTALITY, ETERNITY, THE SOUL, 
 INFINITY. 
 
 Probably by the constant habit of printing the three 
 great classes of words in three different manners, the mind 
 having continually the three great gradations before it, 
 would be saved from being unable to distinguish an
 
 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 171 
 
 abstraction of a vast mass of phenomena, which have been 
 represented in the mind, from a single mental picture. 
 
 Throughout this work, at every page, it has been found 
 difficult to class the ideas existing in the mind under the 
 three leading categories, so as to convey to another person 
 untrained to thought the precise difference which these 
 three great classes of words present to our understandings, 
 and metaphysical science can only be advanced by a clear 
 definition of the words used. 
 
 Pneuma - Noemic Fallacies. The highest abstractions 
 which the mind forms of ideas presented for its considera- 
 tion, are those which are connected with totality, from which 
 we derive the idea of infinity. Infinity of either time or 
 space does not appertain to matter, but should ever be 
 separated from it. Nevertheless, it is a common error to 
 confound earthly with unearthly ideas ; material qualities 
 with infinite attributes. 
 
 This fallacy leads to all forms of unholy beliefs and 
 pagan religions ; for he alone who constantly and accurately 
 separates the material from the immaterial, the Creator 
 from the created, can have that pure and holy religion to 
 which all of us should aspire. 
 
 Pneuma-noemic fallacies are the basis of much of the 
 false religions which have degraded men for ages. They 
 lead to the use of false gods, to the worship sometimes of 
 good men, at others to the worship of animals, and even 
 to prostration before the rude rock and sculptured stone, 
 instead of the worship of God and God alone. 
 
 Mnemonic Fallacies. Memory is a fruitful source of 
 fallacy, for the idea representing an entire event does not 
 reappear in all its integrity, or parts of two images appear 
 simultaneously. 
 
 In giving evidence before a Committee of the House of
 
 172 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Commons, I once, upon being suddenly asked, replied that 
 a monk at a particular time had a white cloak, but after- 
 wards on reflection remembered that he had a black cloak 
 at the time mentioned. The fallacy arose from having seen 
 a number of monks more recently in Italy. As soon as the 
 error was detected, I went again to the Committee and 
 explained the circumstance. 
 
 Many persons frequently forget proper names of persons, 
 although their images are firmly fixed in the mind : this is 
 a fruitful source of fallacy. 
 
 Imagination is based upon ideas which are remembered. 
 Two or more ideas are combined together, or parts of ideas 
 are separated from the whole and conjoined. Imagination 
 should always be kept subordinate to reason, or it may lead 
 to innumerable and dangerous fallacies. 
 
 Perhaps the act of judgment is less liable to fallacy than 
 the ideas on which this act is based. Judgment has only to 
 do with the materials before the mind; and when all the 
 ideas and parts of ideas are correct upon which comparison 
 and judgment artf based, judgment is generally properly 
 exercised. To preserve true judgment, we should be ever 
 careful that the single ideas existing in the mind should be 
 true. 
 
 There are some recondite questions of fallacy arising 
 from a misapplication of technical knowledge, as in the 
 application of the doctrine of averages and of means and 
 limits. A general wanting to clothe his army, ascertained 
 that the average height of all his men was five feet six 
 inches. He ordered fifty thousand suits of -clothes, and 
 when they came home, not one single suit fitted any one 
 man ; for the army was composed of men from two races, in 
 one of which the men exceeded six feet in height, and in the 
 other the men were below five feet in height, so that the
 
 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 173 
 
 clothes were too small for the tall men and too large for the 
 short men. 
 
 Fallacies of Faith. Faith is a constant source of fallacy, 
 for if there is not a due reliance in faith we should be 
 constantly led to inaction ; but, on the other hand, if we 
 have too much faith, or rather an undue faith in supplying 
 any unknown parts of an idea, we may be led to fallacies to 
 prevent which we should ever so subjugate our faith, that 
 no excessive idea should be developed. 
 
 Fallacies of faith are constantly seen in a partial man- 
 ner. It is a fallacy of faith to place an undue trust in 
 medicinal agents, but it is worse fallacy of faith to suppose 
 an ignorant quack or a globulist can cure when knowledge 
 fails. There is no period in the world's history where 
 fallacies of faith are not of daily occurrence. Now it is 
 in homoeopathic globules, formerly it was in touch pieces ; 
 and it is generally observed that a man who is a victim of 
 one fallacy of faith is usually a victim of many, because his 
 mind is not well balanced. 
 
 Fallacies of Cause. There are frequent fallacies arising 
 from a misapplied cause, because cause involves a sequence 
 of events, and it is not alway s possible to know for certainty 
 what part of an event acts, as the cause to produce the 
 effect. Sometimes the mind has only before it the effect and 
 not the cause, such as when a theft is committed, the objects 
 stolen have been removed from their former position, but 
 what was the cause has never come before the mind. 
 
 The fallacies of cause commonly arise from concomitance 
 being mistaken for cause ; for instance, a boy is seen to 
 throw a stone, and it is inferred because a stone broke a 
 window and came into the room, that he threw the stone, 
 whereas another boy unseen really threw the stone which 
 did the damage.
 
 174 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Fallacies in point of time are most numerous, not only as 
 to the rapidity or energy with which any events may occur, 
 but also as to the order in succession in which the events 
 occur. 
 
 Fallacies of Pleasure and Pain. Undue and exalted ideas 
 of pleasure or pain lead to many and serious fallacies. In 
 these exalted states of mind, persons fall into religious 
 ecstasies, and scream, jump, and dance sometimes in a nude 
 state, regardless of all decency. These states partake of an 
 hysterical condition, and begin in one person, when the 
 similar state is taken up by others, and further stimulated 
 and excited by those who ought to know better, till it 
 reaches a mental epidemic, and spreads from country to 
 country. 
 
 In history numerous instances have occurred, from the 
 mania of Tarantula dances to the last outbreak in the New 
 Forest now under exhibition. It behoves us all so to quiet 
 and calm our mental operations, that such insensate exhibi- 
 tions of excited imagination should be repressed. 
 
 Apart from these violent expressions of passion, we are 
 liable to exhibit undue fear at a suppositious accession of 
 pain, or to attach too much importance to pleasure. 
 
 The latter leads to the love of money and an undue 
 desire of gain, which, although pleasurable at the moment, 
 too often leads to future pain, so that the ideas of pleasure 
 and pain should ever be kept in proper -balance ; that neither 
 present pleasure, present pain, future pleasure, or future 
 pain, infinitely enduring pleasure or infinitely enduring 
 pain, should have otherwise than properly influence on our 
 actions. 
 
 Dynamic Fallacies. When all the powers of the mind are 
 perfect, and none are stimulated at the expense of the others, 
 action may be expected to be properly regulated, and con-
 
 FALLACIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 175 
 
 trolled ; nevertheless, sometimes we do not adjust our mus- 
 cular movements with sufficient accuracy to perform the 
 act which is intended. Numerous accidents arise from too 
 hasty movements, we miss our footing, we strike our hands, 
 we do not hit the mark, solely because the whole mind is 
 not brought to bear accurately to adjust our muscular 
 movements. 
 
 We thus perceive that the leading properties of the 
 mind, the aisthenic, syndramic, noemic, pneuma-noemic, 
 and dynamic, all contribute to fallacy. We find also that 
 our feelings of pleasure and pain also contribute to fallacy. 
 We find that fallacy arises from mode of action, and so we 
 should ever remember that the mind is one whole, and that 
 a proper balance should be preserved to maintain its highest 
 integrity ; and that contrariwise, if that proper balance is not 
 efficiently maintained, that fallacious ideas will arise which 
 may at any time lead to fallacies of action.
 
 176 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 Meclianism of organs of sensation voltaic Nervous system a system of 
 compound voltaic batteries Influence of voltaic electricity on the 
 circulation of the blood Structure of the nervous fibres Theory of 
 instinct -Nervous system one organ Principles of the human mind 
 in health and disease Defective states of mind Abstract ideas 
 Mechanism of abstraction Mode of abstraction Difficulty of 
 communicating abstract ideas Future conflict of ideas Import- 
 ance of the study of abstract ideas. 
 
 UP to this point, the facts which have come under our 
 notice have not presented any very considerable difficulty ; 
 but I must now beg my reader to give his undivided 
 attention to those which I am about to adduce, inasmuch as 
 from them my natural theory of mental philosophy has been 
 derived. 
 
 Experiment 1. I introduced two steel needles into a 
 rabbit : the first into the masseter, or muscle which enables 
 the creature to masticate, the other into the subcutaneous 
 cellular tissues. After two or three minutes the creature, 
 which was very tame, attempted to bite my finger ; the 
 powers of volition acted on the muscles. This influenced
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 177 
 
 the two steel needles, and produced deflection of the galva- 
 nometer to which they were attached. 
 
 Sub -experiment. I have repeated this experiment on 
 rabbits, cats, eels, and various other animals, with the same 
 results. 
 
 Commentary. This experiment clearly showed that the 
 current was produced between the terminations of the 
 sensor nerves distributed to the skin, and the motor nerves 
 distributed to the muscles. Hence it is inferred that the 
 current forms a circle through the sensor and motor nerves 
 to the brain. It also shows that this current was produced 
 by what is termed volition. 
 
 Experiment 2. I introduced two needles under the 
 skin of a rabbit and afterwards gently irritated the skin, 
 when the galvanometer was deflected as in the last experi- 
 ment. 
 
 Sub-experiment. The results of this experiment are also 
 very clearly shown in the eel and other creatures. 
 
 Commentary. From these facts we learn that the action 
 of the skin which gives rise to sensation is accompanied by 
 the voltaic force. 
 
 Experiment 3. I introduced one needle into the eye and 
 a second into the muscles of the eyeball, when I obtained a 
 slight deflection on throwing a very concentrated light into 
 that organ. 
 
 Sub-experiment. I varied the position of the needle, but, 
 upon the whole, I obtained the greatest deflection when one 
 needle was thrust through the choroid, the second through 
 the muscle of the eyeball. 
 
 Commentary. This experiment indicates that the action 
 of light upon the eye determines a voltaic current between 
 the muscle and the choroid. 
 
 Experiment 4. I introduced a needle into a rabbit's 
 
 N
 
 178 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 nose, and another into the subcutaneous tissues. On 
 stimulating the nose with a strong odour, deflection 
 occurred. 
 
 Sub-experiment. I have repeated these experiments in 
 cats and rabbits, but the animals have a great repugnance 
 to it. 
 
 Commentary. This experiment shows that the mechan- 
 ism of smelling is voltaic. 
 
 Observation 1. The mechanism of the bodies of men and 
 animals is so arranged, that the motor nerves are distributed 
 to the muscles, the sensor nerves to the skin and other 
 organs of sensation, both of which are abundantly vascular. 
 The two sets of nerves are continued up to the brain where 
 they terminate in vesicles, in contact with the highly vas- 
 cular tissues which will be hereafter described. 
 
 Commentary. According to voltaic laws, it follows, from 
 these observations, that a second battery must there exist 
 opposed to the one in the body. Hence we are compelled 
 to admit that the general structure of man and animals 
 is that of a double series of voltaic batteries. 
 
 Experiment 5. If all the sensor and motor nerves, in 
 their course to the brain, be divided, the power of sensa- 
 tion and motion is instantly annihilated, and life is extin- 
 guished. This result occurs when an animal is beheaded 
 or the top of the spinal chord is divided, as by the process 
 of pithing. 
 
 Commentary. This result is dependent upon the body, 
 which consists of one series of voltaic batteries being 
 separated from the brain, which is made up of the second 
 series opposed to them. 
 
 Experiment 6. If a frog's foot be arranged under the 
 microscope, and an intense electrical current passed through 
 it, the circulation instantly stops, and the lymph corpuscule
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 179 
 
 which comes, as it were, slowly along the sides of the vessel, 
 is also in the same manner, stopped in its career. 
 
 Sub-experiment. The same result happens not only with 
 frogs but with fish of various kinds, when subjected to the 
 action of the magneto-electric machine or powerful voltaic 
 batteries. 
 
 Commentary. By these experiments we learn the influ- 
 ence of the voltaic force upon blood corpuscules ; and the 
 phenomenon of blushing, or other increased vascularity from 
 nervous excitement, is explained. 
 
 Observation 2. The nervous fibres consist of tubes which 
 are lined in their interior with fat, a substance which is well 
 known to be one of the most perfect of all insulating bodies. 
 Within the fat is contained a fluid ; so that the whole 
 resembles a gutta-percha tube filled with fluid. From the 
 above experiments and observations, we learn that the entire 
 nervous system, to which the whole of the rest of the 
 organization is but an appendage, consists of a series of 
 nerves, or tubes, which are prolonged, in one direction, into 
 the brain ; in the other, into the body, where one portion is 
 distributed to the organs of sensation, the second to the 
 muscular substance. 
 
 Observation 3. As we find no provision in the body for 
 insulating the termination of a motor or sensor nerve, it is 
 manifest that every motor nerve is opposed to every sensor 
 nerve, and every sensor nerve is opposed to every motor 
 nerve. 
 
 Commentary. In consequence of this arrangement, when 
 any sensor nerve is stimulated, any motor nerve in the body 
 may be excited to action. 
 
 Experiment 7. If a voltaic current of a single pair be 
 completed, through two solutions, one containing sulphate of 
 copper, the other sulphate of zinc, and copper electrodes, are
 
 180 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 used, in both instances the current will pass exclusively 
 through the sulphate of copper. 
 
 Sub -experiment. This experiment may be infinitely 
 varied, but the current will always be found to pass by 
 the readiest course, to the exclusion of all other roads. 
 
 Experiment 8. When the needles are placed respectively 
 in the muscle and cutaneous textures, the needle thrust 
 through the muscular substance acts upon the galvanometer 
 as though it were the zinc of a voltaic circuit. 
 
 Commentary. Inasmuch as the current through these 
 needles is the reverse of the current of the body, according 
 to the well-known laws of electro-voltaic currents, it follows 
 that the muscle is negative, the skin positive. 
 
 As far as the organs of thought or brain are concerned, 
 we can only adduce the structure according to physical 
 laws ; but I have noticed an explanation in which volition 
 or will is but the resultant of an immediate impression, and 
 of all other impressions existing in the body.* 
 
 In the first place, we may assume that nerve for nerve is 
 simply repeated in the brain ; but, although this assumption 
 tends to elucidate the structure on which account I have 
 adopted it, yet a careful study of the properties of this 
 repetition, taken in conjunction with the whole theoretical 
 structure, rather seems to indicate that it might possibly be 
 dispensed with. 
 
 It is, in the next place, absolutely necessary to assume 
 that these primitive nervous fibres enter into certain com- 
 binations. 
 
 * In submitting animals to experiment I have on several occasions 
 noticed deflection of the needle when thrust in the base of the brain. 
 The animal, however, is instantly killed, and I have therefore not abso- 
 lute certainty in the experiment which would allow me to introduce it 
 into the text, though I must say I have no doubt in the fact.
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 181 
 
 Observation 4. In every animal which has a brain, a 
 multitude of fibres is found ; and, according to the number 
 of ideas which an animal can receive, so is the intricacy of 
 their fibrous arrangements. In a former part of this work 
 I have shown that the number of all the possible combi- 
 nations which could be found of all the nervous fibres is so 
 great that the skull could not possibly contain them all. 
 Hence we may assume that these combinations only take 
 place to a. certain extent, which is also proved by facts 
 which I cannot now consider. 
 
 This battery I call the combination * battery, and it is in 
 the highest degree important. In animals there appears to 
 me to be no evidence of a higher structure, and their 
 nervous system may thus be represented. 
 
 Sensation. 
 
 
 Brain. 
 
 Muscle. 
 
 eo 
 
 
 
 o d b co 
 
 
 
 *o a c <N. 
 s b c i i 
 
 rH 
 
 
 a b c 
 
 The above mechanism, even without the repetition of 
 the simple nerves in the brain, would be amply sufficient 
 to account for all phenomena exhibited by animals. These 
 creatures, we have found, only receive simple ideas, and, 
 according to whether these simple ideas be pleasurable or 
 painful, so is the cause of the action determined. For 
 instance, volition, or actions through the nerves marked 
 1, 2, 3, would depend upon the character of the impression 
 in the respective parts of the combination battery a b, 
 a c, b c, a b c. 
 
 For the instinctive operations which animals manifest, 
 we have only further to assume that action is determined in 
 a b, a c, &c., by an influence produced in the process of 
 
 * Syndramic.
 
 182 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 growth of the animal ; and in that case it is certain that the 
 idea of a nest may be implanted in the bird, of a comb in 
 the wasp or bee, of a web in the spider, and upon this 
 supposition we have a complete explanation of instinctive 
 operations. 
 
 With respect, however, to man, we observe that he must 
 have a structure by which he expresses a variety of ideas by 
 one idea, or, in other words, induces a general law. The 
 simplest mechanism by which this can be effected is, first, 
 by combining every one combination of each sense into one, 
 and thus one idea would appear for any action on that 
 sense ; secondly, I again assume that these enter into 
 combination like single impressions ; and, finally, that these 
 are again connected together into one battery, from which 
 the motor nerves spring. 
 
 From these views, man is made up of a great number of 
 voltaic elements, so arranged as to form one whole. Hence, 
 as the whole modifies the action of every single part, it 
 follows that every idea existing in his brain modifies his 
 action in any particular case. 
 
 From the diagrams which I have formed, it will be seen 
 how an impression is supposed to be received from the 
 external world, carried to the brain, and there registered. 
 It will also be seen how it is supposed that we induce the 
 properties of matter, and refer its creation to an infinite 
 cause. In fact, according to my theory, we can never look 
 at any object, feel any object, or be otherwise affected, 
 without the infinite cause which gave rise to it occurring to 
 our mind. In this sense God is always more or less before 
 us. 
 
 According to the electro -voltaic doctrine, we induce 
 certain principles of the human mind, and they appear to 
 me, at any rate, to have the merit of avoiding many diffi-
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 183 
 
 culties which occur under other systems, more especially 
 under those which infer an immaterial undefinable some- 
 thing which, by some persons, is supposed to join our 
 material frames at some unknown spot, and move the body 
 through them as a child would pull the strings of a puppet. 
 I will not descant upon this view which is now not held by 
 any natural philosopher of note. In fact, its existence 
 would only show that Providence had formed man to act 
 by a clumsy method, for it is apparent, that if an immaterial 
 something caused the motion of the arm to raise a weight, 
 then it would have been a far simpler contrivance for that 
 immaterial to have acted on the weight without the inter- 
 vention of the arm. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 i. Our ideas of the external world arise primarily, from 
 our actions upon the ultimate nervous fibres of the organs 
 of sensation, by the specific stimulus competent to excite 
 each organ of sensation respectively. 
 
 ii. Each primitive nervous fibril is called a unit ; a re- 
 petition of units numbers. 
 
 iii. That which is competent to act on these nervous 
 fibrils is called matter. 
 
 iv. "Whenever matter undergoes any change which ren- 
 ders it appreciable to our senses it is said to evince force. 
 
 v. The definite combination of nervous fibres excited to 
 action determines the character of the idea presented to the 
 mind, such as form, position, magnitude. 
 
 vi. Each combination may be expressed by a word or 
 cypher, and forms a definite image. 
 
 vii. The sum total of all possible combinations of the 
 ultimate nervous fibrils, excited to action, comprises all the 
 possible images which can be represented to the mind.
 
 184 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 viii. Inasmuch as the possible combination of all the 
 nervous fibrils is immensely numerous, so are the images 
 which may be reflected in the mind immensely numerous. 
 
 ix. An idea is represented to the mind when any one or 
 more of the filaments of either specific organ of sensation 
 is excited without reference to the definite image thereby 
 produced. 
 
 x. This solitary idea derived from the filaments of the 
 eye is termed vision ; of the ear, hearing ; of the nose, smelling ; 
 of the palate, tasting ; of the skin, feeling ; and, probably, from 
 the nerves communicating the changes occurring in our own 
 body, personality. 
 
 xi. The perfect knowledge of any object is obtained by 
 impressions received by the sum of the organs of sensation. 
 
 xii. But as matter may exist without exciting all the 
 organs of sensation at one time, we determine the combina- 
 tion of senses which has concurred to give us the knowledge 
 of any external object. 
 
 xiii. An idea is represented from the excitement of one 
 or all the nervous fibrils of any organ of sensation indis- 
 criminately. This idea is infinite, inasmuch as it is indivi- 
 sible, incapable of addition, and represents totality.* 
 
 xiv. Our knowledge of the external world at any given 
 period is the sum total of the images from all our senses. 
 
 xv. These images represented to the mind are perpetu- 
 ally changing. 
 
 xvi. When images change one remains ; the other 
 changes perhaps several times before the first changes. 
 The relation of these changes to each other is termed the 
 time of their occurrence; that which changes the least fre- 
 quently is said to be of the longest duration. 
 
 * Infinity is sometimes confounded with its hyperbolical sense of 
 endless numbers.
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 185 
 
 xvii. In the change of images, when one specific image 
 never appears without a similar antecedent, and the matter 
 in the external world which gave rise to the first image set 
 in motion the second, the antecedent image is said to cause 
 the second image. 
 
 xviii. The mind finds great difficulty in distinguishing 
 between concomitance and cause, because the matter which 
 produces an antecedent image may not set in motion the 
 matter which produced the second image. 
 
 xix. When images of the external world are produced 
 with a certain intensity the idea of pleasure is excited, when 
 with a greater intensity the idea of pain* 
 
 xx. The transition from pleasure to pain being sudden, 
 not gradual, it follows that the nature of the action on the 
 brain, and consequently of the ideas, is different. 
 
 xxi. An image once formed in the brain produces an 
 indelible impression, and may at any future time recur. 
 This property is called memory. 
 
 xxii. When an image is produced by an action upon the 
 external senses, the actions on the organs of sense concur 
 with the actions in the brain ; and the image is then a 
 reality. 
 
 xxiii. When an image occurs to the mind without a cor- 
 responding simultaneous action of the body it is called 
 thought. 
 
 xxiv. The power to distinguish between a thought and a 
 reality is called consciousness. 
 
 xxv. Several ideas must necessarily co-exist, giving rise 
 to compound ideas always existing in the brain ; thus, per' 
 sonality and infinity give us the idea of the soul ; pleasure 
 and infinity, of good ; pain and infinity, of evil ; cause and 
 
 * Every action of our lives is either pleasurable or painful, and thus 
 we perceive how vastly the former state preponderates over the latter.
 
 186 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 infinity, of God ; time and infinity, of eternity ; infinity, 
 pleasure, and time, of heaven ; infinity, pain, and time, of 
 hell.* 
 
 xxvi. These intuitive ideas are not produced by the im- 
 mediate action of external influences, but have their origin 
 in the construction of the brain, or organ of thought. These 
 intuitive ideas belong to the higher class of mental images ; 
 and there is no reason to suppose that more simple ideas are 
 implanted as instinctive ideas in the human species. 
 
 xxvii. In the lower animals, however, it is apparent that 
 either other images exist, which guide the creature to per- 
 form their operations as the bird to build its nest, the bee 
 the honeycomb or that the nervous system is so con- 
 structed that the creature is led to perform specific acts 
 under some definite excitement. 
 
 xxviii. When images already implanted in the brain 
 which possess many points in common continually reappear, 
 the party is said to be reflecting. 
 
 xxix. During reflection the influences of the external 
 world to produce new images are entirely or to a great part 
 neglected. 
 
 xxx. By reflection ideas may be combined so as to form 
 general laws. 
 
 xxxi. By reflection general laws may be applied to spe- 
 cific instances, or images may be analyzed into their compo- 
 nent parts. 
 
 xxxii. When an idea is represented to the mind it 
 either accords or discords with other ideas previously re- 
 ceived, or with general laws resulting therefrom, or with the 
 
 * As these intuitive ideas are simply thoughts, and cannot be proved 
 by our external senses, the mind may be led at times to deny the reality 
 of their existence. Reason and faith, however, declare their truth, and 
 thus compensate for the natural weakness of man.
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 187 
 
 moral law. The determination between this concordance or 
 discordance is called judgment. 
 
 xxxiii. Man has the power of uniting two or more ante- 
 cedent images, or the parts of two or more antecedent 
 images. By this power a totally new image is formed, and 
 hence it is called imagination. 
 
 xxxiv. Observation is the basis of fancy ; and the novel- 
 ist is fruitful only in proportion as he stores his mind with 
 natural images. 
 
 xxxv. Man acts by electricity, which is set in motion 
 through the muscular structures, whereby contraction ensues, 
 and parts of the body are moved. 
 
 xxxvi. Action may be produced by the immediate influ- 
 ence of the external agents upon the -body, which give rise 
 to a new image in the brain ; and action may also be pro- 
 duced by the recurrence of a former image. 
 
 xxxvii. The mind is one and indivisible ; and thus the 
 particular muscular movement which the electrical force 
 determines is not only regulated by an immediate image, 
 but by every other image which has at any former time 
 been implanted in the brain. 
 
 xxxviii. Pleasure and pain regulate all actions ; hence 
 the particular movement which is determined arises from 
 the pleasurable or painful character of all former images ; 
 as animals, as well as human beings, seek those actions 
 which are likely to be pleasurable, and eschew those which 
 are likely to be painful. 
 
 xxxix. But the action determined in any particular 
 instance may be painful, for the sake of obtaining greater 
 pleasure at future periods ; and the idea of obtaining in- 
 finite pleasure may allow of the most intense immediate 
 pain.
 
 188 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 xl. The idea of future pleasure is called hope ; of future 
 pain, fear. The government of mankind is conducted by 
 exciting hope and fear. 
 
 xli. When a tendency to act exists, it is called desire ; 
 and always exists, more or less, when a being is in good 
 health, and in a state free from fatigue. 
 
 xlii. All actions in the higher generalisations would 
 give the idea either of infinite pleasure or of infinite pain. 
 Actions which concur with those which lead to infinite 
 pleasure are called virtuous, and those which lead to infinite 
 pain are called vicious. 
 
 xliii. The moral law, being infinite, is competent to 
 control all actions. It is therefore important that it should 
 be frequently and strongly impressed upon the human mind. 
 
 xliv. The resultant of the force of an immediate stimulus 
 and of all former ideas implanted in the brain, is termed 
 volition. 
 
 xlv. A man is born a free agent ; but after images are 
 once implanted, he is compelled to act from the ideas exist- 
 ing in his brain. Hence, could we but tell the exact ideas 
 which any human being possesses, and the relative value he 
 assigns to each, it would be practicable to foretell his line of 
 action under any defined circumstance. 
 
 xlvi. The term life is assigned to the idea which the 
 mind forms of the capacity of an organised being to 
 perform its functions. 
 
 xlvii. The term death is assigned to the idea which the 
 mind receives of an organised being incompetent to perform 
 any vital action. 
 
 xlviii. The term mind is assigned to the general idea of 
 any action of the brain. An idea is the term assigned to 
 any specific action of the brain.
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 189 
 
 xlix. Organisation is the term assigned to the con- 
 struction of a being to adapt it to perform certain func- 
 tions. 
 
 1. The mind has constantly represented to it the idea of 
 a personality which will exist infinitely. 
 
 li. Whilst, however, the idea exists, we have no power 
 to learn the properties of infinity ; and hence we cannot 
 define the nature of the state in which we shall live here- 
 after. 
 
 lii. Whenever an idea appears in the brain, which is 
 neither intuitive, nor is due to external causes, nor is 
 deduced by the ordinary operations of the brain, it is said 
 to be an insane idea. 
 
 liii. When this idea is continuously the same, the party 
 is said to have a monomania. 
 
 liv. When various images appear and vanish indiscri- 
 minately, the state is called incoherence; and when this 
 state is combined with more or less unconsciousness, it is 
 termed delirium. 
 
 Iv. The danger of insane ideas depends upon the distinct- 
 ness with which these ideas are impressed upon the brain ; 
 for they will determine the party to act in proportion to the 
 power with which it is impressed. 
 
 Ivi. To the violent actions arising from strongly 
 implanted diseased ideas, the term mania is given ; and 
 the violence of the mania is proportionate to the power of 
 the delusion. To the individual it is an exaltation of 
 pleasure. 
 
 Ivii. When, from the delusion, the patient is in continual 
 fear, he is said to be melancholy ; and it is probably, to the 
 individual, an exaltation of pain. 
 
 Iviii. When a fixed insane idea exists in the mind, the 
 party cannot be said to be partially deluded ; for, inasmuch
 
 190 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 as the mind is one, and indivisible, it will control all his 
 actions.* 
 
 lix. A strong moral impression may counteract an insane 
 image, as a person may be kept from doing wrong, by feel- 
 ing assured that it will lead to present or future inconveni- 
 ence to himself. 
 
 Ix. When the structure of the brain is congenitally 
 defective, so that it cannot perform all its normal actions, 
 the person is said to be an idiot. 
 
 Ixi. Sometimes the power of memory is intermittent, or 
 is totally lost, as after the frequent recurrence of epileptic 
 fits. 
 
 Ixii. Any interval of unconsciousness, except sleep, is 
 called a fit. 
 
 Ixiii. When, from loss of memory, or want of power in 
 the brain, the functions of reflection or judgment are not 
 perfectly performed, the individual is said to }>e fatuous. 
 
 Ixiv. Sometimes the power of receiving impressions from 
 the external world is diminished or lost, as in blindness, 
 deafness, &c. 
 
 Ixv. When parts of the body do not move by volition, 
 they are said to be paralyzed. 
 
 Ixvi. In old age, the brain loses its power to receive new 
 images, to restore bygone impressions, to connect different 
 images, or to apply general laws to specific instances. That 
 which ennobles the man has passed away ; the outward form 
 remains, but the inward structure has lost its power to act. 
 Childhood again ensues not to acquire new ideas, but to 
 forget those before implanted. All that is beautiful or 
 desirable in this world has passed away ; the brain has lost 
 
 * As a matter of jurisprudence it has been held by the Lord Chan- 
 cellors, in the House of Lords, that the mind cannot be said to be partially 
 deluded, inasmuch as it is one and indivisible.
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 191 
 
 its power the mind ceases the very existence of the man 
 is unknown to himself, till death gives rise to a new life, 
 and discloses that new and glorious state in which our 
 organisation teaches us that man will be immaterial and 
 immortal. 
 
 Ixvii. As individuals differ in their organisation, it 
 follows that they differ in their capacity to perform various 
 acts ; and we may presume that the mind, being one of the 
 functions of the body, is of varying power in different 
 individuals. 
 
 Ixviii. The observations which apply to different indi- 
 viduals apply with greater force to different races. 
 
 To estimate the perfection of the mind, the organs of 
 sensation should be carefully examined, to find whether the 
 eye sees perfectly and correctly, the ear hears, the nose 
 smells, the tongue tastes, and the skin feels, and besides, if 
 a proper knowledge is obtained of the changes which take 
 place within our own bodies. 
 
 It is then necessary to ascertain whether proper pictures 
 of objects in the external world produce a due impression on 
 the brain, that they may be retained for future use, and be 
 duly remembered. 
 
 Comparison, thought, and judgment, must then be the 
 object of attention ; for if one is defective, the action of the 
 mind will be imperfect ; and in some states of disease we 
 perceive that a man, otherwise learned and intelligent, can- 
 not act upon all the facts of the case coupled with all other 
 sources of information. 
 
 The mind does not exhibit its high qualities when the 
 faculty of inducing general laws, and deducing from them 
 their effect in particular instances, is not perfect, and the
 
 192 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 mind exhibits great inferiority if it is not obedient to the 
 moral law. 
 
 As the brain is the regulator of the direction of action, it 
 should be one and entire. There should be a proper balance 
 between all its powers, so that healthy mental' action may 
 be evinced. 
 
 In the discipline of the mind, absence of mind should be 
 sedulously avoided, and full attention should be given to 
 surrounding impressions. Illusions of the senses should be 
 avoided by close observation, and hallucinations prevented 
 by strict discipline of the judgment. 
 
 During contemplation and deliberation, long-continued 
 absorption in the inner mental operations should be avoided, 
 or we get a habit of what is called brown study ; and so, 
 also, should we restrain the influence of those religious 
 enthusiasts who would generate within us the pernicious 
 action of religious ecstasy, wherein the mind becomes 
 absorbed in its own imaginations and fancies, and neglects 
 the proper effect of surrounding circumstances. It is ever 
 painful to observe the feebleness of mind which such a 
 course produces. 
 
 Analogous mischief, but not to so great an extent, is 
 caused by the habit of reverie, when a man neglects the 
 information derived from his own mind, but continually 
 excessively dwells upon beautiful ideas developed by men 
 superior to himself, as Shakespeare, Milton, and other 
 writers and poets, which are so superior that his own mind 
 can hardly approach the noble sentiments which they have 
 originated. 
 
 In action, we should examine if the will is determined 
 by a well-balanced mind, that our muscular movements should 
 be regulated by a healthy brain, duly and properly exercised
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 193 
 
 in all its departments. If action is so restrained, violent 
 passion will be avoided. A definitive purpose will be 
 exhibited in all our doings, vigour and determination will 
 lead to success and brilliant action. 
 
 In our muscular systems, when cramp, convulsions, 
 sleep-walking, dreams, hysteria or catalepsy occur, they mark 
 a derangement of the bodily functions; for to exhibit the 
 full perfection of the mind in its natural and characteristic 
 beauty, it is necessary to possess a ' mens sana in corpore 
 sano.' 
 
 Every man possesses individuality. He differs from 
 every other man in some slight respect. These differences 
 may be arranged in groups. Thus every family differs 
 slightly from every other family, every race differs from 
 every other race, and the people of every nation show 
 their peculiar nationality. 
 
 There is even a difference of mental capability in the two 
 sexes ; and although the difference is ever before our minds, 
 how difficult it is to distinguish the difference of the power 
 of mind between any one man and any one woman, yet 
 between all men and all women the mind possesses a perfect 
 distinctness which we can recognise. 
 
 Man exhibits the higher powers of thought and of 
 construction, and is more daring in action. Ever ready to 
 take command, he subdues by force. Woman deals with 
 smaller matters, is loving, timid, and gentle in action ; ever 
 ready to obey, she leans upon the man for guidance and 
 protection. In a perfect state, a man and woman are two 
 persons with one mind, their thoughts are interwoven 
 together, they act upon one design, and both live for one 
 common object and thtir common benefit. The perfection 
 of creation, and the omnipotence of design, is in no instance 
 
 o
 
 t 
 194 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 more strikingly shown than in the mutual dependence of 
 men and women. 
 
 "Who then shall intervene between husband and wife to 
 impair that unity of mind which nature has decreed ? 
 Surely it is the most accursed of all human wickedness to 
 seek possession of the thoughts of women to govern men, or 
 to rule communities. Yet there are not found wanting, 
 amongst some pretended religious communities, those who 
 dare to attempt, by the confessional, to separate the minds 
 of those who have been joined together by the inscrutable 
 wisdom of the Almighty. 
 
 When we examine the peculiarities of the mind of any 
 one individual, we may employ the natural system of mental 
 philosophy as detailed in this work ; we may divide man- 
 kind, primarily, into five groups, the aisthenic, syndramic, 
 noemic, pneuma-noemic, and dynamic, according as their 
 respective faculties are developed ; and, moreover, we may 
 group together any combination of these mental qualities, 
 such as aisthenic noemic, syndraniic dynamic, etc. 
 
 But each respective faculty of the mind admits of sub- 
 division, such as the aisthenic into six, five of which 
 represent the mental power derived from the respective 
 organs of sensation, and one from knowledge derived from 
 bodily feeling. We may further subdivide these divisions 
 into the various functions which are assigned to each organ 
 of sense ; thus a man may have a powerful vision for small 
 objects, a great range of adjustment, a power for the appre- 
 ciation of colours, a quickness in the perception of objects. 
 Similar differences occur with every other organ of. sensa- 
 tion, so that by this process we note a large number of 
 mental peculiarities. 
 
 But the syndraniic qualities of the mind not only com-
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 195 
 
 prise all those which appertain to the aisthenic, but superadd 
 to them the faculty of receiving information from the words 
 and the writing of others ; and this second faculty again 
 presents many varieties, from the classes of knowledge 
 which the mind of any particular man is competent to 
 receive, thus some men principally read of that which 
 might be seen by the eye, others of that which may be 
 heard by the ear. 
 
 Again, the same impression affects one man with 
 pleasure, another with pain. The same amount of light 
 which is a delight to one man is a pain to another, so that 
 the number of all the above varieties of mind are doubled 
 by these considerations. 
 
 Proceeding with the examination of the mind, we have 
 to consider the noemic properties or powers of thought. 
 These are still governed by all the lower subdivisions, but 
 have characteristics superadded. The faculty of inducing 
 laws and acting upon them, is highly important, as opposed 
 to the property of vacillation, where the object to be 
 obtained remains in doubt. 
 
 We must next observe the pneuma-noemic qualities of the 
 mind by which it is regulated by the consideration of the 
 Deity, of the soul, of eternity, of heaven, and of hell. 
 
 Further, the human mind is modified throughout all 
 these subdivisions by memory or forgetfulness ; for a man 
 is in a totally different position if he sees and does not recall 
 to his mind what has been seen, or if he thinks and does not 
 remember the thought, from the man who clearly remembers 
 the image seen or the law thought out. 
 
 There are, lastly, many varieties in the dynamic powers 
 of the mind. Some persons are quick of action, others 
 indolent. Some act from aisthenic impressions, others direct 
 their actions by thought. Some are governed by religious
 
 196 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 impressions, others act solely from the immediate impres- 
 sions of pleasure or pain. 
 
 All these states of the mind are governed, not only as 
 has been noticed before, by sex, but even by the age of the 
 individual. The boy exhibits properties in the various 
 departments of the mind different from those of the 
 child, the youth from the boy, the adult from the youth, 
 advanced life from the adult, and senility from advanced 
 life. 
 
 The perfect man perceives vividly by his organs of 
 sensation, registers the images, recalls them for future use, 
 obtains the knowledge received by other persons which they 
 record by word of mouth or by their books, deduces laws 
 and remembers them, thoroughly comprehends the moral 
 law, and acts with energy, calmness, and decision, in every 
 case presented to him. When a man so acts, does he not 
 exhibit the glorious perfection of the noblest work in nature ? 
 
 The danger, however, of using the mind so that one 
 department of it comes into play to the exclusion of the 
 rest, is great, and is shown in those states of semi-conscious- 
 ness which can be brought on by practice, in which a 
 person does not keep his mind in balance by the action of 
 impressions on the organs of sensation being carried to the 
 brain, but lets his imagination riot in thoughts which he 
 cannot distinguish from realities. He then sees what he is 
 pleased to call visions, and appears to have fanciful com- 
 munications with other persons, living or dead. This, 
 however, which is occasionally an epidemic, must be regarded 
 as a state of disease rather than as an instance of a healthy 
 mind. These states of mind should be carefully guarded 
 against, as exposing the sufferer to be a prey of those who 
 hold spurious religions. 
 
 It has been already observed, that it is the peculiar
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 197 
 
 province of man to abstract, by virtue of which he uses 
 words and language, and induces general laws. We have 
 now to consider by what mechanism and in what manner 
 this high quality is to be attained. 
 
 Perhaps but little difficulty attends the notion of a 
 reception of an impression from the external world, its 
 registration in the brain, and the consequent action of 
 the muscles of the body. But it becomes somewhat more 
 difficult for the mind to follow how the muscular action is 
 determined, not only by the immediate impression, but 
 also by impressions which have occurred, and which 
 have been registered in the brain at some former time ; but 
 it becomes extremely difficult to comprehend how action is 
 controlled by abstractions, that is to say, by general laws 
 obtained from all former impressions. 
 
 The outlines of the material mechanism by which the 
 nervous system acts, will be detailed in the last chapter of 
 this work, and at the present moment our attention will be 
 restricted to the probable mode of action of the brain in this 
 particular. 
 
 For this purpose it will be convenient to refer to the 
 relational machine, which was invented in mimicry of the 
 action of the brain, and it is so designed that a number of 
 lower impressions, designated by small letters, may be 
 represented by a single capital letter. The machine is 
 constructed in the plan of a geometric series of the function 
 of 2, but for our present purpose let us assume one of the 
 function of 10. 
 
 A 
 
 H I K
 
 198 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 By this arrangement, \ve perceive that a is affirmatively 
 affected if the first 10 filaments are acted upon, b for the 
 second, &c., and that the large letter A is affirmatively 
 affected when the whole 100 lower symbols are in action, 
 and only partially when less than the whole are affected. 
 
 To attempt to illustrate this action in a practical manner, 
 we may assume that every morning we come down to break- 
 fast and find a fire burning in the grate, that nervous 
 filaments in the body numbering from 20 to 30 are acted 
 upon by the fire, this would invariably affect b, and there- 
 fore b would ever represent afterward heat, as an abstraction 
 of the 10 nervous filaments excited to action ; and whenever 
 afterwards we talk of b, we should always have before us the 
 effect of heat on our bodies. 
 
 The word abstract is offensive to ordinary minds, but it 
 really signifies a composition of many ideas, so that many 
 simple ideas may be repeated by a single higher idea, and 
 the letter b, in the example given above, would always 
 signify the actions of our primitive nervous fibrils numbered 
 20 to 30. 
 
 To illustrate this abstract matter still further, let 30 to 
 40 represent the nervous fibrils excited by combustible mat- 
 ter, which would be abstracted by c, and let d represent the 
 abstraction of other matter with which c always combines 
 to make heat, then the combination bed would always be 
 affected when the fire burns. 
 
 Following the illustration, supposing all the primitive 
 nervous fibres governed by the letters abcdefghik are 
 acted upon when all physical forces are present, and that no 
 physical force is manifested, when^ none of the primitive 
 nervous fibres from 1 to 100 are acted upon, then great A 
 would be the abstraction of the mental action of all physical 
 forces; and supposing, moreover, that when any one physical
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 199 
 
 force is manifested, two kinds of matter are always present, 
 which change either in position or character, then the mind 
 forms the great comprehensive law that all physical forces 
 depend upon a change of matter. 
 
 Even in the latter illustration there is a change of 
 images in the brain, for we must start with particles of 
 matter in one state which during the manifestation of force 
 become matter in another position or state. 
 
 This is confessedly very difficult to follow, and for the 
 mind thoroughly to appreciate the state it must be concen- 
 trated within itself ; the difficulty arises from the number of 
 parts of which the nervous circle is made up. It is, how- 
 ever, one whole, and whenever a group of subjects is intelli- 
 gently brought before the mind, we are enabled, by being 
 master of this natural process of reason, to see all the bear- 
 ings in an instant of time, though it may take hours to set 
 out the whole train of thought by words. 
 
 The relational machine and relational slate have been 
 designed from a study of the mind, so that we may put 
 down in writing the process of thought as it occurs to the 
 mind, and it is useful to use them for mental practice. 
 
 When a person receives a communication from another, 
 his mind should at once perceive in every department exact 
 ideas of the subject communicated ; for example, when we 
 are told that heat melts lead, a large amount of intelligence 
 is conveyed. First, we have to note what lead is, and the 
 qualities of that kind of matter which is called lead, then 
 the state of solidity in which lead generally exists. With- 
 out a previous information having existed in the mind, the 
 assertion would not convey any knowledge. Next, the 
 change which occurs in a solid body in the act of melting, 
 whereby a solid state is converted into a fluid state.
 
 200 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 Lastly, the impressions which exist in the brain as to 
 the meaning of the word heat. Whenever heat is mani- 
 fested, a change of matter is recognised hy the mind, such 
 as the combination of coals with oxygen, in the process of 
 combustion, or the union of zinc with oxygen, in the voltaic 
 battery when the heat is caused by electrical action, and so 
 on for the other physical forces which can set in motion 
 heat. 
 
 In the use of these three simple words heat melts lead 
 how vast are the impressions registered in the brain which 
 are affected ! Some aisthenic as we receive them from the 
 external world, some syndramic or distinct images before 
 fixed in the brain, and some abstract in the higher depart- 
 ment of the organ of thought. 
 
 The intelligence communicated is but partial knowledge 
 if the brain is not acted upon in its higher, lower, and 
 middle departments, with regard to the numerous portions 
 of intelligence conveyed by the simple words, heat melts 
 lead. 
 
 So in the moral law, when we are told to love all men, 
 what an extent of images already registered in the brain is 
 mentioned ! We have black men, red men, white men, tall 
 men, short men, middle-sized men, Englishmen, foreigners, 
 rich men, poor men, princes, and peers. 
 
 In like manner, what a number of actions are comprised 
 in doing good, so that pleasure may be produced in the 
 present and future, and pain avoided under every definite 
 condition offered for our consideration in doing good. 
 
 A man in the most perfect state of receptivity, when 
 he has a verbal communication made to him, perceives in an 
 instant of time the laws which are affected by the words 
 spoken, the deductions downwards to all the specific parts of
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 201 
 
 which the generalisations are made up, the inductions up- 
 wards from particular instances affected, and the side rela- 
 tions to all other branches of knowledge. 
 
 For a man to exemplify these noble functions, he must 
 train his mind to act from above downwards, and from 
 below upwards. 
 
 As an example, let us take another illustration of the 
 mental changes which occur, to give us the idea of cause and 
 effect. 
 
 When an image is formed on the brain from an action in 
 the eye, it would continue the same for ever, unless some- 
 thing happened to change the picture ; for instance, we see 
 a picture of an apple-tree with the apple on it. The apple 
 falls to the ground when a picture is formed, the apple is on 
 the ground, the apple-tree appears without the apple. This 
 change of position is the effect or result, and the mutual 
 attraction between the earth and the apple is the cause. 
 
 Every change of picture before the mind results from 
 some change effected on matter, such as its form, compo- 
 sition, creation, position. This is always the result or effect, 
 and every result or effect must have a cause to produce the 
 effect. Now this cause always requires some other new 
 attraction, which acts on the matter changed to give rise 
 to the result. 
 
 The ideas of cause and effect are the result of particles of 
 matter changing or entering into new attractions, whereby 
 other particles of matter are acted upon, to assume some 
 changed state which is competent to form a new picture in 
 the brain. 
 
 This may be termed one event composed of three stages : 
 1, matter in some definite form or position ; 2, this matter 
 in some other form or position ; and, 3, other matter, or
 
 202 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 even its own particles of matter, entering into a new attrac- 
 tion to produce the new result. 
 
 Whenever any change is presented to our mind, then we 
 may search for the cause of that change, and we shall surely 
 find that new attractions corresponding to the extent of that 
 change have been set up to effect it. 
 
 This is a most important doctrine, as it teaches plainly 
 that out of nothing nothing can come, that every effect must 
 have a corresponding cause, and whenever we observe an 
 effect we should search for the cause. 
 
 Sometimes when we see an effect or consequence, we see 
 also the cause ; for instance, when we observe a pile being 
 driven by the fall of a huge block of wood by its attraction 
 to the earth. 
 
 Again, we see the cause of water passing into steam over 
 the fire which arises from the action of the coals entering 
 into combination with the oxygen of the atmosphere. 
 
 Sometimes, however, we perceive a result, and do not see 
 the change of matter which produced it. For instance, we 
 leave a tree laden with fruit at night, and in the morning 
 find a denuded tree. The mind immediately seeks the 
 cause, and naturally asks, has it fallen to the ground, have 
 the birds carried it away, or the beasts eaten it, or what is 
 most probable, has some visitor come and taken it away ? 
 We know that according to the laws of nature that the 
 fruit could not have gone away by itself, and the change of 
 picture which the tree presented through the eye to the 
 mind necessitated some other change of picture of some 
 other matter as its cause which was unseen, because the eye 
 was not there to see it. 
 
 The mind runs great danger in estimating cause and 
 effect. Matter may be changed in composition, in form, or 
 position, and simultaneously other matter be changed in
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACT1OX. 203 
 
 composition, or form, or position, and yet in the two sets of 
 pictures there may be no relation between one and the other. 
 In fact, the two results may be really only concomitant. 
 
 It is necessary in all cases that the cause should precede 
 (even if the time be only infinitesimally small) the conse- 
 quence or result. When oxygen and hydrogen are attracted 
 together, the result or the production of water comes almost 
 instantaneously on the new attraction being set up between 
 the two gases, whereby the compound of water results. 
 
 As a necessity of the voltaic construction of the nervous 
 system every combination of the sensor nerves must be 
 opposed to every motor nerve. The whole of the sensor 
 nerves must be so arranged that the voltaic force may pass 
 through any motor nerve. As that combination as a whole 
 acts to some extent when any part of the lower series acts, 
 it follows that the idea of totality must be ever before the 
 mind as the result of our organisation. It is in this way 
 probably that we obtain our higher metaphysical abstrac- 
 tions. Thus, personality and infinity give us the idea of the 
 soul, pleasure, and infinity of good; pain and infinity of 
 evil, cause and infinity of God, time and infinity of eternity, 
 infinity pleasure and time of heaven, infinity pain and 
 time of hell. Personality and all the units of sensation give 
 us the idea of the body ; personality infinity and time, of 
 immortality ; personality and other totalities of senses give 
 us the idea of the mind, thought and infinity of spirit. 
 Lastly, action infinity and pleasure conjoined give us the 
 ideas of virtue, action infinity and pain of vice. 
 
 It is not within our power to define these ideas. That 
 which is infinite must not be limited, time must not be con- 
 founded with eternity, matter with space, the body with the 
 soul, or material actions with God. 
 
 In all these higher considerations of our mental know-
 
 204 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 ledge, man is apt to consider the abstractions as substantive 
 realities. Hence it is common to hear men talk of gravity, 
 and in former times of levity, of light, of heat, of electricity, 
 of life, of good, of evil, as substantial existences. This is a 
 very dangerous fallacy of the mind, as by it mankind has 
 been led to mistake abstract ideas of certain actions on the 
 brain for substantive realities. 
 
 Contrariwise, men perceiving that all our knowledge is 
 derived from actions of the brain, have been led to doubt 
 whether the external world has any substantial reality. 
 
 Both such notions are fallacious, for external matter acts 
 on our brains, and the modes of action are grouped together, 
 and receive general abstract names. 
 
 It is extremely difficult to write on abstract ideas, to make 
 our thoughts intelligible. It is also extremely difficult to 
 comprehend what others write, and chiefly because the 
 writer is at a loss to select words which shall clearly explain 
 his meaning, and the reader is at a loss to attach a definite 
 meaning to the written words. 
 
 In the study of abstract ideas it would much promote 
 exact thought if a series of words were used which should 
 solely be employed in the higher departments of the mind, 
 and should never be used for the lower or more elementary 
 ideas existing in the mind. 
 
 It is not so in the lower or elementary ideas of the 
 mind. The lower classes of literature which pander to the 
 passions of the million graphically describe murder or other 
 horrid scenes for those who like to dwell upon the horrible 
 with such exactness as correctly to represent the scene to 
 their minds; and in like manner scenes of pleasure, such 
 as these of festivals, are satisfactorily described to those 
 who like the ideas of joy and happiness. But probably 
 there is scarce one in a million of persons who enjoys and
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 205 
 
 thoroughly comprehends that class of literature, who can be 
 brought to form the smallest apprehension of the higher 
 laws of abstract knowledge. 
 
 Meditation on the higher abstractions and the develop- 
 ment of our general laws from experience within our own 
 minds is productive of great and unalloyed pleasure. If 
 conducted solely for the cause of truth, all other pleasures are 
 but phantoms to the pure pleasure of true reason. Never- 
 theless its exercise cannot be carried to excess with impunity. 
 If rest occupies one-third of our time, our inner and intimate 
 thought should scarcely occupy two-thirds of the remainder, 
 which should be devoted to observation, action, and refresh- 
 ment. It is only by the balance of the action of all parts 
 of the brain that the perfection of human reason can be 
 secured. 
 
 Every human being has, and probably at every past time, 
 unless in a state of disease, has had some power of abstrac- 
 tion, and even this power in the feeblest existence consti- 
 tutes a clear and distinct jump from that possessed by the 
 mind of any of the lower animals, although there are 
 extensive variations in degree as to the power of mind of 
 animals, as attentive examination discloses that there is no 
 creature without some mind, and contrariwise a very few 
 men with the highest order of mind. It is curiously note- 
 worthy that whenever any person of the highest order of 
 mind appears amongst us, there is hardly a sufficient popu- 
 lation living at the period thoroughly to appreciate his supe- 
 riority, and it requires the approbation of all the great 
 minds, who live over a series of years intelligently to do 
 justice to the works of the highest intellects ; and contrari- 
 wise, whenever a man attains to great popularity at once, 
 it is an indication, that he possesses an average, and not a 
 greatly superior mental power. 
 
 Every one who regards the signs of the times must per-
 
 206 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 ceive that a great conflict is approaching between true reason 
 and mediaeval credulity, as to what is to be regarded as pure 
 religion. Heretofore the great students of the higher 
 branches of mental knowledge have been chiefly the pro- 
 moters of religious impostures, designed to rule mankind and 
 to control their property ; but in the coming conflict their 
 combatants will be those who study mental processes for the 
 sake of truth. 
 
 The present position of the parties is inaction. Each 
 side looks at each other aghast at its strength and is passive. 
 An indiscreet partisan, now and then on either side, fires a 
 random shot of words which have but little meaning and 
 less effect. The fight may occur at any moment by the 
 slightest spark. The kidnapping of a child, the seizure of a 
 nun, the spoliation of the fortune of a silly young man, an 
 insult to a prime minister, or to an ecclesiastic, or a fiery 
 sermon, may fan the spark into a flame ; and happy will be 
 mankind, if the next reformation be carried by a battle of 
 words, and not by a deadly conflict between true knowledge 
 and pure religion on the one hand, and fanatic credulity and 
 false religion on the other. Races seem to determine religious 
 belief, and so religion and race may fight side by side in the 
 coming struggle. Nobody can tell how far he may be an 
 actor in this great coming conflict, which now overhangs 
 every European nation, and their younger sister America. 
 Those who rely upon rational thought and purity of mind 
 will be best equipped for the battle, and the present position 
 particularly requires a study of the higher domain of 
 thought. 
 
 The ground lines of every department of knowledge are 
 in chaos, but if Nature is interrogated in a spirit of earnest- 
 ness and truth, and if men are determined to have true 
 knowledge and a pure religion, they will surely be rewarded 
 for their labours.
 
 THEORY OF MENTAL ACTION. 207 
 
 To illustrate the probable construction of the nervous 
 system, the two following maps have been made to show the 
 general mode in which the nerves are distributed to the 
 muscles and organs of sensation on each side of the body ; 
 and further, how the nerves of both sides pass through the 
 brain, and are there interlaced before the nervous power acts 
 through the muscles. 
 
 Complicated as the nervous system appears in these 
 two very general maps, yet even more complicated must it 
 exist in reality. For some purpose not clearly understood, 
 the nervous fibres on one side of the body are carried over 
 from the opposite side of the brain, and thus, if the right 
 side of the brain is injured by disease, the left limbs are 
 paralysed, and not those of the side injured ; and this 
 curious and complicated mechanism would have to be added 
 to that indicated in the maps. 
 
 It is worthy of special remark that our organs of sensa- 
 tion are double, so that when one is injured the other is 
 available, just as engineers put up two steam-engines and 
 two steam-boilers where constant work is required ; but yet 
 it is so beautifully contrived that when the two organs are 
 at work they afford more perfect information than either 
 would separately a fact which we have already particularly 
 indicated with respect to binocular vision, and which has 
 contrivances in the decussation of the optic nerves. 
 
 As the organs of sensation are double, so are the most 
 important parts of the brain double, the two halves being 
 connected by great commissures of nervous fibres, so that 
 the organ as a whole is one, whilst the parts are two. 
 
 As thought is very exhaustive to the system, there 
 appear to be special contrivances to enable ordinary move- 
 ments to be made in a more or less automatic manner with- 
 out their being subjected in all their detail to the ex- 
 haustive process of thought.
 
 XERVO-VOLTAIC MAP (No. 1). 
 
 
 AISTHENICS. 
 
 
 _J 
 
 Right Side. left Side. 
 
 _ 
 
 c > 
 
 ^- . 
 
 > m 
 
 1" 
 
 ELECTROLYTE. ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 H TJ 
 
 a < ( o a o a 
 
 1 33 m 
 
 
 .-< 3) 
 
 S " oi ^ 
 
 f 
 
 <o"co ' 5* 8 ' ^ 
 
 CO m' 
 
 m 
 
 a > a) so ,- -^ 'o '-*^ a so ,* -^ "o ^ 
 
 z O 
 
 <i 1 s^ co a .5 ^ CQ t w a * 
 
 CO i 
 
 
 O m 
 
 oz WW^pEog H K fc H S ' "F 
 
 111- f ) Z m 
 
 -I Q 1 POSITIVE. POSITIVE. ( m 
 
 6 ui 
 
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 "3 
 
 fflCO 
 
 PHRENO-AISTHENICS. 
 
 " 
 
 
 Units of Sensation. Units of Sensation. 
 
 
 
 NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE. 
 
 
 
 ELECTROLYTE. ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 
 
 POSITIVE. POSITIVE. 
 
 
 
 Units of Sensation. Commissure. Units of Sensation. 
 
 
 
 SYNDRAMICS. 
 
 
 
 Combination of Units of Combination of Units of 
 
 
 
 Sensation. Sensation. 
 
 
 
 NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE. 
 
 
 
 ELECTROLYTE. ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 
 
 POSITIVE. POSITIVE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 z* 
 
 Combination of Units of Combination of Units of 
 
 PI 
 
 z 
 
 
 Sensation. Commissure. Sensation. 
 
 - 
 
 ae 
 
 
 3) 
 
 o 
 
 AISTHENIC-NOEMICS. 
 
 r~ 
 
 CD 
 
 
 Totality of Combinations Totality of Combinations 
 
 H 
 
 cc / of each Sense. of each Sense. 
 
 & 
 
 NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE. 
 
 J5 
 
 H 
 
 ELECTROLYTE. ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 POSITIVE. POSITIVE. 
 
 33 
 
 < 
 
 oe 
 
 Totality of Combination Totality of Combination 
 
 CD 
 3) 
 
 h 
 
 of each Sense. Commissure. of each Sense. 
 
 
 
 Z 
 
 
 z 
 
 UI 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 SYNORAMIC-NOEMICS. 
 
 
 
 Combination of Totality Combination of Totality 
 
 
 
 of each Sense. of each Sense. 
 
 
 
 NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE. 
 
 
 
 ELECTROLYTE. ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 
 
 POSITIVE. POSITIVE. 
 
 
 
 Combination of Totality Combination of Totality 
 
 
 
 of each Sense. Commissure. of each Sense. 
 
 
 
 PNEUMA-NOEMICS. 
 
 
 
 Totality of Combinations of Totalities of each Sense and both 
 
 
 
 Sides. 
 
 CD 
 
 0a> 
 
 NEGATIVE. 
 
 H ^ 
 
 a w 
 
 ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 O PI 
 
 
 tr S r POSITIVE. POSITIVE. ) _ " 
 
 gz { rif 
 
 . ~ * 33 J> 
 
 gs ^ 
 
 f~ r- co co 
 
 DYNAMICS. 
 
 m 2 
 
 _I NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE. v 
 
 TJ 
 
 < . t 
 
 
 ^~ Muscle. Muscle. 
 
 52 
 
 a H < ELECTROLYTE. ELECTROLYTE. 
 
 H "^ 
 33 PI 
 
 Q; ^ 1 > ^ ^^^ ^ ^* - -, 
 
 i 3i 
 
 ?. I Right Side. leftside. 
 
 >
 
 NERVO-VOLTAIC MAP (No. 2). 
 
 Right Side. 
 
 Lett Side. 
 
 
 
 EAE. 
 a b c 
 
 EYE. 
 d e f 
 
 NOSE. 
 gb i 
 
 MOUTH. 
 J kl 
 
 SKIN. 
 in n o 
 
 EAR. 
 a b c 
 
 EYE. 
 d e f 
 
 NOSE. 
 g b i 
 
 MOUTH. 
 J k 1 
 
 SKIN. 
 m n o 
 
 AISTHENIC BATTERY. 
 
 AISTHENIC BATTERY. 
 
 a b c 
 
 d e f 
 
 g b i 
 
 j kl 
 
 m n o 
 
 a b c 
 
 d e f 
 
 g b i 
 
 j k 1 
 
 m n o 
 
 
 
 
 
 Co mm 
 
 issure. 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 a b c 
 
 d e f 
 
 g b i 
 
 j k 1 
 
 m n o 
 
 a b c 
 
 d e f 
 
 g b i 
 
 jkl 
 
 m n o 
 
 SYNDRAMIC BATTERY. 
 
 SYNDRAMIC BATTERY. 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 e 
 
 CM 
 
 , I _ I 
 
 
 c 
 
 .a o f: ^2 
 
 *-^ 
 
 J*.~-~A 
 
 -*_'-~ 
 
 a o c 
 
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 <*-,<_, <B 
 
 xj .M .M ja 
 
 -*'-*! 
 
 a o - 
 
 cS 03 U C3 
 
 -B r3 <D T3 
 
 cc tr be 
 
 . r _,!^ s ,M . 
 
 a a a a 
 
 c3 <S o ce 
 
 -d-O <BT3 
 
 tO tCr tX 
 
 ^.r-M .r-. 
 
 S S a S 
 
 ,^ ^^ ^^ 
 
 "^ F^S ^^ NS 
 
 * ** - .* 
 
 * >^i i^ ^a 
 
 *o $ ** 
 
 |h Ih Jk L 
 
 V !^ ^. V. 
 
 S. f S- S. 
 
 ^ I , 
 
 ?- 5" 5* ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Comm 
 
 issure. 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 / 
 
 1 - 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 A B C D 
 
 E F G H 
 
 IJKL 
 
 M N P 
 
 Q E S T 
 
 A B C D 
 
 E F G H 
 
 IJKL 
 
 M N P 
 
 Q B S T 
 
 AISTHENIC NOEMIC BATTERY. 
 H V S T F 
 
 AISTHENIC NOEMIC BATTERY. 
 H Y S T F 
 
 Comm issure 
 
 LH LV LS LT LF 
 SYNDRAMIC NOEMIC BATTERY. 
 
 EH EV ES ET EF 
 SYNDRAMIC NOEMIC BATTERY. 
 
 abtir 
 
 ijkl mnop qrst 
 
 ijkl mnop qrst 
 
 PMEUMA-NOEMIC BATTERY. 
 Totality. 
 
 DYNAMIC POLE. 
 123456789123456789 
 
 1 
 
 23456789 
 Muscular Substance. 
 
 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 f 
 Muscular Substance. 
 
 V 
 
 ! 9 
 
 Right Side. 
 
 left Side.
 
 210 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 Nervous system a voltaic circuit Essentials of a voltaic circuit Single 
 voltaic circuit Compound circuit Simple nervo-voltaic circuit 
 Hypothetical arrangement of the brain of animals of man as a 
 voltaic apparatus Actual general structure of the brain Professor 
 Ferrier's researches Microscopic structure Termination of nervous 
 fibres in the organs of sensation in the body in the muscular system 
 Terminations of the nerves in the brain and spinal chord High 
 vascularity of tissues where nerves arise and terminate Various 
 artificial voltaic circuits Electric fish. 
 
 THE voltaic construction of the nervous system, is confessedly 
 difficult to be appreciated by the mind, because on the one 
 hand a voltaic battery has to be understood as a whole, and 
 on the other any voltaic apparatus in organised beings must 
 be composed entirely of organic and fluid matters, and not 
 of metallic plates with intervening fluid. 
 
 It is essential to every voltaic circuit that it should con- 
 sists of a compound fluid which must be a conductor of elec- 
 tricity, and this it is not^unless it be capable of separation 
 into its component parts. In the action of a voltaic battery, 
 one element of the fluid is evolved at one place, the second 
 at another place ; and it is necessary that the two points of 
 decomposition should be connected together as in the follow- 
 ing diagram (fig. 11). 
 
 The above arrangement is an example of a single battery, 
 but two or more batteries may be conjoined together to form 
 a compound battery, as in fig. 12.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 211 
 
 All batteries in animal bodies 
 one battery being in the body, the 
 moreover, it is not only a com- 
 pound battery, but is also one in 
 which its fibres interlace in a won- 
 derfully complex manner only to 
 be apprehended by the mind by 
 the closest attention and the most 
 careful study of all the parts. 
 
 The most simple idea of a 
 voltaic element in the nervous 
 system would be obtained by a 
 circle of one motor nerve and one 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 are compound batteries, 
 
 other in the brain ; and, 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 Single voltaic circuit. F, 
 Point at which new com- 
 bination occurs with (1) 
 one element of electrolyte, 
 r ; e, point of evolution of 
 second element (2) of elec- 
 trolyte ; c, conductor by 
 which circle is completed. 
 
 Double voltaic circuit. 
 
 sensor nerve (fig. 13), the termination of one end of the 
 sensor nerve being situated in the organ of sen- Fig. 13. 
 sation in the body, in aqueous matter in the 
 tissues, and one end of the motor ^lerve being in 
 contact with aqueous matter in the muscle. The 
 other extremities of the two nerves are inserted 
 in the moist tissue of the grey matter of either 
 
 the brain or spinal chord, the two connecting Single 
 
 3 nervo-vol- 
 nerves being insulated conductors, similar to the taic circuit. 
 
 wires of our telegraphs, except in this respect, that the 
 interior of the nerve fibre consists of fluid, whilst the 
 connexions of telegraphs are made of metal.
 
 212 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 t CD CD ^ 
 
 CD 
 rCDCD, 
 
 kDCD 1 
 
 Triple nervo- 
 voltaic circuit. 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 MOTOR 
 
 Passing from the consideration of this simplest possible 
 case, we may study a group of three sensor nerves arising 
 from an organ of sensation and passing to the brain, and 
 three motor nerves arising in the brain and passing back 
 to complete the voltaic circuit to the muscles 
 in the body (fig. 14). 
 
 The above simple elementary voltaic cir- 
 cles would be of no use by themselves, for 
 it is necessary that the voltaic apparatus in 
 the brain should have a regulating influence 
 to determine what motor fibrils are to be 
 active. 
 
 For this purpose, we may assume, that 
 the nervous terminations in the brain enter 
 into combinations somewhat after this diagram (fig. 15). 
 By this arrangement the excitement of any 
 one sensor nerve, or of any combination 
 of sensor nerves, may influence any motor 
 nerve, or any combination of motor nerves 
 in the body. 
 
 From my experiments in voltaic electri- 
 city, I found as a general law, with small 
 quantities of electricity at low tension, that 
 the voltaic force practically passed by the 
 road of least resistance to the exclusion of 
 all the rest. According to this law the 
 action of the particular motor nerve is de- 
 termined. 
 
 The brain, therefore, is the mechanism by which the 
 particular direction of the voltaic current is regulated, not 
 only according to the immediate sensor nerves excited, but 
 from all preceding actions which have occurred in the 
 brair. 
 
 SENSOR 
 
 Three nerves in 
 combination.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 213 
 
 By the combinations of nervous fibrils the different pic- 
 tures carried to the brain are registered : thus, if we have 
 three fibrils, A B C, we have either A excited, or B, C, A B, 
 A C, B C, or A B C. In practice, we do not form even a single 
 image in the brain without hundreds or even thousands of 
 nervous fibrils being excited, so that in nature a mental 
 image is a very complicated phenomenon. 
 
 Considering the more simple phenomenon of mental, 
 action amongst the lower animals, we may assume a more 
 simple structure than that of man. Such a simple form 
 might be represented by the following diagram of three 
 fibrils of each of the three more important organs of sensa- 
 tion (fig. 16). 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 Theoretical nervous combi- 
 nation of lower animals. 
 
 Theoretical nervous combination 
 of man. 1, Aisthenic ; 2, syn- 
 dramic ; 3, aisthenic noeniic ; 
 4,syndramicnoemic; 5 ; pneuma- 
 noeinic.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 "When, however, the mind of man is considered, we may 
 expect that the combinations are of a more complicated con- 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 1. Anatomy of the brain of man, after Mayo. Spinal cord,!/"; posterior 
 
 columns of spinal chord into which the sensor nerves are implanted, 
 and which are continued into the cerebellum, B ; from the cerebel- 
 lum, fibres are continued to the corpora quadrigeniina, k, I ; Other 
 fibres are continued from the spinal chord through the olivary bodies, 
 c, by the olivary fasciculus, h, which are continued to the cerebrum, 
 c c c. From the cerebrum fibres converge to the pons, n, and from this 
 point the fibres of the fasciculus of the spinal chord spring, and 
 from which bundles the motor nerves arise (half diameter). 
 
 2. Representation of the fibres and cells in the grey matter of the 
 brain. 
 
 3. Nerve fibre showing its insulatory character.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 215 
 
 struction to provide for those higher abstractions, which it 
 is the sole faculty of man to exhibit, and the diagram shows 
 in the simplest manner how such abstractions might be 
 formed. 
 
 It must also be taken into consideration, that the human 
 frame is composed of two symmetrical halves, so that the 
 fibrils of each half are combined together in such a manner, 
 that the nerves of one half, as a general rule, influence 
 every motor nerve not only of its own side, but every motor 
 nerve of the other half of the body also. 
 
 This complexity of structure I have in some degree 
 attempted to indicate in the two nervo-voltaic maps (pp. 208, 
 209), which I have arranged; firstly, that each sensor nerve 
 should be represented in the brain (aisthenic) ; secondly, that 
 the sensor nerves should be grouped together in combinations 
 (syndramic) ; then the principal syndramic should be com- 
 bined together (noemic), and the noemic end in one ter- 
 minal group (pneuma-noemic). 
 
 Such a scheme necessarily involves a vast structure of 
 fibres in the brain, and, when we inspect the brain, we per- 
 ceive clearly that a vast combination of nervous fibres really 
 exists. Perhaps the best rough dissection of the brain was 
 made many years ago by Herbert Mayo, a former Professor 
 of Physiology at King's College, as it shows how the great 
 mass of fibres pass upwards from one part of the brain to 
 another, and have their terminations in the enormous extent 
 of grey matter contained in the cerebral hemispheres (fig. 18). 
 Notwithstanding the extraordinary complexity, which is 
 revealed by this mode of examining the brain, it is plain 
 that every possible combination of nervous fibres does not 
 exist, for vast as the brain is it would not suffice for so ex- 
 tensive a mechanism. It is probable, therefore, that nature
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 has made a selection of combinations of nervous fibrils, 
 which lead to definite actions. 
 
 To discover the exact course of the nervous fibres within 
 the structure of the brain and spinal chord requires skill 
 and high microscopic power. 
 
 The convolutions of the cerebrum in man (fig. 19) are 
 Fig. 19. Fig. 20. 
 
 Convolutions of cerebrum of man. Brain of the dog. 
 
 more extensive than those of any other animal, though the 
 weight, relative to the weight of the body, is not greater than 
 that of some other animals. 
 
 The brains of the lower mammalia have a cerebrum not 
 so extensive as that of man, and which does not, with hardly 
 any exception, overlap the cerebellum (fig. 20). 
 
 In all the lowest animals the nervous system is much 
 less elaborate than that of the vertebrate animals, as may be 
 observed in the nervous system of star-fishes (fig. 21). 
 
 The higher vertebrate animals, as man, the monkey, the 
 cat, the dog, have the convolutions of the cerebrum more or 
 less developed. The rodent animals and birds have a smooth
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 217 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 cerebrum, and have not so great an extent of grey matter. 
 These convolutions of the brain are named by anatomical 
 writers, and particular functions have been assigned to each 
 portion of convolution. 
 
 Dr. Ferrier has especially 
 experimented on this sub- 
 ject, and he stimulated vari- 
 ous portions of the brain by 
 electricity, when defined 
 movements occurred in the 
 limbs according to the por- 
 tion excited to action. Al- 
 though we must not assign 
 an undue importance to these 
 experiments, they are of 
 value, as showing, that the combinations of certain portions 
 of the brain lead, when excited, to definite actions, although 
 we are hardly at present able fully to estimate the results. 
 
 I am indebted to Dr. J. Crichton Browne for permission to 
 use the woodcuts employed in the reports of the West Riding 
 Lunatic Asylum, to illustrate Dr. Terrier's researches. 
 
 ' In a cat, the application of the electrodes at point 2 
 Fig. 22. 
 
 Nervous system of star-fish. 
 
 Side view of brain of cat : A, crucial sulcus dividing anterior convo- 
 lutions ; B, fissure of Sylvius ; c, olfactory bulb. 
 
 (Fig. 22) caused " elevation of the shoulder and adduction of
 
 218 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 the limb, exactly as when a cat strikes a ball with its paw ;" 
 at point 4, " immediate corrugation of the left eyebrow, and 
 drawing downwards and inwards of the left ear ; " at point 5, 
 " the animal exhibits signs of pain, screams and kicks with 
 both hind-legs, especially the left, at the same time turning 
 its head round and looking behind in an astonished manner ;" 
 at point 6, " clutching movement of the left paw, with pro- 
 trusion of the claws ; " at point 13, " twitching backwards 
 of the left ear, and rotation of the head to the left and 
 slightly upwards, as if the animal were listening ; " at point 
 17, " restlessness, opening of the mouth, and long-continued 
 cries as if of rage or pain ; " at point 18 (on the under side 
 of the hemisphere, not shown in the figure), " the animal 
 suddenly starts up, throws back its head, opens its eyes 
 widely, lashes its tail, pants, screams, and spits as if in 
 furious rage ; " and at point 20, " sudden contraction of the 
 muscles of the front of the chest and neck, and of the 
 depressors of the lower jaw, with panting movement." 
 Similar results were so constantly obtained, with variations 
 obviously depending upon the degree of excitability and the 
 strength of the stimulus, that the localisation of the centres 
 of these and other actions was placed beyond doubt ; the 
 movements of the paws being centralised in the region 
 between points 1, 2, and 6 ; those of the eyelids and face 
 between 7 and 8 ; the lateral movements of the head and 
 ear in the region of points 9 to 14 ; and the movements of 
 the mouth, tongue, and jaws, with certain associated move- 
 ments of the neck, being localised in the convolutions 
 bordering on the fissure of Sylvius (B), which marks the 
 division between the anterior and middle lobes of the cere- 
 brum the centre for opening the mouth being in front of 
 the under part of the fissure, while that which acts in closure 
 of the jaws is more in the fissure.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 219 
 
 ' A similar series of experiments on Dogs gave results that 
 closely accorded with the foregoing. 
 
 ' Thus when the electrodes were applied at point 9 (Fig. 
 23), " the tail was -moved from side to side, and ultimately 
 became rigidly erect; " within the circle 10, the application 
 " elicited only cries, as if of pain ; " at point 14 a continued 
 application gave rise to the following remarkable series of 
 actions : " It began with wagging of the tail and spasmodic 
 twitching of the left ear. After the cessation of the more 
 violent spasms, the animal held up his head, opened its eyes 
 wide with the most animated expression, and wagged its 
 tail in a fawning manner. The change was so striking, 
 that I and those about me at first thought that the 
 animal had completely recovered from its stupor. But, 
 notwithstanding all attempts to call its attention by 
 patting it and addressing it in soothing terms, it looked 
 steadfastly in the distance with the same expression, and 
 continued to wag its tail for a minute or two, after which 
 it suddenly relapsed into its previous state of narcotic 
 stupor." The application of the electrodes to point 21 pro- 
 duced " drawing back of the head and opening of the mouth, 
 
 Fig. 23. 
 A. 
 
 Side view of brain of dog : A, crucial sulcus ; B, fissure of Sylvius ; 
 c, olfactory bulb.
 
 220 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 Fier. 24. 
 
 with a feeble attempt at a cry or growl (the animal very 
 much exhausted). Repeated applications of the electrodes 
 to this point and its neighbourhood caused whining and 
 growling noises," like those which a dog makes in its sleep, 
 and which are supposed to indicate that it is dreaming. 
 
 ' Similar experiments having been 
 made upon rabbits, the results were 
 again as accordant as it would be fair 
 to expect ; especially considering the 
 difficulty in exactly localising the dif- 
 ferent centres, which arises from the 
 absence of the landmarks afforded by 
 the convolutions. It is curious that in 
 this animal the centres of the mouth- 
 movements seem to be the most highly 
 developed ; when these (2, 7, Fig. 24) 
 
 are electrified, " there are munching 
 Upper surface of brain . . , . , 
 
 of rabbit : A, cere- movements of the upper lip, and grind- 
 
 eating vigorously." ; 
 
 In an important lecture delivered at the London Institu- 
 tion, Professor Ferrier detailed the results of his experiments 
 on the monkey, which he now proposes further to elucidate, 
 but which I need not further describe at the present moment. 
 
 Professor Ferrier has further demonstrated that in the 
 deeper parts of the brain the excitement of the corpora 
 striata led to violent muscular movements, while that of the 
 thalami optici produced no movements. Excitement of the 
 cerebellum was followed by effects which led to the belief 
 that it was in some way connected with the co-ordination of 
 the movements of muscles. At the present time we are hardly 
 in a position to tell the exact extent of the knowledge which 
 the experiments of Professor Ferrier may teach us, though
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 221 
 
 it is believed that when electricity of lower tension is 
 employed he will elucidate in an important manner the 
 functions of the brain. 
 
 The grey matter of the brain is evidently the part where 
 the mental processes are carried out. It is the active part of 
 the organisation. The white matter is evidently solely for 
 the nervous fibres which carry the impressions, and is strictly 
 similar to groups of gutta-percha covered wires. In the grey 
 matter of the brain exist the small cells which receive the im- 
 pressions from the external world, which are there registered, 
 and appear again to the mind by the act of memory. The 
 convolutions of the cerebrum especially appear to contain the 
 grey matter where many ideas are fixed, and which contain 
 impressions which lead to many definite actions. I have 
 estimated the nerves of sensation at about 100,000, but 
 it is impossible that every possible combination could be 
 represented in the brain, as the cells which would be 
 required would require thirty figures to represent the 
 number. It is apparent, Fig. 25. 
 
 therefore, as has been already 
 suggested, that all could not 
 be contained in the grey 
 matter of the brain, and thus 
 we may infer that nature 
 has made a selection of 
 those pictures best adapted 
 for our wants. Probably 
 nothing can afford us a more 
 wonderful exhibition of the 
 nerve - fibres of the grey 
 
 matter than the accompany- 
 
 . . " Plexus of nerves from spinal mar- 
 ing diagram from btricker oi row . a, Nerve tube communi- 
 cating with plexus.
 
 222 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 a nerve plexus from the grey matter of the spinal marrow 
 (fig. 25). 
 
 The limitation of the number of combinations leads to 
 the conclusion that a certain combination of sensor impres- 
 sions produces a definite combination of movements through 
 the motor nerves. The term reflex action is given to such 
 movements which may be regarded as purely automatic. 
 The word is so dangerous that I have not before used it in 
 this book ; because if it be limited to cases which are so 
 purely automatic that the brain as a whole that is to say, 
 the mind does not exert any influence, then there are, com- 
 paratively speaking, hardly any reflex movements ; and if 
 the word is extended to cases where the automatic move- 
 ments are strong, yet more or less regulated by the mind, 
 then they would be so numerous as to involve the greater 
 part of our actions. From the confusion of thought which 
 the term reflex is likely to produce, from its being a mere 
 variation of degree in which the actions are at one time 
 reflex, at another regulated by the mind, the word should be 
 either abolished or strictly limited to cases where mental 
 action cannot at any time be detected, and if there are no 
 such cases, then to such automatic actions where the least 
 possible amount of mind is ever concerned. By these pre- 
 arranged movements, nature has doubtless effected an 
 enormous saving of brain-power. At the present time it is 
 highly important to form a distinct idea of what we under- 
 stand by reflex action, as it is not impossible that Professor 
 Ferrier's experiments will lead some persons to extend 
 unduly reflex action to cases considerably beyond their 
 legitimate bearing. With our present vague idea of the 
 term reflex action, almost every movement may be described 
 as reflex ; and, contrariwise, scarcely any movement may be
 
 TOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 223 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
 placed in the same catagory, according as we define the 
 words. 
 
 The terminations of the nerves centrally in the brain are 
 in the grey matter, which is abundantly supplied by blood- 
 vessels. The nervous tubes terminate in contact with cells, 
 in which probably the changes occur which cause the regis- 
 tration of impressions of the external world, and from which 
 their reappearance occurs to constitute the act of memory. 
 (Fig. 18, No. 2, page 214.) 
 
 I am indebted to Dr. 
 Stewart of Thomas's Hos- 
 pital for the accompanying 
 drawing showing the distri- 
 bution of the blood-vessels 
 vertically into the substance 
 of the grey matter of the 
 cerebellum, and also of ter- 
 minations of the ultimate 
 nervous fibres in the same 
 substance. (Fig- 26.) 
 
 The nerves which con- 
 vey the impressions to the 
 brain, and the voltaic force 
 from the brain to the mus- 
 cles, are like metallic wires 
 coated with gutta-percha. 
 They consist of tubes hollow 
 in the inside, and coated 
 with a non-conducting fatty 
 substance. (Fig. 18, No. 3..) 
 
 Numbers of primitive fibres are grouped together in a 
 manner similar to a group of coated wires, as used for 
 electro-telegraphy. (Fig. 27.) 
 
 w.c.s 
 
 Cerebellum showing the blood- 
 vessels on the right-hand side 
 descending vertically into the 
 grey matter, and on the left the 
 nerve cells, with nerve fibres 
 diverging from them.
 
 224 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 The white matter of the brain consists of nervous tubes, 
 
 which run from one part of the brain to another, to form 
 
 TJ.-0. 27 that wonderfully compli- 
 
 __ cated structure, by which 
 
 = ^ images are combined toge- 
 ther in the syndramic and 
 
 Ultimate nervous fibres of the sym- noemic batteries. 
 
 pathetic nerve, highly magnified. termmation of the 
 
 nervous fibres in the body has been particularly the subject 
 of investigation, and it is very difficult to make them out 
 in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, because the tissues 
 demand special processes of preparation, and a very high 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 Diagram of nervous 
 fibres of retina, 
 after Strieker. 
 
 power of microscope for their exam- 
 ination. To render their appearance in- 
 telligible, they require to be magnified 
 500 to 800 diameters. Perhaps the best 
 modern account is to be found in Striek- 
 er's ' Human and Comparative Histology,' 
 which has been translated by the new 
 Sydenham Society. 
 
 In the eye there is a curious appara- 
 tus of rods and cones, but there is very 
 great uncertainty as to their exact mode 
 of action, from their very small size. 
 The following diagram from Strieker may 
 serve in some manner to demonstrate this 
 structure in the eye. (Fig. 28.) 
 
 I am much indebted to the kind- 
 ness of Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, the 
 secretary to the New Sydenham Society, 
 for lending me some of the engravings 
 from Strieker's invaluable manual of 
 human and comparative histology which
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 225 
 
 demonstrate the mode of termination of the nerves of the 
 organs of sensation. The following is a beautiful diagram 
 of the layers of the retina of man, magnified 400 dia- 
 meters (fig. 29). 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 General view of the layers of retina of man. 1, Membranum limitans 
 internum. 2, Optic fibre layer. 3, Ganglia cell layer. 4, Internal 
 granulated layer, o, Internal granule layer. 6, External granulated 
 layer. 7, External granule layer. 8, Membranum limitans exteraum. 
 9, Layer of rods and cones. 10, Pigment layer. 
 
 Dr. Stewart has kindly made for me a diagram of tho 
 
 Q
 
 226 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 ultimate nervous fibres, as distributed to the skin. The dia- 
 gram shows the curious corkscrew conduits of the perspira- 
 tory glands, and the fine net-work of nerve-fibres, as well 
 as the termination of the nerves in the papillae. (Fig. 30.) 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 
 Diagram of the minute anatomy of the skin. 
 
 The termination of the auditory nerves is very remark- 
 able. The nerves terminate in cells, and to these, fine audi- 
 tory hairs are attached (fig. 31). 
 
 Engelmann has given a good figure in Strieker's work of 
 the termination of the gustatory nerves of the frog. It 
 shows the ramification of a nerve-fibre in the nerve area, 
 and a group of two goblet cells, one columnar and two 
 forked ceUs (fig. 32). 
 
 Professor Babuchin has figured the terminations of nerves 
 in the nose in the epithelia layer (fig. 33). 
 
 The circle of the nervous system is completed through the 
 muscles. These are composed of ultimate muscular fibrils, con- 
 tained in a sheath or envelope, called the sarcolemma. The
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 227 
 
 nerves are distributed to the outside of this sheath (fig. 34); 
 and when the nervous power acts through the muscles, they 
 swell transversely and contract longitudinally. The precise 
 chemical change which takes place in the sarcous tissue 
 during action is not exactly known ; but from the extensive 
 waste which occurs during hard work, we might expect, but 
 
 Fig. 31. 
 
 Termination of the auditory nerve. 1, Cartilage of the wall of the 
 ampulla. 2, Structureless basement membrane. 3, Doubly con- 
 tinued nerve-fibre. 4, Axis cylinder traversing the basement mem- 
 brane. 5, Plexiform union of nerve-fibres with interspersed nuclei. 
 6, Fusiform cells with nucleus and dark fibre in their interior. 7, 
 Supporting cells. 8, Auditory hairs highly magnified, after Strieker. 
 
 not necessarily, that the muscles act as the positive pole of 
 the whole circuit. To determine this fact, it will be neces- 
 sary to ascertain if the sarcous tissue combines with oxygen 
 or hydrogen when it contracts. I have imitated the action
 
 228 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 Fig. 32. 
 
 Termination of the gustatory 
 nerve of the frog, magni- 
 fied 600 diameters. 
 
 of muscle by a portion of gut, 
 which when distended contracts 
 in length, but increases in 
 breadth (fig. 35), on its being 
 distended with gas. 
 
 The terminations of the sensor 
 as well as the motor nerves in 
 the body are always in a highly 
 vascular tissue, and their other 
 terminations in the grey matter 
 of the brain and spinal chord are 
 also in a highly vascular tissue. 
 
 Unquestionably the oxyge- 
 nated bright arterial blood cor- 
 Fig. 33. 
 
 Terminations of olfactory nerve. A, a, Epithelial cells from the olfac- 
 tory region of the proteus d, the processes apparently connected with 
 them ; e, olfactory cells ; B, epithelium and olfactory cells from man, 
 after Max Schultze.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 229 
 
 puscule plays an important part in supplying the oxygen to 
 favour chemical action, to set in motion the voltaic electricity 
 at the positive pole, and also the arterial corpuscule plays an 
 
 Fig. 34. 
 
 S 
 
 Distribution of nerves on muscle, after Strieker. A, seen in profile ; pp, 
 terminal nerve plate ; * s, support of the plate with nuclei. B, the 
 same in fresh muscle. C, the same after death. 
 
 equally important part in combining with the hydrogen to 
 assist the voltaic circuit at the negative pole. It is peculiarly 
 
 Fig. 35. Fig. 36. 
 
 Artificial muscle. 
 
 Artificial blood corpuscle. 
 
 the property of iron compounds to take oxygen when lowly 
 oxydised, and to part with oxygen when highly oxydised. 
 
 An artificial blood corpuscule may be made by placing a 
 little persalt of iron in an animal membrane. On placing
 
 230 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 this in a neutral apparatus arranged for a voltaic circuit, as 
 two poles of iron in a saline solution, a voltaic circuit is im- 
 mediately completed (fig. 36). 
 
 The vascular tissue of the organs of sensation of the 
 
 body has been the subject of examination by many authors. 
 
 In the eye there is a layer of blood-vessels called the choroid, 
 
 'hich is an intricate network of arteries and veins (fig. 37). 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 J*r. ft 
 
 The centre of vision is marked by a yellow spot containing 
 much yellow pigment (fig. 38). 
 
 Ffc. 39. 
 
 Fig. 38. 
 
 Artery of the retina. 
 
 The so-called artery of the retina is probably not for any 
 purpose of vision, but for the nutrition of the humours of 
 the eye (fig. 39).
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 231 
 
 The membrane lining the internal ear is also highly vas- 
 cular, and the following engraving is from one of my own 
 carmine injections (fig. 40). 
 
 Fig. 40. 
 
 Blood-vessels of ear. 
 
 Fig. 41. 
 
 Blood-vessels of nose. 
 
 The vascular membrane of the nose has an arrangement 
 of vessels different from that of the eye or ear (fig. 41). 
 
 The tongue has again a particular arrangement of vessels 
 (fig. 42) of its own. 
 
 Lastly, the skin has a vascular tissue with a different 
 distribution of vessels from any of the other organs of sen- 
 sation (fig. 43). 
 
 Fig. 43. 
 
 Fig. 4-2. 
 
 Blood-vessels of tongue. 
 
 Blood-vessels of skin. 
 
 The distribution of blood-vessels in the muscular system 
 is peculiar, as the main vessel enters at right angles to the
 
 232 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 muscular substance, and the capillary vessels are arranged 
 parallel to the muscular fibres (fig. 44). 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 Blood-vessels of muscles. 
 
 The arrangement of the blood - vessels of an organ 
 appears to be determined by convenience, according to its 
 entire structure. 
 
 However vascular may be the tissues existing in the 
 body in which the nervous fibres terminate, yet the grey 
 matter of the brain and spinal chord exhibits a greater com- 
 plexity of capillaries. 
 
 This was made especially the subject of investigation by 
 
 Fig. 45. 
 
 Blood-vessels of spinal chord. 
 
 myself by the process of injecting with carmine. The grey 
 matter of the spinal chord had never been injected before in
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 233 
 
 so perfect a manner, and the grey matter exhibits when in- 
 jected the elaborate system of blood-vessels in the tissue 
 where the ends of the nerves are implanted (fig. 45). 
 
 Throughout the entire brain the process of injecting by 
 carmine, demonstrates the intense vascularity of the grey 
 matter. The grey matter of the cerebrum (fig. 46) is most 
 beautiful when injected, and exhibits its innumerable vessels, 
 and the grey matter of the lobes of the cerebellum shows its 
 network of vessels (fig. 47) in the grey matter. 
 
 Fig. 46. 
 
 Blood-vessels of grey matter of cerebrum. 
 
 The late Sir Robert Peel lingered over the preparation for 
 a long time with intense delight, at a soiree at which I was ex- 
 hibiting it under the microscope. He then sought out Guizot, 
 and both remained descanting upon the wonderful plexus of 
 vessels and large amount of blood required to carry on 
 thought in the brain, and both expressed themselves as 
 deeply impressed with the marvellous structure thus revealed 
 (fig. 47). 
 
 Whilst prosecuting my researches I discovered the very 
 singular fact that the circulation of the corpuscules of the 
 blood was instantly arrested by the voltaic force, and what
 
 234 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 is even more remarkable, that the lymph corpuscules which 
 crawl along by the walls of the vessels have in the same 
 manner their motion arrested by the same force. This opens 
 up a large field for inquiry as it demonstrates that the cir- 
 culation of the blood is controlled by the nervous power, a 
 fact which is also proved by the rise in temperature when 
 the nerves of any part are cut. 
 
 The waste of matter which occurs in the action of the 
 nervous system must be alike in every battery, that is at 
 
 Fig. 47. 
 
 Blood-vessels of cerebellum, showing the vessels are almost exclusively 
 in the grey matter. 
 
 every termination of the nerves ; for instance, if a certain 
 quantity of water is decomposed in the body, a similar quan- 
 tity must be decomposed in the brain, hence mental action is 
 attended with much exhaustion. We are not, however, in a 
 position to state what are the precise changes of matter 
 which take place either in the brain or in the body, by which 
 the voltaic force is determined. The flow of arterial blood 
 through the brain and the immediate suspension of con-
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 235 
 
 sciousness when its circulation is stopped demonstrate the 
 necessity of the afflux of bright arterial oxygenated blood, 
 and also for the removal of the deoxygenated venous blood. 
 
 Of ail the distinct exhibitions of the voltaic force in 
 living animals, none surpasses or even equals that which is 
 
 Fig. 48. 
 
 A, From the electric organ of Mormyrus oxyrhyncus, and also in the M. 
 longipinnis and cyprinoides ; v , anterior, and h, posterior connective 
 tissue septum ; a a, electric plates ; b b, nerves penetrating into their 
 interior. -B, From the electric organ of Mormyrus dorsalis, and also 
 as in the M. anguilloides, lettering as in A. 
 
 produced by the electrical eel and electrical ray. These fish 
 have the power at will of giving the most formidable elec- 
 tric shocks by means of batteries which they possess for
 
 236 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 Fig. 49. 
 
 that purpose. These batteries are composed of cells largely 
 supplied by nerves and blood-vessels. At will the creature 
 can charge these batteries, when they inflict injury or death 
 
 by their terrible electric shock. 
 The creature has to expend consi- 
 derable nervous power in charging 
 the battery, and soon becomes much 
 exhausted in the attempt. The 
 precise mechanism is unknown, but 
 if one plate of the cell was fur- 
 nished with arterial and the other 
 with venous blood sufficient effect 
 would be produced, in series, from 
 
 Single battery cell, from 
 a model in Hunterian 
 collection. 
 
 Fig. 50. 
 
 that cause alone, as my experiments have 
 proved, and the nervous force might effect this 
 change or some similar analogous change. 
 
 There is one fact about all these electri- 
 cal fish, which is worthy of all attention, 
 and that is, the production of large quanti- 
 ties of electricity by batteries, composed 
 entirely of fluids and animal membranes, 
 a condition essential in the general voltaic 
 mechanism of the nervous system. Max 
 Schultze has figured the terminations of the 
 nerves in the electrical plates (fig. 48). 
 
 In the electrical rays, found chiefly in 
 the Mediterranean, the batteries are com- 
 posed of a series of hexagonal cells ar- 
 ranged (figs. 49 and 50) on each side of the 
 head from above downwards, that is, from 
 the upper surface of the fish to its under 
 surface. 
 
 The electrical organ is well supplied with blood (figs. 51 
 
 A series of bat- 
 teries, from a 
 model in Hun- 
 terian collec- 
 tion.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 237 
 
 and 52), and has a large distribution of nervous force from 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 Torpedo viewed from above, showing the brain and the enormous distri- 
 bution of the eighth pair of nerves to the electric organ. 11, Muci- 
 ferous organs ; 10, openings of muciferous organs in skin. 
 
 Fig. 52. 
 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 Artificial electrical fish-cell. 
 
 Transverse section of torpedo ; r, electric organs ; P P, vertical 
 prisms of batten' ; 8, eighth pair of nerves to supply batteries ; L, 
 electrical lobe ; o, ear ; r, mouth ; g, muscles of extremity ; /, folli- 
 cular organs.
 
 238 
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 the eighth pair of nerves, which are of prodigious size, and 
 also from a portion of the fifth pair of nerves. 
 
 I have in- a remote manner attempted to imitate a cell of 
 an electric fish, by using a solution of prussiate of potash in 
 
 Fig. 54. 
 
 Lateral section of the electrical organs, a. Dorsal muscles ; b, larger 
 electrical organ ; c, lateral fin muscles ; d, lesser electrical organ ; f, 
 spinal chord ; g, spinal chord ; h, fifth pair of nerves ; i, uir-sac ; m, 
 membranous septum ; n, edges of lateral fin muscles ; o, cut dorsal 
 muscles ; p, body of vertebrae ; q, larger electrical organs ; r, lateral 
 muscles ; t, lateral fin muscles ; u, fin. 
 
 a glass vessel, containing a porous vessel with the same 
 solution. On passing a voltaic current through this arrange- 
 ment. The solution becomes altered in character, and one 
 side becomes positive to the other, and a second voltaic 
 battery, having no relation to the first, is set up (fig. 53).
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 239 
 
 The anatomy of the electric eel (Gymnotus Electricus), 
 from the rivers of South America, was described by John 
 Hunter in the Philosophical Transactions for 1755. The 
 eel has later been dissected by Dr. Letheby. He estimates 
 the number of cells of the batteries at 550,000. Every 
 cell is supplied by blood-vessels, and a nerve; but in 
 
 Fig. 55. 
 
 Transverse section of electrical eel. a, Skin ; b, aponeurosis covering 
 covering muscles and electrical organs ; d, larger battery ; e, lateral 
 fin muscles ; f, lesser batteries ; g, edges of lateral fin ; i, the fin ; k, 
 body of vertebrae ; m, vein ; n, artery ; o, air-vessel, after Letheby. 
 
 this fish the nervous power is supplied by the spinal 
 nerves, and not in the eighth pair as in the case of the 
 electric ray. The batteries, two smaller and two greater, are 
 arranged the length of the creature (fig. 54 and 55) in the
 
 240 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 eel, whilst in the torpedo they are arranged vertically. Fara- 
 day found that the anterior part of the eel was positive to 
 the posterior. 
 
 There are other electrical fish, such as the Silurus from 
 the Nile, but it is sufficient for our purpose to notice the 
 more remarkable and well-known species, which are com- 
 petent to use the voltaic force, either for their own protec- 
 tion or the destruction of other creatures required for food. 
 
 In my early experiments I sought to ascertain how voltaic 
 circuits could be formed, having properties analogous with 
 those which are observed in the human frame. I found, that it 
 was not difficult to form photo-voltaic circuits where the 
 exciting cause of the voltaic force was light. The following 
 solutions when part was exposed to light, and part retained 
 in darkness, acted on the light side as the negative pole of a 
 battery. 
 
 1. Mixed solutions of photo-sulphate of iron and nitrate of silver. 
 
 2. Mixed solutions of gallic acid and nitrate of silver. 
 
 3. Mixed solutions of oxalic acid and chloride of gold. 
 
 4. Mixed solutions of ferrocyanate of potash and ammonia, and per- 
 
 nitrate of iron. 
 
 5. Mixed solutions of ferrocyanate of potash and ammonia, pertartrate 
 
 of iron. 
 
 6. Mixed solutions of ferrocyanate of potash and potassio-tartrate of 
 
 iron. 
 
 Other solutions under the action of light excite a posi- 
 tive photo-voltaic circuit, such as 
 
 1. Red ferrocyanate of potash and pernitrate of iron. 
 
 2. Bromine water, phosphorus water, and pernitrate of iron. 
 
 The voltaic circuit which is set in motion by sound, is 
 probably not directly excited by the vibrations of sound 
 itself, but from the vibrations acting on the bones of the ear 
 giving rise to mechanical force.
 
 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 241 
 
 I 
 
 An artificial voltaic circuit may be originated by savours 
 by placing in a V tube (fig. 56) a little persalt of iron 
 on one side, and an infusion of meat on the other, when the 
 voltaic force is immediately demonstrated. 
 
 An apparatus to exemplify the nose may be easily con- 
 structed by a moist sponge separated into two divisions by a 
 membranous diaphragm, when on applying odours on one 
 side the voltaic force is immediately developed (fig. 57). 
 
 For our sense of feeling it is easy to constitute voltaic 
 circuits determined by heat. These I have called thermo- 
 voltaic circuits, and may be exemplified in a variety of ways. 
 
 Electro-voltaic circuits may also be easily formed for 
 
 Fig. 57. 
 
 V tube. 
 
 Artificial nose. 
 
 any voltaic force, and will set in motion the voltaic apparatus 
 of the skin. 
 
 In like manner pressure on the skin deprives the termi- 
 nation of the nerve of the oxygenated blood corpuscle, and 
 then voltaic force is exhibited. 
 
 In the manifestation of the effects of memory, the action 
 on the brain produces results which regulate or give rise to 
 further actions ; this can readily be done in ordinary voltaic 
 circuits, such as by passing a current of electricity through 
 two iron wires, inserted in a solution of argento-cyanide of 
 potassium. A deposit of silver would occur on the negative 
 
 R
 
 242 VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 wire, and the arrangement would be ever after an active 
 voltaic circuit. In the brain the change must be effected on 
 some organic compound, possibly in the cells contained in 
 the vascular grey matter. 
 
 The nervous system of all animals, including man him- 
 self, is a voltaic circuit. It is composed of a set of elements 
 in the body, one of the poles of which is in the organs of 
 sensation, the other in the muscular system. The voltaic 
 force passes by the nerves to the brain, where the particular 
 action of the muscle excited to contract, is regulated or 
 determined according to all the former actions which have 
 taken place in the brain. To thoroughly form an idea of 
 such an arrangement, it is desirable that complex forms of 
 voltaic circuits should be continually under the mental ob- 
 servation and manipulation of those who would study The 
 Natural System of Mental Philosophy. 
 
 Fig. 58. 
 
 Double voltaic battery, with mode of 
 detecting the voltaic current in the fluid portion.
 
 243 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 RELATION OF MAN TO THE UNIVERSE. , 
 
 THE mind shows the wisdom and goodness of God : who has 
 designed it to meet the wants of man. 
 
 Whether directly formed by His creative power : or 
 progressively evolved according to His inscrutable ordi- 
 nances. 
 
 The mind began by His Almighty Command : and must 
 cease at His omnipotent will. 
 
 By mind man seeks his food : and makes his raiment. 
 
 He constructs habitations on the earth : and ships for 
 the mighty deep. . 
 
 He kindles fire for warmth : and employs all physical 
 forces. 
 
 He contrives words to convey his thoughts : and writings 
 to communicate his experiences to posterity. 
 
 He governs his family : and exercises dominion over 
 every living thing. 
 
 He obtains knowledge of the universe from the pebble 
 which rolls on the ground : to the countless worlds which 
 revolve in the firmament. 
 
 He investigates nature : and his thoughts contemplate 
 the Author of all things.
 
 244 RELATION OF MAN TO THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 He seeks a knowledge of the laws of God : that lie may 
 obey the Divine will. 
 
 He accepts the moral law : that he may act rightly to his 
 fellows. 
 
 He trusts to faith : to supply gaps in his knowledge. 
 
 He has recourse to prayer : to strengthen his holy 
 desires. 
 
 He utters songs of praise : to mark the benefits he 
 enjoys. 
 
 He has pleasure for his good : and suffers pain for his 
 protection. 
 
 When he acts rightly he has joy : and the hope of ever- 
 lasting reward. 
 
 When he acts wrongly it leads to pain : and the fear of 
 everlasting punishment. 
 
 Who then would desire to limit the action of the mind : 
 which proceeds from the noblest work of God. 
 
 Surely no man who appreciates the goodness and great- 
 ness of the Omnipotent : for he would rejoice in the works 
 of the Almighty. 
 
 Such a man would sing as long as he had breath : Glory 
 be to God Most High.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ability, 20 
 
 Absolute inductions, 85 
 
 truth, 150, 151 
 Abstinence, 20 
 Abstract ideas, 148 
 
 ideas, difficult to write on, 
 204 
 
 meaning of the word, 198 
 Abstraction by comparison, 38,42, 
 46 
 
 powers of, alone possessed by 
 man and not by the lower 
 animals, 197, 205 
 
 by reflection, 38, 43 
 
 by thought, 38, 41 
 Abstractions, fallacy of the mind 
 to consider the, as substan- 
 tive realities, 204 
 
 meditation on the higher, con- 
 duces to pleasure, 205 
 
 metaphysical, 203 
 Acari, how generated, 51 
 Acarus of Cross, 51 
 
 of Weeks, 51 
 Acid, gallic, 240 
 
 oxalic, 240 
 
 Act of Lord Campbell, 65 
 Action, xxxv., xxxvi., 187 
 
 automatic, 28, 222 
 
 of the brain, 75, 77,. 102, 197 
 
 difference in persons, 195, 196 
 
 excitation to, of any motor 
 nerve, 179 
 
 fallacies arise from our mode 
 of, 175 
 
 chemical, 229 
 
 guided by impulse, 56 
 
 governed by moral laws, 128 
 
 ideas of, 203 
 
 guided by reason, 56 
 
 quibbles by, con joined with the 
 use of words, 118 
 
 law of human, should be deve- 
 loped, 145 
 
 of light upon the eye, 177 
 
 man's mode of, 30 
 
 of man, how excited, 29 
 
 of man regulated by pain, 32 
 
 of man, how regulated, 61, 62, 
 67 
 
 of one -man to another, 150 
 
 mental, 28 
 
 muscular, 28 
 
 of the moral law neglected at 
 the present time, 154, 155 
 
 on organs of sensation, 73, 74 
 
 of the sensorium, 74, 77 
 
 practical, 155 
 
 specific, xxxvii.-xxxix, 187 
 
 reflex, explained, 222 
 
 substantives assigned to, 70 
 
 table showing the will and laws 
 of human, 31 
 
 Action transmitted to sensorium, 
 
 69,71 
 Actions, combination of, of the 
 
 brain, 72 
 or combination of, denoted by 
 
 symbols, 88 
 on a certain combination oi 
 
 nervous fibres, 70 
 of heat, 133 
 of light, 133 
 of man, not easy to control 
 
 completely by others, 63 
 of man regulated by pleasure, 
 
 31 
 
 of mankind governed by reli- 
 gious thought, 136,^37 
 of man, how influenced by 
 
 prayer, 127, 128 
 material, 132 to 135 
 
 not to be confounded with 
 mental, 28 
 of God, 203 
 regulation of, 105 
 regulated by pain, 32, 54 
 regulated by pleasure, 32, 54 
 regulation of our, 38 
 sound, 133 
 voluntary, 28, 29 
 Adaptation of animals, &c., to 
 their special surrounding cir- 
 cumstances, 49 
 
 Adjectives, definition of, 72, 77 
 Adverb, definition of, 76, 77 
 Affirmation, 89 
 
 laws of, 112 
 Age, noemic, 36 
 
 aisthenic, 30 
 
 Air-sac of electrical fish, 238 
 Aisthenic, 194, 200 
 age, 35 
 
 faith, 157, 158 
 fallacies, 167, 168 
 ideas, meaning of, 1 
 Almighty, the, 127, 194 
 attributes of the, 131, 132, 133- 
 
 135 
 beneficence and power of the, 
 
 137 
 
 eternity of the, 133-135 
 infinity and immateriality of 
 
 the, 137 
 laws, 127 
 
 omnipotence of the, 134, 135 
 
 omnipresence of the, 134, 135 
 
 omniscience of the, 134, 135 
 
 Ammonia, 240 
 
 Ampulla, cartilage of the wall 
 
 of, 227 
 
 structureless basement mem- 
 brane of the auditory nerve, 
 227 
 
 Amusements, sensational, of the 
 period, dangers of, 141 
 
 Anatomy of the brain of man, 
 
 after Mayo, 214 
 of electrical eel, 239 
 of electrical fish, 235-240 
 Animal, the lower, how inferior 
 
 to man, 205 
 Animals, batteries in the bodies 
 
 of, are compound, 211 
 development or evolution of, 
 
 47 
 
 development of growth of, 49 
 effect of colours on, 5, 6 
 emit light, 46 
 experiments on, 177-179 
 instincts of, 17 
 hearing of, 7 
 how colours are appreciated 
 
 by, 5, 6 
 
 lower, nervous system of, 216 
 mind of, 12-15 
 nervous system of, 242 
 nervous system of, a system of 
 
 voltaic batteries, 178 
 ova of, development of, 49 
 propellent powers of, whether 
 
 specifically created, 
 rodent brain of, 216 
 receive simple ideas, 181 
 senses of, 1-9 
 sight of, 1-6 
 sense of smell, 8 
 taste of, 7 
 tendency of breeds to revert 
 
 to original type, 52 
 theory of instinct in, 176, 182 
 vertebrate, brains of, 216 
 worship of, 171 
 Anonymous writings, influence 
 
 of, 54, 59 
 Anxiety, 24 
 Aponeurosis, covering of, electric 
 
 eel, 239 
 Apoplexy, 23 
 Argento-cyanide of potassium 
 
 solution of, 241 
 Argument of design, 125 
 Arguments, imperfection of, 
 
 57 
 
 influence by, 57 
 by words, 109 
 Arithmetic, science of, 122 
 Arrogance, 20 
 Arterial blood, 235, 236 
 blood corpuscles, 229 
 Arteries of electric eel, 239 
 Artery of the retina, 230 
 Articles, definition of, 73 
 Artificial blood corpuscle, 22 
 electrical fish- cell, figure of- 
 
 237,238 
 
 muscle, 228 ; figure of, 22 
 nose, 241 
 reasoning, 82
 
 246 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Artificial system, various images 
 impressed on the brain, 69 to 
 
 77 
 
 system of notation, 95 
 voltaic circuits, 240-242 
 Athanasian Creed, 62 
 Atomic particles, 48 
 Atoms, fortuitous concurrence 
 
 of, 47 
 
 of matter, 128-131 
 Attraction on particles of matter, 
 
 48 
 
 power of, 128-131 
 power of matter to generate, 
 
 130-135 
 Attributes of the Creator, 132- 
 
 135, 138 
 of the Deity neglected to be 
 
 tanght from the pulpit, 137 
 of the immaterial, 133-135 
 Auditory hairs, 226, 227 
 nerve, axis cylinder traversing 
 the basement membrane, 227 
 nerve.plexiform union of nerve- 
 fibres with interspersed nu- 
 clei, 227 
 nerve, structureless basement 
 
 membrane, 227 
 
 nerve, doubly continued nerve- 
 fibre in, 227 
 
 nerve, supporting cells, 227 
 nerve, fusiform cells with 
 nucleus and dark fibre in 
 their interior, 227 
 nerve, wall of ampulla, 227 
 nerves, termination of, 226, 
 
 227 
 
 Automatic action, 28, 222 
 Averages, doctrines of, fallacies 
 
 Of, 172 
 
 Axis, cylinder traversing the 
 basement membrane in au- 
 ditory nerve, 227 
 
 Balbnchin, Professor, 226 
 Battery, 234-236 
 cells in electrical ray, figures 
 
 of, 236 
 prisms of, in torpedo, figure 
 
 of, 237 
 syndramic, or combination, 
 
 structure of, 181 
 voltaic, 29, 200, 238 
 voltaic, brain, muscles, and 
 organs of sensations, a, 180- 
 182 
 voltaic, muscle and skin, 180- 
 
 182 
 
 voltaic, double, with mode of 
 detecting the voltaic current, 
 242 
 voltaic, experiments with, on 
 
 animals and fish, 177-179 
 voltaic, how composed in or- 
 ganised beings, 210-242 
 Batteries, cells of, in electric eel, 
 
 239 
 in animal bodies are compound, 
 
 211 
 
 voltaic, 178, 179 
 Beavers, instinct of, 137 
 Bee building its comb, 182 
 Bees, instincts of, 17 
 Beings, organic, 46-53 
 organic, complexity of the 
 
 parts of, 47 
 
 organic, if produced in matter, 
 46-48, 50-53 
 
 Beings, organic, either solid, or 
 
 only partly fluid, 50 
 organic, how produced, 47, 48 
 organic laws of, 153 
 organic, limits in variation, 46, 
 
 51,52 
 
 organic, multiplication of, 48 
 organic, relation of one to 
 
 another, 47 
 
 organic, variation in, 49 
 organic, whether man pro- 
 duced from, 46-53 
 organised, voltaic battery in, 
 
 210-242 
 Belief, 20, 50 
 of man, 21 
 
 Beliefs, fallacies leading to un- 
 holy, 171 
 idle, often substituted for the 
 
 moral law, 154, 155 
 Bible, 118 
 Birds, brain of, 216 
 the flight of, whether spe- 
 cifically regulated, 49 
 eggs, development of, 49 
 instincts of, 17 
 ne-ts of, 17, 18 
 sight of, 6 
 Blindness, 190 
 Blood, arterial, 235, 236 
 circulation of the corpuscles of 
 
 the, 233, 234 
 circulation of, in its relation 
 
 to the mind, 100 
 influence of voltaic electricity 
 
 on the circulation of the, 179 
 Blood-corpuscles, 2 
 corpuscle, artificial, 229 
 venous, 235, 236 
 Blood-vessels, 223 
 of cerebellum, 234 
 of ear, 231 
 of electric eel, 239 
 of muscles, 232 
 of nose, 231 
 of skin, 231 
 of spinal chord, 232 
 of tongue, 231 
 Bodies, olivary, 214 
 Body, ideas of the, 203 
 not to be confounded with the 
 
 soul, 203 
 precise changes of matter in, i 
 
 not known, 234 
 Bones, mechanical arrangement ' 
 
 of, in relation to the mind, 100 
 Books, their value in testing 
 
 personal knowledge, 38, 41 
 Bowerbank, Mr , 18 
 Brain, 111, 177 
 action of the, 75, 77, 102, 197 
 action of ideas in, 14 
 actions registered in, 19 
 action or combination of action 
 
 denoted in the, by symbols, 
 
 88 
 actual general structure of, 
 
 210, 214, 215, 216 
 anatomy of, 214, 215 
 balance of the action of all 
 
 parts on the, 205 
 blood-vessels of, 11 
 blood-vessels of cerebellum, 234 
 blood-vessels of grey matter of 
 
 cerebrum, 233 
 of cat, 216, 217 
 cerebrum, 216, 233 
 cerebellum, 216, 233 
 
 Brain, certain ideas implanted ID 
 
 its construction, 20 
 childhood, 35 
 definition of the, 74 
 development of the, 52 
 of dog, 216, 219 
 
 drawing of, by Dr. Stewart, 223 
 exercise of, 38 
 facts implanted in, 122 
 grey matter of, 221, 222, 223, 
 
 224, 228, 232, 242 
 human, 95 
 
 how it affects freewill, 32 
 how excited to action, 20 
 ideas simple in, of animals, 181 
 illustrations of the changes of 
 
 images in the, 199, 201 
 impressions carried to it by 
 
 medium of nerves, 1, 2, 4, 5, 
 
 6,9 
 impressions of feeling carried 
 
 to, 8 
 
 impression of images on, 72, 74 
 impressions, 108, 109, 196, 197, 
 
 200 
 
 impressions, number of, 19 
 of lower mammalia, 216 
 of man, 46, 50, 216 
 of man when perfected, 49 
 of man, grey matter in, 214, 
 
 215 
 
 in manhood, 36 
 mechanism of the, 109 
 of the monkey, 216 
 microscopical structure of, 224 
 muscles and organs of sensa- 
 tion, a voltaic battery, 180, 
 
 181, 182 
 
 natural operations of, 95 
 nerves of, 178 
 nerves of the eye to, 6 
 nervous fibres to, 179, 180, 181 
 organisation of, 26 
 precise changes of matter in, 
 
 not known, 234 
 of rabbit, 220 
 registration of images in the, 
 
 40, 41, 42, 43 
 
 researches of Dr. Mayo on, 214 
 researches of Dr. Ferrier on, 
 
 217-222 
 
 resolution of a word or sen- 
 tence as it was received in 
 
 the brain, 69, 77 
 respect to consciousness, 23, 
 
 24, 25, 26, 27 
 rodent animals, 216 
 should be acted upon in its 
 
 higher, lower, and middle 
 
 departments, 200 
 state of, in senility, 34, 37 
 structure of the, adduced to 
 
 physical laws, 180 
 symbols impressed on the, 99 
 termination of the nerves in 
 
 the, and spinal chord, 210, 
 
 228 
 
 theory of, 53 
 torpedo, 237 
 
 various parts explained, 221 
 weight of, in man, 46 
 weight of, in animals, 46 
 white matter of, 221, 222, 223, 
 
 224 
 
 in youth, 35 
 Breeds of animals, tendency to 
 
 revert to original type, 52 
 Bridgewater Treatises, 126
 
 INDEX. 
 
 247 
 
 Bromine water, 240 
 
 Browne, Dr. J. Crichton, 217 
 
 Brutes, reason of, 15 
 
 Buffoonerv, 20 
 
 Bull, excited by the colour red, 6 
 
 Csenaisthenics, 8, 27 
 
 Camera, optical arrangement of 
 
 eye, 6 
 
 Capillary vessels, 232 
 Cardinals, 116 
 Carmine injections, 11 
 Carriers of sensation, 8 
 Cat, brain of, 216 
 
 nose of, 8 
 
 Cats, experiments on, 177, 178 
 Catalepsy, 193 
 
 Cause, 80, 81, 82, xvii, xviii, p. 185 
 and effect, ideas of, 201 
 fallacies of, 167, 173 
 first infinite, acknowledged by 
 
 praise, 148 
 
 Celestial bodies, laws of the mo- 
 tion of, 122 
 Cell fish, artificial electrical, 238 
 
 figure of, 237 
 Cells of the batteries of electric 
 
 eel, number of, 239 
 of batteries in electric ray, 236 
 olfactory, 228 
 supporting, in auditory nerve, 
 
 227 
 Cellular tissues in rabbits, 176, 
 
 177, 178 
 Cerebellum, 214, 216, 220, 221, 
 
 223 
 
 showing distribution of blood- 
 vessels into the substance of 
 the grey matter of the, 223 
 blood-vessels of, 234 
 Cerebral, hemisphere of, in frog, 
 
 28 
 
 organization, 99 
 
 Cerebrum, 214, 215, 216, 220, 221 
 convolutions of, in man, 216 
 blood-vessels of, grey matter 
 
 of, 233 
 
 Chancery, 117 
 Court of, 58, 143 
 judges in, 102 
 Changes taking place in the 
 
 thoughts of men, 146 
 Character, determination of, 43 
 Chemical action, 19, 229 
 
 combination, laws of, 122 
 Chemists, notation of, 78, 79 
 Chick, 49 
 
 Child's senses, 34, 35 
 Childhood, faith begins in, 162 
 mind how weakened in, 37 
 organs of sensation in, 35 
 Children, duties of, to their pa- 
 rents, 154 
 
 Chloride of gold, 240 
 Chord, spinal, division of, causes 
 
 death, 178 
 Choroid, 177, 230 
 Christ, law of, 106, 152, 153 
 Christian communities, cause of 
 
 disputes and errors in, 132 
 Christianity, 119 
 benefit of, 38, 44 
 doctrines of, 106, 107, 108, 153 
 practical, 154 
 Church, 106, 108 
 Established, who belongs to 
 
 it, 140 
 Circuit, nervo-voltaic triple, 212 
 
 Circuit, electric voltaic, 241 
 photo-voltaic, 240 
 thermo-voltaic, 241 
 voltaic compound, 210, 211, 
 
 213 
 voltaic, of nervous system, 210, 
 
 211, 212, 213 
 
 voltaic, how formed, 240 
 voltaic, and nose, 241 
 voltaic, various artificial, 210, 
 
 229-242 
 
 voltaic, and sound, 240 
 Circulation of the blood, influ- 
 ence of voltaic electricity on 
 the, 170 
 of the corpuscles of the blood, 
 
 233, 234 
 Classes, 78 
 
 criminal, government of, 63 
 different, of men should asso- 
 ciate more together, 106, 107 
 of inductions, 84, 85 
 Classical knowledge, effects of, 
 
 on some minds, 32 
 Clergy, duties of their congrega- 
 tion, 154 
 
 present duties of, to meet the 
 
 requirements of the times,145 
 
 improved mode of thought, 
 
 150, 156 
 Clergymen, injudicious reasoning 
 
 of, in pulpit, 57 
 Clock, 74 
 Cohesion, 19 
 Cold, 19 
 Colour, 19 
 Colours, how appreciated by 
 
 animals, 56 
 
 power of discriminating, 4, 6 
 Coma, 23 
 
 Comb of bee or wasp, 182 
 Combatants, the, of the next re- 
 formation, 206 
 Combination battery, structure 
 
 of, 181 
 
 of senses, xi., xii., 184 
 Commandments, ten, 153 
 Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons, 171 
 Commons, committee of the 
 
 house of, 171 
 Communities, Christian, cause of 
 
 disputes and errors in, 132 
 Comparison, practice of abstrac- 
 
 of, 38 
 
 fallacies of, 172 
 Composition, 19 
 Compound voltaic circuit, 210, 
 
 211, 212, 213 
 Concomitance, 185 
 Conditions of true faith, 157, 
 
 159, 160 
 Confession, 194 
 Confidence, 19 
 Congregation, duties of, towards 
 
 their clergy, 154 
 Conjunctions, copulative, 77 
 definition of, 76 
 disjunctive, 77 
 Conjure, 169 
 Conscience, 20 
 
 appealing to a man's, 121 
 Consciousness, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 
 
 27 
 
 xxii. to xxiv., 185 
 loss of, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 
 mechanism of, 22 
 origin of, 22 to 27 
 
 Consciousness, partial, 23 to 27 
 perfect, 23 to 27 
 physical state, 23-26 
 Contemplation, 38, 42 
 Conversation, value of, 38, 41 
 Conviction, 20 
 Convulsions, 193 
 Copper, electrodes, 179 
 
 sulphate of, 179 
 Corpora quadrigemina, 214 
 Corpuscle, artificial blood, 229 
 blood, 229 
 of the blood, circulation of, 
 
 233, 234 
 Courage, 19 
 Courts of Chancery, 58, 143 
 
 of law, 143 
 Cowardice, 19 
 Cramp, 193 
 Creation of matter, 46-51, 132- 
 
 135 
 
 specific, 49 
 
 specific, doctrine of, 53 
 of the universe, 130, 131 
 of the universe, perfection of 
 
 the design of, 126 
 Creative power, 128 
 power in man, contrasted with 
 the insignificance of the in- 
 ventive skill of man, 100 
 Creator, 50, 171 
 attributes of the, 131, 132, 133, 
 
 134, 135, 138 
 eternity of the, 134, 135 
 omnipotence of, 134, 135 
 omnipresence of, 134, 135 
 omniscience of, 134, 135 
 volition of, 133 to 135 
 Creatures not formed by electro- 
 lysis of matter, 51 
 Credulity, mediaeval, and true rea- 
 son, the coming conflict be- 
 tween, 206 
 
 Creed, belief of God, 102 
 in belief of crocodiles, 102 
 in belief in ibises, 102 
 in belief of Mohammed, 102 
 in belief of saints, 102 
 of St. Athanasius, 62 
 Creeds, fixed and unchangeable, 
 
 101, 102 
 
 Crimes, 110, 111, 112 
 Criminals, 110, 112, 113 
 classes, government of, 63 
 minds of, 66 
 punishment of, 54, 64, 65, 
 
 66 
 
 religious influences on, 6d 
 Cross, acarus of, 51 
 Crucial sulcus, 217, 219 
 Cruelty, 20 
 
 Current voltaic with mode of 
 detecting the double voltaic 
 battery, 242 
 Currents, electro-voltaic, laws of, 
 
 180 
 
 Cutaneous textures of skin, 180 
 Cyphers, 70, 74, 75, 82, 84, 87 
 
 101, 183 
 geometric arrangement of, 1 
 
 92 
 
 reasoning by, 109 
 used for words, 92 
 
 Danger of the period, 136, 
 Darkness, 19 
 Darwin, 47, 48 
 Day, vice of the, 154
 
 248 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Deafness, 190 
 Dean Colet, 37 
 Death, 19, 83, 84, xlvii. 188 
 uroduced by division of spinal 
 * chord, 178 
 
 produced by the division of the 
 sensor, and the motor nerves, 
 178 
 
 Deceit, 109 
 
 Deduction imperfect, 87 
 laws of, 94, 100 
 
 impressions of the nervons 
 system, which act down- 
 wards by, 105 
 perfect, 87 
 symbols, 87 
 words, 69, 86 
 Deeds, manner of drawing np 
 
 complicated, 123, 124 
 Defective states of mind, 183-192 
 state of nervous system, Ix. to 
 
 Ixviii., 189, 190 
 Deity, 195 
 attributes of the, 131, 132, 133, 
 
 134,135 
 attributes of, not taught from 
 
 the pulpit, 137 
 eternity of the, 133 to 135 
 influence of the, on onr actions, 
 
 137 
 
 the omnipotence of, 134, 135 
 the omnipresence of, 132, 134, 
 
 135 
 
 the omniscience of, 134, 135 
 Delirium, 189 
 Deoxygenated blood, 235 
 Design, argument of, 125 
 Desire, xli., 188 
 Development, natural, 46, 47, 48, 
 
 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 
 from infancy to manhood, 46 
 of pure principles of religion, 
 
 145 
 of the variors members of man, 
 
 the Psalmist on, 53 
 Different appreciation of reli- 
 gion, 136, 140 
 Differential machine, 100 
 figure of a, 100 
 futility of guessing shown by, 
 
 102 
 
 useful for criminal trials, 112 
 useful for the comparing of 
 
 various creeds, 101, 102 
 comparative uses of, when used 
 
 together, 102 
 imitation bv, of the natural 
 
 process of thought, 103 
 Differential shite, illustration of 
 the laws of judgment by 
 means of, 103 
 application of, 97, 103-105 
 Difficult cases to define the moral 
 
 law, 143, 144 
 Disinterestedness, 153 
 Dissenters, religion of, 140 
 Distrust of faith, 164 
 
 by faith, examples of, 164 
 Doctrine of averages, fallacies 
 
 of, 172 
 
 of Christianity, 44 
 of the direct interference of 
 Providence in the details of 
 human affairs, on the, 127 
 of evolution, 50, 51 
 of faith, 142 
 
 of faith without reason is un- 
 worthy of credit, 161 
 
 Doctrine of gradual development, 
 
 of limits, fallacies of, 172 
 
 of means, fallacies of, 172 
 
 of natural development, 46-53 
 
 of predestination, 128 
 
 of preordination, 128 
 
 of specific creations, 53 
 
 of spontaneous or accidental 
 
 selection, 47 
 Doctrines, Christian, 106, 107, 
 
 108 
 
 of Christianity, 153 
 entertained by Darwin, 47, 48 
 entertained by myself and 
 
 others, 47, 48 
 
 heathen, intermingled in early 
 ages with the moral law, 139 
 of religion, 141, 142 
 of religion how to be taught, 
 
 141 
 of religion, in conformity with 
 
 reason, 105 
 Dog, brain of, 216 
 
 nose of, 8 
 Dogma, faith, definition of, 154, 
 
 155 
 Dorsal muscles of electrical fish, 
 
 238, figure of, 238, 239 
 Dreaming, 24, 45 
 Drunkenness, 20 
 Duration, what constitutes, 133, 
 
 184 
 
 Duty, 152, 153 
 Dynamic, 194 
 fallacies, 167, 174 
 powers of the mind, 195 
 
 Ear, acoustic arrangement of, 
 in its relation to the mind, 
 100 
 
 blood-vessels of, 231 
 
 ideas derived through, 7 
 
 range of musical sounds, 7 
 
 sensations, 7 
 
 ultimate nervons fibres of, 9, 10 
 Earth, revolution of, 74 
 Education, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 
 
 classical teaching, effects of, on 
 some minds, 37 
 
 how it should be conducted in 
 childhood, 35 
 
 of youth, 38 
 
 of youth, how practised in 
 Germany, 36 
 
 natural objects should be 
 taught, 38 
 
 syndramic knowledge, 36 
 Eel, air-vessels of, 239 
 
 aponeurosis covering, 239 
 
 electrical, 235-240 
 
 figure of, 239 
 
 muscles of, 239 
 
 veins of, 239 
 
 vertebrae of, 239 
 Eels, experiments on, 177 
 Effect, 80, 81, 82 
 
 of prayer, 125, 127, 128 
 Efficacy of prayer, 127, 128 
 Egg, development of, 49 
 Electric eel, anatomy of, 239 
 
 arteries of, 239 
 
 blood-vessels of, 239 
 
 electrical organs of, 239 
 
 nerves of, 239 
 
 organ of mormyrus cypri- 
 noides, 235 
 
 skin of, 239 
 
 Electric organ of mormyrus oxy- 
 
 rhyncus, 235 
 light, 160 
 shocks, 235, 236 
 Electric fish-cell, artificial, fig. 
 
 of, 237, 238 
 figure of, 235 
 fish, 210, 235-240 
 fish, nerves of, 235-240 
 muscles of, 238, 239, 240 
 organs of ^electrical eel, 239 
 organs of electrical ray, 236, 
 
 237, 238, 239, 240 
 spinal chord of, 238 
 termination of nerves in the 
 
 electrical plates of, 236 
 vertebrae of, 238 
 Electricity, 19, 46, 129, 187 
 produced by animals, 235 to 240 
 phenomena of, 132 
 voltaic, influence of, on the 
 circulation of the blood, 179, 
 voltaic, 229 
 
 Electrolysis of matter, 51 
 Electro-voltaic currents, laws of, 
 
 180, 241 
 Emphasis, quibbles by variation 
 
 of, 118 
 Employed, duties of the, to their 
 
 employers, 154 
 Employers, duties of, to their 
 
 employed, 154 
 Engelmann, 226 
 
 Engraving to show picture form- 
 ed by two eyes, 5 
 Epilepsy, 23 
 Epithelia layer in nose, 226 
 
 figure of, 228 
 
 Epithelial cells from the olfac- 
 tory region of the proteus, 
 228 
 
 Epithelium and olfactory cells 
 from man, after Max 
 Schultze, 228 
 Equal symbols, 88, 89 
 Equity, 103 
 Error, 20 
 Essentials of a voltaic circuit, 
 
 210, 211, 212, 213 
 Established Church, who be- 
 long to it, 140 
 Eternity, 20, 186, 195 
 of the Creator, 134, 135 
 of God, 133-135 
 infinity of, 203 
 not to be confounded with 
 
 time, 203 
 Evangelists, 44 
 Evidence and testimony, 110 
 Evil, 20, 185 
 
 Evils of matter-worship, 38 
 Evolution, 46, 47 
 analogy in the development of 
 
 plants and animals, &c. 49 
 of the brain and mind of man 
 
 from matter, theory of, 53 
 doctrine of, 50, 51 
 experience of, 46 
 Exact definition of physical laws, 
 
 136,143 
 
 Example showing why religion 
 and science must agree, 107 
 of single nervo- voltaic circuit, 
 
 211 
 
 of theoretical nervous combi- 
 nation of lower animals, 213 
 of theoretical nervous combi- 
 nation of man, 213
 
 INDEX. 
 
 249 
 
 Example of trust by faith, 157, 
 
 163, 163 
 
 of cause and effect, 202 
 of a combination or syndramic 
 
 battery, 181 
 of difficult cases for deciding 
 
 between right and wrong 
 
 actions, 143, 144 
 of distrust by faith, 157, 164 
 of evidence and testimony, and 
 
 of the value of the pronoun 
 
 ' I,' 110, 111, 112, 113 
 of inferences deduced from 
 
 certain premises, 97, 98, 99 
 of the laws of judgment by 
 
 means of the differential 
 
 slate, 104 
 
 of how irrational faith is per- 
 nicious to man, 160 
 of noemic words, 170 
 of pneuma-noemic words, 170 
 Exercise of faith shown in the 
 
 idea of the true God, 160 
 of faith supplies deficiencies of 
 
 knowledge, 157,159 
 of faith should be testsd by 
 
 reason, 159, 160 
 of rational faith, 162, 163 
 Existence of the Creator of the 
 
 universe, 126 
 of a God, 21 
 Experiments on animals, 177, 
 
 178, 179 
 on animals and fish with the 
 
 magneto - electric machine, 
 
 179 
 on animals and fish with the 
 
 voltaic battery, 177-179 
 on cats, 177, 178 
 on eels, 177 
 on eye, 177 
 
 of Professor Ferrier, 217-222 
 on fish, 179 
 on a frog, 178 
 on the nose, 178 
 on rabbits, 176, 177, 178 
 showing how voltaic circuits 
 
 can be artificially formed, 
 
 240, 241, 242 
 
 External granule layer, 225 
 Eye, 111 
 
 action of light upon, 177 
 camera of, 5 
 choroid of, 230 
 effect of colours on, 4 
 experiments on, 177 
 and faith, 158 
 fallacies of, 167 
 figure of nervous fibres in 
 
 structure of, 224 
 how ideas are produced from, 
 
 to the brain, 1-6 
 ideas derived through, 1 
 image formed in, 4 
 lenses of, 5 
 Milton on, 6 
 of man, 1-6 
 
 nerves of, to the brain, 6 
 nerves of, 1-6 
 optical structure of, 100 
 optical arrangement in, 5 
 Paul Veronese and other pain- 
 ters' method of showing what 
 
 is seen by both eyes at once, 
 
 5 
 
 proteus, 6 
 range of, 2 
 retina of, 5 
 
 Eye, sensations or opsaisthenics.l 
 
 ultimate nervous fibres of, 9, 
 10 
 
 use of light for, 6 
 Eyes of animals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
 
 of birds, 6 
 
 of the flea, 6 
 
 of the mole, 6 
 
 showing the picture formed by 
 two eyes, 5 
 
 how vision affects the mind, 6 
 Eyeball, muscles of, 177 
 
 Faculties of the mind, 34, 36 
 of inducting and acting upon 
 
 laws, 195 
 
 at different periods of life, 34 
 Faith, 47 
 aisthenic, 157, 158 
 aisthenic, employed in the nse 
 
 of the microscope or tele- 
 scope, 158 
 
 begins in early childhood, 163 
 demands reason, 157, 164 
 distrust of, examples of, 164 
 doctrine of, 142 
 esteemed more than truth in 
 
 some forms of religion, 152 
 exercise of, every moment of 
 
 our lives, 163 
 
 exercise of, in reading or writ- 
 ing histories, 163 
 exercise of, should be tested by 
 
 reason, 159 to 161 
 exercise of, shown in the idea 
 
 of the true God, 160 
 exercise of, supplies deficiencies 
 
 of knowledge, 157, 159 
 fallacies of, 167, 173 
 false, 155, 157, 159, 160 
 in a dogma, or compensation 
 
 for vice, 154, 155 
 in our fellow-creatures, 162, 
 
 163 
 in the omnipotence of God, and 
 
 the immutability of His 
 
 laws, 162 
 influence of, on the mind, 157 
 
 to 166 
 influence of, in the formation 
 
 and application of general 
 
 laws, 160 
 noemic, 157, 159 
 not certain but probable, 157, 
 
 159 
 
 pneuma-noemic, 160 
 practised, for gain, 142 
 rational, useful to man, 159, 
 
 160 
 religious, differences of in 
 
 different persons, 161 
 sensational, 154 
 spurious, 165 
 supplies imperfections of ideas 
 
 on the mind, 157 
 sure, confirmed by reason and 
 
 religion, 147, 157, 161 
 syndramic, 157, 158 
 true, conditions of, 157, 159, 
 
 160 
 
 true, law for, 157, 161 
 true, and true religious thought 
 
 act together, 161 
 trust by, examples of, 157, 162, 
 
 163 
 without reason unworthy of 
 
 credit, 161 
 
 Fallacy, 118 
 
 of mind to consider the ab- 
 stractions as substantives, 
 realities, 204 
 
 in man of doubting the sub- 
 stantial reality of the world, 
 204 
 
 Fallacies, aisthenic, 167, 168 1 
 arise from our mode of action, 
 
 175 
 
 of cause, 167, 173 
 caused from our feelings of 
 
 pleasure and pain, 175 
 caused from the leading pro- 
 perties of the mind, 176 
 different qualities of ideas 
 should have different words 
 to avoid, 167, 169, 170 
 dynamic, 167, 174 
 of faith, 167, J 73 
 of the application of the doc- 
 trines of averages, of means, 
 and limits, 172 
 
 of the human mind, 167 to 175 
 of judgment and comparison, 
 
 167-172 
 
 of mnemonic, 167, 171, 172 
 of noemic, 167, 169 
 of the organs of sensation, 
 
 168, 169 
 
 of pain, 167, 174 
 of pleasure, 167, 174 
 pnenma-noemic, 167, 171 
 syndramic, 167, 168 
 technical knowledge, 167, 172 
 time, 167, 173 
 
 False faith, 155, 157, 159, 160 
 should be discarded by reason, 
 
 156, 165, 166 
 religion, 141 
 Falsehood, 20, 109 
 Falsehoods, effect of, on the mind, 
 
 15 
 
 Fancy, 187 
 Faraday, 240 
 Fatuous, 190 
 Fear, 19 
 causes persons sometimes to 
 
 act wrongly, 65 
 Feeling, 184 
 sensations, 8 
 sense of, 241 
 Feelings of pleasure and pain, 
 
 contribute to fallacy, 175 
 Ferrier, Professor, researches of, 
 
 217 to 222 
 
 Ferrocyanate of potash, 240 
 Fish, experiments on, 179 
 electrical air-sac of, 238 
 cell artificial, electrical, 238, 
 
 figure of, 237 
 electric, 210, 235 to 240 
 electrical muscles of, 238, 239. 
 
 240 
 electrical, membranous septum 
 
 of, 238 
 electrical, nerves of, 237, 238, 
 
 239, 240, 235-240 
 electrical, spinal chord of, 238 
 electrical,termination of nerves 
 in the electrical plates of, 
 236, fig. of, 235 
 electrical, vertebras of, 238 
 Fit, 190 
 Fixity of laws of nature, 125, 
 
 126, 127 
 
 of moral laws, 125, 126, 127 
 of physical laws, 127
 
 250 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Flea, vision of; 6 
 
 Fluidity, 19 
 
 Folly, 20 
 
 Fooks, Mr. William Crawcroft, 
 
 123 
 Foot of frog, experiments on. 
 
 178 
 Force, 19, 183 
 
 generation of, 100 
 Forces, physical, 128 
 Form, 19, 183 
 
 what constitutes, 133 
 Free agency, xlv., 188 
 Freedom, 84 
 Freewill and necessity, 28, 29, 
 
 30, 31, 32 
 Frog, brain of, 28 
 experiments on, 178 
 termination of the gustatory 
 nerve of the. 226, figure of, 
 228 
 
 Fusiform cells with nucleus and 
 dark fibre in their interior 
 in auditory nerve, 227 
 
 Gallic acid, 240 
 Galvanism, 19, 129 
 
 phenomena of, 132 
 Galvanometer, 177, 180 
 Ganglia cell layer, 225 
 Garotters, flogging of, 65 
 Genera, 78 
 
 General laws, 142, 153, 155, 160 
 of men, 164, 165 
 influence of faith in the forma- 
 tion and application of the. 
 160 
 
 Geological strata, 49 
 Geometric figures, 85 
 arrangements of cyphers, 92, 
 
 93 
 
 arrangement of nouns, 79 
 series, 95, 96 
 indicating certain combination 
 
 of letters, 70 
 indicating time present, time 
 
 past, and time future, 75 
 to illustrate the nature of in- 
 duction, 84 
 
 Geometrical series, 97, 197 
 of cyphers, 91 
 
 arrangements of sentences, 82 
 arrangements of words, 92 
 symbols arranged as a, 80, 87, 
 
 88,90 
 
 Geometry, science of, 122 
 Glands, perspiratory of skin, 226 
 Globulist, 173 
 Gluttony, 20 
 
 God, 20, 44, 105, 106, 107, 108, 
 
 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 
 
 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 
 
 149, 182, 186 
 
 attributes of, 132, 133, 134, 
 
 135, 138 
 
 boundless power of, 50 
 eternity of, 133, 134, 135 
 existence of, 21 
 exercise of faith shown in the 
 
 idea of the true, 160 
 goodness of, 50, 149 
 greatness of, 50 
 immutable laws of, 148 
 infinity of, 203 
 infinite power and wisdom of 
 
 how shown, 53 
 
 laws of, 44, 105, 127, 138, 139, 
 142, 153, 162, 163, 164 
 
 God, laws of, immutability of, 
 
 150, 151 
 
 physical law of, 156 
 mind the immediate work of, 
 
 110 
 
 moral laws of, 156 
 no comparison between the 
 
 perfections in, with the 
 
 natural qualities in man, 
 
 131 
 not to be confounded with 
 
 material actions, 203 
 omnipotence of, 50, 108, 134, 
 
 135,140 
 
 omnipresence of, 132, 134, 135 
 omniscience of, 134, 135 
 relation of mind to, 125 
 our faith in His omnipotence, 
 
 and the immutability of His 
 
 laws, 162 
 whether He immediately'inter- 
 
 feres in the course of the 
 
 universe, 126 
 worship of, 171 
 worship of false, 171 
 Gold, chloride of, 240 
 Good, 20, 185 
 Government of criminal classes, 
 
 63 
 
 of man, 54-68 
 of man not chance, 61 
 of mankind, 54 
 of the mind, 196, 199 
 of the world, 130 
 Governments, the principles on 
 
 which they should act to- 
 wards one another, 154 
 Grey matter of brain, 221, 222, 
 
 223, 224, 228, 232, 242, 
 matter of cerebrum, blood- 
 vessels of, 233 
 matter of spinal chord, 232, 
 
 233 
 
 Gumaisthenics, 7 
 Gustatory nerve of the frog, 
 
 termination of, 226, figure 
 
 of, 228 
 Gymnotus electricus, 239 
 
 Happiness, 20, 84 
 Hardness, 19 
 Hearing, 184 
 Heat, 19, 129 
 
 actions of, 133 
 Heathen, spurious religion of, 
 
 141 
 Heathenism, necessity for the 
 
 eradication of, 140 
 Heaven, 21, 186, 195 
 
 ideas on, 203 
 Hell, 21, 186, 195, 
 
 ideas on, 203 
 
 Hen's nest, 53 
 
 Heresies, 132 
 
 High vascularity of tissues where 
 
 nerves arise and terminate, 
 
 210, 228-232 
 
 Higher symbols, 88, 89, 96 
 Histology, human and compara- 
 tive, by Strieker, 224, 226 
 Homoeopathic globules, 173 
 Hope and fear, xl., 188 
 Human action, will of, 28, 29, 30 
 action, laws of, 28, 29 
 action, modes of, 19 
 and comparative, histology by 
 
 by Strieker, 224, 226 
 and divine laws, 105 
 
 Human affairs, direct interfer- 
 ence of providence in the de- 
 tails of, on the, 127 
 mind, origin of, 46, 131 
 mind, operations of, subject to 
 
 laws moral, 126 
 mind, principles of, in health 
 
 and disease, 183, 191 
 mind.reason perfection of, how 
 
 secured, 205 
 mind, stimulated by sensational 
 
 faiths, 154, 155 
 mind, study of, in relation to 
 
 prayer, 127, 128 
 Humanity, 83, 84 
 Hunter, John, 239 
 Hunterian Society, 236 
 Hntchinson, Mr. Jonathan, 224 
 Hydrogen, 229 
 Hypothesis, 86 
 of evolution of mind, 46 
 of the kinds of matter, 46 
 Hypothetical inductions, 85, 86, 
 
 87 
 
 arrangement of the brain of 
 animals, of man, as a voltaic 
 apparatus, 210, 213 
 Hysteria, 193 
 
 Ideas, 82, 99, 122 
 
 abstract, 148 
 
 abstract, alone used by man, 
 46 
 
 abstract, confounded with sub- 
 stantive relatives, 204 
 
 aisthenic, meaning of, 1 
 
 combination of, 81 
 
 communication of, from one 
 person to another, 69, 82 
 
 composition of many, 198 
 
 connected with the Infinite, 
 words to be printed in large 
 capitals, 170 
 
 conveyed to the mind, 123 
 
 denoted by symbols, 88 
 
 derived through the eye, 1 
 
 derived through ear sensation, 
 7 
 
 different qualities of, should 
 have different words, 167, 
 169 
 
 effect of, when communicated 
 to brain, 12 
 
 existing in men's minds, 31 
 
 fallacious, 167-175 
 
 few perfect, 157 
 
 from eyes, 1 
 
 from two eyes, 6 
 
 from sensation, 1 
 
 how communicated, 13 
 
 how received by a boy, 34 
 
 imperfect, supplied by f aith,157 
 
 in brain, 30 
 
 in persons' minds, 55 
 
 insane, 142, lii. to lix. p. 189 
 
 intuitive, 53 
 
 mankind governed chiefly by 
 regulating the nature of 
 ideas in the person's mind, 
 54-68 
 
 man's action regulated by com- 
 munication of new, 61 
 
 obtained by taste, 7 
 
 originating in the mind, 19 
 
 pneuma - noemic, or religious, 
 161 
 
 primary religions, 137
 
 INDEX. 
 
 251 
 
 Ideas of ability, 20 
 
 of abstinence, 20 
 
 of action, 203 
 
 of arrogance, 20 
 
 of belief, 20 
 
 of the body, 203 
 
 of buffoonery, 20 
 
 of cause and effect, 81, 201 
 
 of cohesion, 19 
 
 of composition, 19 
 
 of confidence, 19 
 
 of conscience, 20 
 
 of consciousness, 22-26 
 
 of conviction, 20 
 
 of courage, 19 
 
 of cowardice, 19 
 
 of cruelty, 20 
 
 of crystallization, 19 
 
 of death, 19 
 
 of drunkenness, 20 
 
 of error, 20 
 
 of eternity, 21 
 
 of the eternal world, i. to viii., 
 183,184 
 
 of faith, when only to be re- 
 ceived by the mind, 164 
 
 of evil, 20 
 
 of falsehood, 20 
 
 of fear, 19 
 
 of fluidity, 19 
 
 of folly, 20 
 
 of force, 19 
 
 of form, 19 
 
 of gluttony, 20 
 
 of God, 20 
 
 of good, 19 
 
 of happiness, 20 
 
 of hardness, 20 
 
 of heaven, 21, 203 
 
 of hell, 21, 203 
 
 of immortality, 203 
 
 of infinite enduring personal 
 identity, 53 
 
 of an infinite future state of 
 good, 125 
 
 of infinite future state of evil, 
 125 
 
 of infinity, 138, 903 
 
 of infinity of God, 203 
 
 of infinity of eternity, 203 
 
 of infinity of spirit, 203 
 
 of infinity of good, 203 
 
 of irascibility, 20 
 
 of joy, 20 
 
 of justice, 19 
 
 of kindness, 20 
 
 of liberality, 20 
 
 of life, 19 
 
 of magnanimity, 20 
 
 of man, on the Almighty, 137 
 
 of matter, 19 
 
 of meanness, 20 
 
 of meekness, 20 
 
 of the mind, 203 
 
 of the mind on the existence of 
 the soul, 53 
 
 of the mind, importance of 
 rational faith on, 160 
 
 of misery, 20 
 
 of modesty, 20 
 
 of number, 19 
 
 of ostentation, 20 
 
 of pain, 20, 203 
 
 of persons on a fortuitous con- 
 currence of atoms, 47 
 
 of philosophers on analogy of 
 evolution, 49 
 
 of pleasure, 20, 203 
 
 Ideas of pleasantry, 20 
 
 of position, 19 
 
 of prodigality, 20 
 
 of prudence, 19 
 
 of rashness, 19 
 
 of ribaldry, 20 
 
 of softness, 19 
 
 of solidity, 19 
 
 of the soul, 203 
 
 of temperance, 20 
 
 of thought, 203 
 
 of time, 19, 203 
 
 of the true God, an exercise of 
 faith. 160 
 
 of truth, 20 
 
 of vice, 20, 203 
 
 of virtue, 20, 203 
 
 of volume, 19 
 
 received from ear, 7 
 
 recording of, 69, 74 
 
 religious ideas, 142, 165 
 
 simple, 45 
 
 simple only received by ani- 
 mals, 181 
 
 syndramic, 158 
 
 syndramic words expressing, 
 to be printed in small capi- 
 tals, 170 
 
 where fixed in the brain, 221 
 Identity, personal, enduring for 
 
 ever, 53 
 Idiot, 189 
 
 Idolatrous worship of matter dis- 
 cordant with reason, 141 
 Idolatry, 107, 138, 147 
 Image formed in two eyes, 4 
 Images, 196 
 
 changes of, 184 
 
 change of, in the brain, 199 
 
 of the mind when affected by 
 faith, 157, 158, 159, 160, 184 
 
 impression of, on the brain, 
 69, 74, 
 
 in the brain, 200 
 
 mental, 74 
 
 mental, how made up, 70, 110 
 
 of the mind, 83 
 
 registered in the brain, 40, 41 
 Imagination, xxxiii. xxxiv., 187 
 
 act of, 99 
 
 based upon antecedent know- 
 ledge, 164 
 
 Immaterial, 132-135 
 Immateriality of God, 131, 132, 
 
 133, 134, 135 
 Immortality, 53 
 
 ideas of, 203 
 
 and sure faith, 161 
 Imperfect deduction, 87 
 
 ideas supplied by faith, 157 
 Impressions, 184 
 
 on the brain, 108, 109 
 Impulse, 29, 32 
 
 effects of, on the mind, 55, 56, 
 
 guides man's actions, 56 
 
 of minds of criminals 63 
 Incoherence, 189 
 Indications of future action in 
 
 religion, 136, 142-149 
 Individuality possessed by man, 
 
 193 
 
 Individuals, 78 
 
 Induction, hypothetical, 85, 86, 
 87 
 
 illustration of, 83 
 
 impression of the nervous 
 system from below upwards, 
 by, 105 
 
 Induction of limits, 85, 87 
 laws of, 83, 84, 94, 100 
 nature of, 83, 84 
 nature of, illustrated by two 
 
 geometric series, 84 
 process of, 83, 84 
 of means, 85, 86 
 possible, 85 
 probable, 85 
 by words, 69, 83 
 Industrial classes, religion of, 
 
 the, 140 
 
 Infancy to manhood, develop- 
 ment of, 46 
 Infidelity, 50 
 
 Infidels, how often caused, 58 
 made often by pastors, 141 
 Infinite cause, 20 
 enduring pain, 126 
 enduring pleasure, 126 
 not to be limited, 203 
 pain, 21 
 pleasure, 20 
 power, 125, 134 
 time, 20 
 
 words expressing ideas con- 
 nected with the, to be printed 
 in large capitals, 170 
 Infinity, 20, xiii., 184 
 of bad cause, 203 
 how man attains the idea of, 
 
 138 
 
 of eternity, 203 
 of God, 203 
 of good, 203 
 of spirit, 203 
 ideas of, 203 
 Influence, 54-68 
 by arguments, 57 
 of the Deity on our actions, 
 
 136, 137 
 
 of faith in the formation and 
 application of general laws, 
 160 
 
 of faith on the mind, 157-166 
 by personal statements, 54, 56, 
 
 57,58 
 of one person on another, 54 
 
 55 
 
 of religious thought on the 
 
 actions of mankind, 136, 137 
 
 of voltaic electricity on the 
 
 circulation of the blood, 176, 
 
 179 
 
 value of repetition of state- 
 ments to, 54, 56, 59 
 by writings, 54, 59 
 Influences of religion on crimi- 
 nals, 66 
 
 on the nervous system, 67 
 Injections with carmine, 11, 231, 
 
 232, 233,234 
 
 Insane ideas, 142, lii. to lix., 189 
 Insects, vision of, 5 
 Instincts, xxvii., 186 
 of animals, 17 
 of hens, bees, etc, 53 
 Instinct and Reason, quotation 
 
 from, 80 
 
 theory of, in animals, 176, 182 
 Intellect, whether created, 49 
 Internal granulated layer, 225 
 Intuitions, xxv., xxvi., 185, 186 
 Iron, pernitrate of, 240 
 persalt of, 229 
 pertartrate of, 240 
 potassio-tartrate of, 240 
 proto-sulphate, 240
 
 252 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Irrational faith destructive to 
 
 man, 159, 160 
 Irascibility, 20 
 
 Jesus Christ, 44 
 Joy, 20 
 Judges, 143 
 
 decisions of, 145 
 
 impartialitv of, 145 
 
 in Chancery, 58, 102, 117 
 Judge, a mechanical, 103 
 Judgment, xxxii., 187 
 
 fallacies of, 172 
 
 individual, 122 
 
 its use, 89 
 
 laws of, 100, 103 
 
 Judgments, how should be given, 
 103 
 
 in courts of Chancery, 58 
 Jury, 112, 113 
 Justice, 19, 152 
 
 Kindness, 20 
 
 Knowledge, deficiencies of, sup- 
 plied by faith, 157, 159 
 
 how derived, 204 
 
 of the external world, i. to 
 viii, 183, 184 
 
 of natural laws, 37, 38 
 
 of natural objects, 37, 38 
 
 of truth, 151 
 
 of various objects, 35 
 
 obtained from a study of lan- 
 guages, <fcc., 37 
 
 obtained from a study of na- 
 ture, 37, 38 
 
 obtained from a study of books, 
 37,38 
 
 obtained from childhood to 
 manhood, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 
 
 obtained from a study of art, 
 38 
 
 obtained through organs of 
 sensations, 35 
 
 obtained through thought, 36 
 
 our personal, tested by books, 
 38,41 
 
 syndramic, 36 
 
 technical, fallacies of, 172. 
 
 Land, law of the, should agree 
 
 with the moral laws, 554 
 Language, 35, 197 
 absolute inductions by, 85 
 adjectives, 69, 72, 77 
 adverbs, 76, 77 
 affirmation, 89 
 alone used by man, 15 
 arguments by words, 109 
 arrangement of verbs in a 
 
 sentence, 80 
 
 arrangement of words and sen- 
 tences, 69-83 
 articles, 73 
 artificial system representing 
 
 various images impressed on 
 
 the brain, 69-77 
 artificial system of, employed 
 
 for deceiving human beings, 
 
 121 
 ideas, communication of, from 
 
 one person to another by, 73, 
 
 74, 75, 76, 77 
 ideas conveyed to the mind by, 
 
 123 
 ideas denoted by symbols by, 
 
 88 
 ideas, recording of by, 69, 74 
 
 Language, illustration of noemic 
 
 words, 170 
 illustration of pneuma-noemic 
 
 words by, 170 
 illustration of syndramic 
 
 words by, 173 
 induction, laws of, by, 83, 84, 
 
 94 
 
 induction of limits by, 85, 87 
 induction of means by, 85, 86, 
 
 87 
 
 laws of negation by, 112 
 laws of possibility by, 112 
 laws of probability by, 112 
 laws of the relation of physical 
 
 forces, 122 
 laws of thought by words, 
 
 69,87,88 
 laws of thought by letters, 
 
 78, 83, 92 
 limited nouns in a sentence, 78 
 
 79 
 
 logic, 113, 121 
 logical systems explained by, 
 
 113-121 
 
 noun, adjective, 73 
 nouns, geometric arrangement 
 
 of, 79 
 
 nouns limited, 78, 79 
 possibility, 89, 90 
 possible inductions, 85 
 premises, 97, 98, 99 
 prepositions, 76 
 probability, 89, 90 
 probable inductions, 85 
 pronouns, 73 
 pun, 114 
 
 qualified verbs, 80 
 quibbling by words, 113-121 
 reasoning by, 21 
 reasoning by words, 109, 114, 
 
 122 
 
 relation of verbs to substan- 
 tives, 74, 75, 80 
 
 resolution of a sentence, 69-82 
 resolution of a word or sen- 
 tence, as received in the 
 
 brain, 69, 77 
 substantives, 69, 70, 77, 78, 79, 
 
 95,96 
 symbols, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 
 
 84, 87, 90, 100, 111, 112 
 symbols, impressed on the 
 
 brain, 99 
 
 symbols, combination of, 89 
 symbols denoting action or 
 
 combination of actions, 88 
 symbols of the charge, 111 
 symbols of the evidence, 111 
 symbols, explanation, of 87, 88, 
 
 89, 90, 91 
 
 symbols, equal, 88, 89 
 symbols, geometric series of, 
 
 80,90 
 
 symbols arranged as a geome- 
 trical series, 87, 88 
 symbols, higher, 88, 89, 96, 97, 
 symbols, lower, 88, 89 
 symbols, lower geometrical, 97 
 symbols, positive withnegatiou, 
 
 88 
 symbols, properties of, 87, 88, 
 
 89, 90, 91 
 
 symbols, relation of, 89 
 symbolic, 70, 72, 74, 75 
 the moral law as a whole can 
 
 be worked out, and set out 
 
 in words and, 154 
 
 Language, thought by words, 89 
 
 thought, natural process of, 
 114 
 
 value of the pronoun ' I,' 108- 
 113 
 
 verbs, 69, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77 
 
 verbs, arrangement of, in a 
 sentence, 80 
 
 verbs, limitation of, in a 
 sentence, 81 
 
 words, 69, 70, 111, 112, 113 
 
 words, geometrical arrange- 
 ment of, 92 
 
 words expressing ideas, ab- 
 stracted from syndramic 
 ideas, to be printed in small 
 capitals, 170 
 
 words expressing ideas con- 
 nected with the Infinite, to be 
 printed in large capitals, 170 
 
 words, relation of, 114 
 
 words, relation to one another, 
 97, 98, 99, 
 
 words how expressed on the 
 relational slate, 97 
 
 words representing syndramic 
 
 ideas of simple objects, to be 
 
 printed with a capital initial 
 
 letter, 170 
 
 Lateral fin-muscle of electrical 
 
 fish, figure of, 238, 239 
 Law, courts of, 143 
 
 for flogging garotters, 65 
 Laws of affirmation, 112 
 
 Almighty, 127 
 
 of chemical combination, 122 
 
 of Christ, 106, 107, 108, 152, 153 
 
 deduction of, 94, 100, 196 
 
 of the electro-voltaic currents, 
 180 
 
 faculty of inducing and acting 
 upon, 195 
 
 fixed, 47, 82 
 
 fixed and immutable, 82 
 
 general, 105, 108, 153, 160 
 
 deduction of, 197 
 
 development of, conduces to 
 pleasure, 205 
 
 how constructed, 43 
 
 how to induce from specific 
 instances, 92 
 
 influence of faith in the forma- 
 tion and application of the, 
 160 
 
 of man, 164, 165 
 
 of God, 44, 105, 107, 108, 127, 
 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 148, 
 153, 162, 163, 164 
 
 of G-od, immutability of, 150, 
 151 
 
 of human action, 28 
 
 human and Divine, 105 
 
 immutable, 82 
 
 of induction, 94, 100, 105 
 
 of judgment, 100, 103 
 
 of judgment, illustrated by 
 means of differential slate, 
 104 
 
 of the hind should agree with 
 the moral laws, 154 
 
 of the mathematician compared 
 with the laws of human ac- 
 tion, 145 
 
 moral action of, neglected at the 
 present time, 154, 155 
 
 moral, as a whole can be 
 worked and set out in words 
 and Language, 154
 
 INDEX. 
 
 253 
 
 Laws, moral, in punishment of 
 
 criminals, 66 
 
 moral, 28, 29, 30, 138, 146, 147, 
 148, 149, 150, 152, 154, 165, 188, 
 1%, 200 
 
 moral, fixity of, 125, 126, 127 
 moral, 140, 141, 152, 153, 156 
 moral, govern action, 128 
 moral, governed by the mind, 
 
 128 
 moral, guide the mind of man, 
 
 54 
 
 moral, human operations sub- 
 ject to, 126 
 
 moral, intermingled in the 
 early uses with heathen doc- 
 trines, 139 
 moral, often substituted by 
 
 idle beliefs, 154, 155 
 moral, lead to infinite endur- 
 ing pain, 126 
 
 moral, necessity for more ex- 
 actness in defining the, why ? 
 153 
 
 moral, teachers of science igno- 
 rant of, 106, 107, 108 
 moral, want of definition of, 
 
 143 
 Laws of the motion of celestial 
 
 bodies, 122 
 of nature, 155 
 
 of nature, fixity of, 125, 126, 127 
 natural, 37, 38 
 of negation, 112 
 of the Old Testament, 153 
 physical, exact definition of, 
 
 143 
 laws physical, 105, 108, 107, 
 
 108 
 laws physical, teachers of 
 
 religion ignorant of, 106 
 laws of the relation of physical 
 
 forces, 122 
 
 laws of possibility, 112 
 laws of probability, 112 
 laws of relation, 94 
 immutable, 127 
 preordained, 47 
 of reason to accord with reli- 
 gion, 146, 147, 148 
 of relation, 94 
 of the relations of the physical 
 
 forces, 122 
 sub, 155 
 
 of the relation of symbols, 88 
 Laws of thought, 88 
 Laws of thought amenable to 
 
 fixed principles, 92 
 Laws of thought by deduction, 
 
 86, 87, 94, 100, 105 
 Laws of thought, by induction, 
 
 83-86 
 Laws of the universe, 138, 146, 
 
 162, 165 
 
 Laws, effect of prayer in control- 
 ling the laws of the universe, 
 128 
 Laws, voltaic, 178 
 
 of the will, 28, 29 
 Lawyers, mode of proceeding of, 
 
 154, 155 
 
 Layer of rods and cones, 225 
 Lecture on monogenesis of physi- 
 cal forces, 48 
 
 Lenses, arrangement of, in eyes, 5 
 Letheby, Dr, 239 
 Letters, 78, 81, 83, 92 
 Liberality, 20 
 
 Lie, effect of, on the body, 151 
 
 mind, 151 
 Life, 19, xlvi. page 188 
 
 faculties at different periods of 
 
 man's life, 34 
 Light, 19, 129 
 
 actions of, 133 
 
 action of, upon the eye, 177 
 
 artificial, 46 
 
 electric, 160 
 
 emitted by animals, 46 
 
 produces pain, 11 
 
 produces pleasure, 11 
 
 use of, for the retina, 6, 9 
 Limited nouns, 78, 79 
 Limits, doctrine of, fallacies of, 
 172 
 
 inductions of, 85, 87 
 Literature, its influence, 41 
 
 sensational of the period, dan- 
 gers of, 141 
 Logarithms, 96 
 Logic, 113-121 
 
 applicable to quibbling, 113 
 Lower symbols, 88, 89 
 Logical system, 113-121 
 Lord Campbell's act, 65 
 
 Machines, differential, 100 
 
 differential, figure of a, 100 
 
 differential, futility of guess- 
 ing shown by it, 102 
 
 differential, useful for criminal 
 trials, 112 
 
 differential, useful for the com- 
 paring of various creeds, 101, 
 102 
 
 differential and relational, ap- 
 plication of, 101-103 : figure 
 of, 94 
 
 differential and relational, imi- 
 tation by, of the natural 
 process of thought, 102 
 
 magneto - electric experiments 
 on animals and fish with, 
 179 
 
 relational and differential, its 
 use described, 69, 92, 93, 94, 
 95,96 
 
 relational and differential, ana- 
 logous to process of thought, 
 95 
 
 relational and differential, com- 
 parative uses of, when used 
 together, 102 
 
 relational, mechanism of, 92- 
 105 
 
 relational and differential, de- 
 duction of probabilities by 
 use of, 96, 100-105 
 
 relational and differential, em- 
 ployed for a calculating, 
 96 
 
 relational and differential, em- 
 ployed for logarithms, 96 
 
 relational and differential, em- 
 ployed for language, 92-105 
 
 relational and differential, geo- 
 metrical arrangement of 
 words by means of cyphers, 
 92 
 
 relational and differential 
 power of extensive, 95 
 
 relational, showing the action 
 of the brains by means of the, 
 197, 198 
 
 relational, various forms of 
 construction, 92-105, 199 
 
 Machines.relational and differen- 
 tial, various results obtained 
 from it, 92-105 
 Magnanimity, 20 
 Magnetism, 19 
 
 Magneto-electric machine expe- 
 riments on animals and fish 
 with the, 179 
 Magnitude, 183 
 Mammalia, brains of lower, 
 
 216 
 
 Man's action confirmed by nraver. 
 128 
 
 action of, one to another, 150 
 
 actions, regulated by pain, 
 32 
 
 regulated by pleasure, 32 
 
 governed by moral laws, 128 
 
 how influenced by prayer, 127, 
 128 
 
 how regulated, 61, 62, 67 
 
 not controlled easily by others, 
 
 63 
 Man's actions, table, showing 
 
 the will and laws of, 31 
 Man alone uses words and lan- 
 guage, 15 
 
 alone of the animals can ab- 
 stract, 197 
 
 avoids pain, 54 
 
 belief of, 21 
 
 brain of, 50, 216 
 
 decides upon a course of ac- 
 tion after sleep, 56 
 
 development of various parts 
 of, 52 
 
 difference between and the 
 lower animals, 205 
 
 dreamy, 45 
 
 effect of a wrongful punish- 
 ment on a good man, 67 
 
 example of, how irrational 
 faith is pernicious to, 160 
 
 faculties of, at different periods 
 of life, 34 
 
 when faith is useful to, 157- 
 166 
 
 figure of retina of, 225 
 
 government of, 54-68 
 
 government of, by pain, 32 
 
 government of, by pleasure, 
 32 
 
 great changes taking place in 
 the thoughts of, 146 
 
 his range of sight, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 
 6 
 
 how incited to action, 29 
 
 how to influence, 55, 56, 57, 58, 
 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 
 67,68 
 
 how to put him upon his ve- 
 racity, 121 
 
 individuality of, 193 
 
 insignificance of inventive 
 powers as compared with 
 the creative power of his 
 own organisation, 100 
 
 intellect of, whether created, 
 49 
 
 matter of fact, 45 
 
 mind of, 146 
 
 mind of, guided by fixed prin- 
 ciples, 61 
 
 mode of action of, 30 
 
 is mortal, 83 
 
 nervous system of, 50 
 
 nervous system of, a system of 
 voltaic batteries, 178
 
 254 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Man, no comparison between the 
 natural qualities in, with the 
 perfections of God, 131 
 
 not influenced by arguments, 
 57 
 
 only appreciates things ma- 
 terial, 131 
 
 only has the power of abstrac- 
 tion, 46 
 
 organs of sensation in, 196 
 
 possesses individuality, 193 
 
 power of, 134, 135 
 
 prone to worship idols, why, 
 138 
 
 reason, 15, 146, 147, 148, 149 
 
 reason of, 146, 147, 148, 149 
 
 relations with spirit of, 135 
 
 relation of, to the universe, 243 
 
 religious, 136, 147, 155 
 
 seeks pleasure, 54 
 
 some doubt the substantial 
 reality of the world, 204 
 
 whether produced from organic 
 beings, 46 
 
 worship, 1^7 
 Manhood, development of, 46 
 
 noemic power alone in, 37 
 
 state of brain in, 36 
 
 state of mind in, 34, 37 
 Mania, 189 
 
 Mankind divided into five groups, 
 194 
 
 frequently conceal their 
 thoughts and sensations from 
 others, 62 
 
 governed by religions thought, 
 136, 137, 155 
 
 government of, 54, 55, 56, 57, 
 58, 59, 60-68, 127 
 
 how ruled by designing per- 
 sons, 127 
 
 Maps, nervo- voltaic, explained, 
 215 
 
 showing the probable construc- 
 tion of the nervous system, 
 208,209 
 
 Marlborough, 37 
 Marrow, spinal, 221 
 Masseter, 176 
 Material actions, 132-135 
 
 actions not to be confounded 
 with God, 203 
 
 actions of sound, heat, light, 
 
 133 
 
 Matter, 19, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 
 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 183, 
 184 
 
 atomic particles, 48 
 
 attracts, 133-135 
 
 attraction on particles of, 48 
 
 change of, in all physical 
 forces, 199 
 
 creation of, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 
 
 electrolysis of, 51 
 
 forms of, 201 
 
 hypothesis of the kinds of, 46 
 
 inorganic, solid, fluid, and mat- 
 ter inorganic or gaseous 
 state of, 50 
 
 nature of, 125,128, 129, 130, 131 
 
 not to be confounded with 
 space, 203 
 
 origin of, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131 
 
 power of, to generate attrac- 
 tion, 130-135 
 
 properties of, 131, 132-135, 
 
 whether it produces organic 
 beings, 46 
 
 Matter worship, evils of. 38,1141 1 
 the worship, discordant with 
 
 reason, 141 
 Max Schultze, 228, 236 
 Means, doctrines of, fallacies of, 
 
 172 
 
 inductions of, 85, 86, 87 
 Meanness, 20 
 Mechanical contrivances of man, 
 
 100 
 
 inventions, reasoning by, 109 
 judge, 103 
 
 Mechanism of organs of sensa- 
 tion, voltaic, 176, 177 
 of the mind, 52 
 Medical agents, 173 
 men, modes of proceeding of, 
 
 150, 155, 156 
 
 Mediaeval superstitions, 108 
 Meditation, 42 
 Meekness, 20 
 Melancholy, 189 
 Membrana limitans externa, 225 
 
 interna, 225 
 
 Membrane, structureless base- 
 ment in auditory nerve, 227 
 Membranous system of electrical 
 
 fish, 238 
 Memory, 38, 40, 43, 69, 99, xxi. 
 
 185, 223, 241 
 exercise of, 40 
 phenomena of, 12 
 photographs a useful aid to, 
 
 40 
 Men, different classes of, should 
 
 associate together, 106, 107 
 medical, mode of proceeding 
 
 of, 150, 155, 156 
 mental capacity of women and, 
 
 193 
 often act wrong to appear to 
 
 act rightly, 58 
 
 persecution of, for religion, 141 
 scientific doubts of, 127 
 should be taught religion and 
 
 science, 106, 107 
 sometimes do wrong to appear 
 
 to dp right, 145 
 worship of, 171 
 Mental action, 28 
 plurality of, 23 
 theory of, 176-200 
 capacity of men and women, 
 
 193 
 
 images, 20, 74 
 how made up, 70 
 philosophy, nature and theory 
 
 of, 176 
 
 thought acts from the parti- 
 cular instance to the general 
 law, 136 
 
 Metaphysical abstractions, 203 
 Mayo, professor of physiology at 
 King's College, his researches 
 on the brain of man, 215 
 Microscope, 178 
 
 faith in using the, 158 
 Microscopic structure of brain, 
 
 216,224 
 Milton, 6, 37 
 Mind and brain theory of their 
 
 evolution from matter, 53 
 Mind, 95, 100, xlviii, 188 
 actions of , how regulated,20, 29, 
 
 30 
 
 sometimes defers action, 14 
 how affected by deduction, 105 
 how affected by induction, 105 
 
 Mind, how affected by working in 
 
 the npper.lower, or middle de- 
 partment of the, or by using 
 
 all of the three departments 
 
 of the mind, 107 
 in childhood, 34, 35 
 in childhood, how weakened, 37 
 combinations in, 77, 82 
 of criminals, 66 
 of criminals, difficult to affect, 
 
 63, 64, 65, 66 
 how it deals with various ideas, 
 
 15 
 best decides upon a course of 
 
 action after sleep, 56 
 how derived, 1 
 discipline of, 38, 40, 43, 45, 108, 
 
 196 
 
 in disease, 196 
 distinguishes the senses it uses, 
 
 12 
 
 dvnamic powers of the, 195 
 effects of classical knowledge 
 
 on some minds, 37 
 effect of falsity on, 151 
 effect of impulse on the, 55, 
 
 56 
 estimation of cause and effect, 
 
 by the, 202, 203 
 experiences of the, 29, 30 
 faculties of the, 36 
 faith should be tested by the, 
 
 159, 160, 161 
 fallacy of the, to consider 
 
 abstractions as substantive 
 
 realities, 204 
 
 fear of punishment on the, 65 
 governs moral laws, 128 
 government of the, 30, 196, 
 
 199 
 
 guided by experience, 54 
 guided by moral laws, 54 
 guided by general principles, 
 
 54 
 
 human, 130, 131 
 human, fallacies of, 167-175 
 human, principles of, in health 
 
 and disease, 183-191 
 human, stimulated by sensa- 
 tional faiths, 154, 155 
 human, study of, in relation to 
 
 prayer, 127", 128 
 hypothesis of evolution of, 46 
 ideas of the, 29, 30, 31, 203 
 ideas denied by the, 123 
 ideas of infinity in the, 138 
 its idea of a soul, 53 
 when ideas of faith are to be 
 
 received by the, 164 
 imperfect ideas supplied by 
 
 faith, 157 
 
 how ideas originate, 17 
 few ideas perfect, 157 
 images of the, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 
 
 74, 75, 76, 83 
 imaees of the, when and how 
 
 affected by faith, 157, 158, 
 
 159, 160 
 
 immediate work of God, 110 
 impaired when faith and reason 
 
 do not accord, 142 
 importance of rational faith 
 
 on the ideas of the, 160 
 infants, 49 
 influence of faith on the, 157, 
 
 166 
 influence of prayer on the, 147,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 255 
 
 Mind, how influenced, 64, 56, 57, 
 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 66, 
 67,68 
 of one person influenced by 
 
 another, 55 
 
 influenced by feeling, 8 
 influenced by hearing, 7 
 influenced by pleasure or pain, 
 
 influenced by vision, 6 
 
 information conveyed by means 
 of nerves on the, 9 
 
 love for natural objects on 
 some minds, 37 
 
 of man, 146, 147, 148 
 
 of man debased by idolatry, 
 138 
 
 of man, development of, 46, 47 
 48,49 
 
 of man guided by fixed prin- 
 ciples, 61 
 
 of man, the primary truth of 
 religion, at the present time, 
 on the, 137 
 
 of man, superior to other 
 animals, 46 
 
 mechanism of, 23, 24. 25, 26, 
 27,52 
 
 modes of action of, 20 
 
 moral laws implanted in the, 
 29, 30, 141 
 
 natural operation of, in regard 
 to religion, 138 
 
 noemic properties of, 195 
 
 normal state of, 125 
 
 operation of, 92 
 
 whether organic, 52 
 
 origin of human, 46 
 
 personal identity enduring for 
 ever, 53 
 
 phenomena of the, 52 
 
 physical and moral laws, in- 
 fluence of, on the, 105, 106, 
 107, 108 
 
 plurality of action of the, 23 
 
 pneuma - noemic qualities of 
 the. 195 
 
 powers, different, of, 45 
 
 powers, higher, of the.exercised 
 for the appreciation of the 
 immaterial Creator, 138 
 
 preservation of the, its indivi- 
 duality, 62 
 
 properties of, 99 
 
 leading properties of the, con- 
 tribute to fallacies,175 
 
 pure and natural operation of 
 the, 122 
 
 reason by, 13, 21 
 
 registration of pictures, why 
 important to the, 12 
 
 regulation of the, 62, 67,68, 128 
 
 regulation of the, to withstand 
 the influence of others, 54, 
 67 
 
 relation of the, to God, 125 
 
 relation of the, to religions 
 thought, 136-149 
 
 relation of the, to moral philo- 
 sophy, 150-156 
 
 religious belief on the, 44 
 
 should be slow to give judg- 
 ments, 103 
 
 sound is conveyed to the, how, 
 
 and spirit, 52 
 
 state of, in anxiety, 24 
 
 state of, in apoplexy, 23 
 
 Mind, state of, in childhood, 37 
 
 state of, in coma, 23 
 
 state of, in consciousness, 22, 
 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 
 
 state of, in dreams, 24 
 
 state of, in epilepsy, 23 
 
 state of, in manho'od, 31, 34 
 
 state of, in senility, 34, 37 
 
 state of, in sleep, 23 
 
 strengthened by the union of 
 faith and reason, 142 
 
 study of the, 199 
 
 subdivision of the faculty of 
 the, 194 
 
 training of the, 201 
 
 extensive variations in degree 
 in the powers of, in man and 
 in the lower animals, 205 
 
 of various animals, 12, 13, 14, 
 15 
 
 in youth, 34, 35 
 Misery, 20 
 
 Mnemonic fallacies, 167, 171, 172 
 Mode of proceeding of lawyers, 
 150, 154, 155 
 
 of proceeding of medical men, 
 150, 155, 156 
 
 of influencing the minds of 
 
 others, 54-68 
 Modesty, 20 
 Mole, vision of, 6 
 Monkey, brain of, 216 
 Monogenesis of physical forces, 
 
 lecture on, 48 
 Monomania, 189 
 
 Moral laws, 28, 29, 39, 138,140, 141, 
 146, 147, 148, 149, 150,153, 154, 
 156, 165, 196, 200, Ixiii., 188 
 
 action of, neglected at the pre- 
 sent time, 154, 155 
 
 as a whole can be worked and 
 set out in words and lan- 
 guage, 154 
 
 want of definition of, 143 
 
 in punishment of criminals, 66 
 
 fixity of, 125, 126, 127 
 
 govern action, 128 
 
 governed by the mind, 128 
 
 guides the mind of man, 51 
 
 human operations subject to, 
 126 
 
 intermingled in the early ages 
 with heathen doctrines, 139 
 
 lead to infinite enduring plea- 
 sure, 126 
 
 the action of, much neglected, 
 154, 155 
 
 teachers of science ignorant of, 
 106 
 
 necessity for more exactness in 
 defining the, why, 150, 153 
 
 particular ones, 152, 153 
 
 often substituted by idle be- 
 liefs, 154, 155 
 
 subjugation, moral laws of 
 thoughts to, 38, 44 
 
 philosophy, relation of the 
 
 mind to, 150-156 
 
 Mormyrus cyprinoides, electric 
 organ of, 235 
 
 dorsalis, electric organ of, 235 
 
 longipennis, electric organ of, 
 235 
 
 oxyrhyncus, electric organ of, 
 
 235 
 
 Mortality of man, 83 
 Motion, 19 
 
 phenomena of, 132 
 
 Motive nerves, 203 
 
 power, 160 
 Motor, 17 
 nerves, 211, 212 
 nerve opposed to sensor nerve. 
 
 179 
 nerve excitation to action of, 
 
 179 
 
 nerves in animals, 177, 178 
 Muciferous organs of electrical 
 
 fish, 237, figure of, 237 
 Murder, 65 
 Muscle, 176, 180 
 artificial, 228 ; figure of, 229 
 figure of, in fresh, 229 
 figure of, in death, 229 
 sarcolemma, 226 
 sarcous tissue, chemical change 
 
 in, 227 
 and skin, a voltaic battery, 180, 
 
 181, 182 
 
 Muscles, 52, 177 
 blood-vessels of, 231 
 dorsal, lateral and lateral fin, 
 of electrical fish, figure of, 
 238 
 
 of electric eel, 239 
 of the eyeball, 177 
 how composed, 226, 227, 228 
 Muscular action, 28 
 fibres, 232 
 
 fibrils, 226, 227, 228, 229 
 motion, mechanism in its rela- 
 tion to the mind of, 100 
 substance, nervous fibres to, 
 
 179 
 system, termination of nervous 
 
 fibres in, 226, 227, 228 
 Musical sounds, 7 
 
 Natural development, 46, 47, 48, 
 
 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 
 laws, 37 
 objects, 37, 38 
 operations of the brain, 95 
 operation of the mind in regard 
 
 to religion, 138 
 philosophy, teachings of, 131- 
 
 135 
 
 physical forces, 50 
 process of reason, 199 
 process of thought, 82, 95, 109, 
 
 114, 122 
 process of thought, imitation 
 
 of, by differential and rela- 
 tional machines, 102 
 reasoning, 15 
 selection, 52 
 sciences, 37, 38 
 system of mental philosophy, 
 
 242 
 theory of mental philosophy, 
 
 176 
 
 Naturalists, notation of, 78, 79 
 Nature, 99, 107, 108, 153, 206 
 infinite perfection of, 100 
 laws of, 155 
 
 laws of fixity of, 125, 126, 127 
 of matter, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131 
 works of, 50, 121, 125 
 Necessity for the eradication of 
 
 heathenism, 136, 140 
 and free-will, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 
 for more exactness in defining 
 
 the moral laws, Why, 150, 153 
 for prudent action in religion, 
 
 136, 144-149 
 Negation, 89
 
 256 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Negation, on absence of action or 
 
 symbol, 88 
 laws of, 112 
 Negative attached to positive 
 
 symbol, 88 
 Neighbours, duties of, towards 
 
 each other, 154 
 Nerve, auditory figure of, 227 
 Nerve-fibre, doubly continued in 
 
 auditory nerves, 227 
 Nerve - fibres in the gustatory 
 
 nerves of the frog, 226, 228 
 motor, excitation to action of 
 
 any, 179 
 motor, opposed to sensor 
 
 nerve, 179 
 optic, fish, 158 
 sensor, 28 
 sensor opposed to motor-nerve, 
 
 179 
 
 Nerve-tube, 221, 223 
 Nerves, 8, 214, 215, 223 
 of the brain, 178 
 distribution of, to the electric 
 
 organ of electrical fish, 237, 
 
 238,239 
 
 of electric eel, 239 
 of electrical fish, 235-240 
 of the eye, 2, 5, 6 
 fibres, 226 
 high vascnlarity of tissues 
 
 where they arise and termi- 
 nate, 210, 228-232 
 impressions carried to brain by 
 
 means of, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 
 motor, 211, 212, 214, 215 
 motor, in animals, 177, 178 
 motor and sensor terminations 
 
 of, 228 
 motive, 203 
 olfactory, terminations of, 226, 
 
 figure of, 228 
 plexus of, from spinal marrow, 
 
 figure of, 221 
 of the retina, 8 
 of sensation, 105, 221 
 of the sensation of skin, vol- 
 taic force in, 177 
 sensor, 203, 211, 212, 214 
 sensor and motor division of, 
 
 produces death, 178 
 senior, voltaic current in, 177, 
 
 178 
 termination of the, in the brain 
 
 and spinal chord, 228 
 termination of, in the electrical 
 
 plates of electrical fish, 236, 
 
 figure of, 235 
 
 voltaic, of nerves, 179, 180 
 Nervous elements, 69, 76 
 elements, combinations of, 83 
 fibres, K>, 112, 224 
 fibres, combination of, 180 
 fibres, combinations of nervous 
 
 fibres, designated by certain 
 
 letters or cyphers, 70 
 fibres of retina, figure of, 224 
 fibres, structure of, 176, 179, 
 
 180, 181 
 fibres, termination of, in the 
 
 muscular system, 226, 227, 228 
 fibres, termination of, in the 
 
 organs of sensation in the 
 
 body, 224, 225, 226 
 fibrils, 74, 193, 213, 214, 216 
 fibrils, terminations of the ul- 
 timate, in the grey matter of 
 
 the cerebellum, 223 
 
 Nervous impressions, duration 
 of, 9 
 
 symbols, 71 
 
 system, 20, 105 
 
 system of animals, 242 
 
 system in the lower animals, 
 216 
 
 system in respect to conscious- 
 ness, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 
 
 system, defective state of, Ix. to 
 Ixviii., 189, 190 
 
 system, excitation of, 29 
 
 system, illustration of the 
 probable construction of the 
 207, 208, 209 
 
 system, influences on, 67 
 
 system of man, 50 
 
 system of man and of all 
 animals, a system of com- 
 pound voltaic batteries, 176, 
 178 
 
 system, operation of, 3, 9 
 
 system, one organ, 176, 182 
 
 system, voltaic construction of, 
 203 
 
 system, a voltaic circuit, 210 
 
 system, voltaic mechanism of, 
 210-242 
 
 terminations or fibres, 7, 8, 9, 
 10,11 
 
 tubes, 224 
 Nervo-voltaic circuit single, 211 
 
 circuit, triple, 212 
 
 maps explained, 215 
 Nest of birds, 182 
 
 of hens, 53 
 
 of ploceus pensilis, 18 
 Nests of birds, 17, 18 
 
 of wasps, 17, 18, 
 New Forest, 174 
 
 Sydenham Society, 224 
 
 Testament, truthfulness en- 
 joined in, 151 
 Nitrate of silver, 240 
 Noemic, 194 
 
 age, 36 
 
 faith, 157, 159 
 
 fallacies, 167, 169 
 
 power alone in manhood, 37 
 
 properties of the mind, 195 
 
 reason, 15 
 
 words, diagram of, 170 
 Nose, artificial, 241 - 
 
 blood-vessels of, 231 
 
 epithelia layer in, 226 
 
 epithelial cells from olfactory 
 region of the proteus, 228 
 
 epithelium cells, 228 
 
 experiments on, 178 
 
 fallacies of, 168 
 
 olfactory cells, 228 
 
 ultimate nervous fibres of, 9, 
 10 
 
 and voltaic circuit, 241 
 
 voltaic current in, 178 
 Noses of various animals, 8 
 Notation, 87 
 
 artificial system of, 95 
 
 of naturalists and chemists, 78, 
 79 
 
 of sentences, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 
 Xoun-adjective, 73 
 Noun, definition of a, 70, 71 
 Nouns, geometric arrangement 
 of, 79 
 
 limited, 78, 79 
 
 mutual relation one to another, 
 79 
 
 Nouns, qualified quibbles by, 
 
 114 
 Number, 19 
 
 what constitutes, 133 
 Numbers, 183 
 properties of, 122 
 
 \ 
 
 Objects natural, 37, 38 
 Observation, 187 
 of external objects in youth, 
 36 
 
 Odour sensations, 8 
 Old age, 190 
 
 state of mind in, 34, 37 
 Old Testament, truthfulness en- 
 joined in the, 151 
 laws of, 153 
 
 Olfactory bulb, 217, 219, 220 
 cells, 228 
 
 nerves, terminations of, 226 
 figure of, 228 
 Olivary bodies, 214 
 
 fasciculus, 214 
 Omnipotence of the Creator, 134, 
 
 135 
 
 of God, and the immutability 
 of His laws, our faith in the, 
 108, 140, 162 
 Omnipotent power, 126 
 Omnipresence of the Creator. 
 
 132, 134, 135 
 Omniscience of the Creator, 134, 
 
 135 
 Opinions, how should be given, 
 
 103 
 Opinions, popular, of the present 
 
 day, 146 
 Op.=ai.sthenics, 1 
 Optic fibre layer, 225 
 
 nerve and faith, 158 
 Optical arrangement in eye, 5 
 structure of eye in relation to 
 
 mind, 100 
 Orders, 78 
 Organ electrical, of electrical 
 
 ray, 236-240 
 of matter, 125, 128, 129, 130, 
 
 131 
 
 Organs electrical of Mormyrns 
 anguilloides, of M cypri- 
 noides, of M. dor?nlis, of M. 
 longipennis, and of M. 
 oxyrhyncus, figure of, 235 
 muciferous, of electrical fish, 
 
 237 
 electrical, of electrical fish, 
 
 figure of, 238 
 
 electrical, of electrical eel, 239 
 importance of using every, 38, 
 
 40 
 
 of sensation, 19, 20, 22, 30, 56, 
 69, 73, 74, 148, 157, 158, 178, 
 194,231 
 
 of sensation, brain and muscles, 
 and voltaic battery, 180, 181, 
 182 
 
 of sensation in childhood, 35 
 of sensation, fallacies of, 168, 
 
 169 
 
 of sensation in man, 196 
 of sensation, mechanisms of, 
 
 167 
 of sensation, mechanism of 
 
 voltaic, 176, 177 
 of sensation, nervous fibres to, 
 
 179 
 
 of sensation, practice of the 
 use of, 38, 40
 
 INDEX. 
 
 257 
 
 Organs of sensation in the body, 
 termination of nervous fibres 
 in, 224, 225, 226 
 
 of thought or brain, structure 
 of, adduced to physical laws, 
 180 
 Organic beings, complexity of 
 
 the parts of, 47 
 either solid or only partly 
 
 fluid, 50 
 
 how produced, 47, 48 
 if produced in matter, 46 
 limits in variation in, 46 
 multiplication of, 48 
 relation of, one to another, 47 
 limits in variation of, 51, 52 
 variation in, 49 
 Organic bodies, 19 
 Organic structure of the brain or 
 
 mind, 52 
 
 Organisation, xlix. 189 
 of brain, 30 
 of man, 29, 32 
 Organised beings, voltaic battery 
 
 in, 210-242 
 laws of, 153 
 Origin of matter, 125, 128, 129, 
 
 130, 131 
 Originality, 45 
 Ostentation, 20 
 Ousaisthenics, 7 
 Ova of animals, development of, 
 
 49 
 
 Oxalic acid, 240 
 Oxygen, 200, 229 
 Oxygenated blood, 235 
 
 Pagan religions, 165, 171 
 Paganism, 119 
 Pain, 20 
 
 fallacies of, 167, 174, 185, 200 
 future, man's actions regulated 
 
 by threat of, 61 
 governs human operations, 11 
 ideas of, 203 
 infinite in hell, men's action 
 
 regulated by threat of, 62 
 infinite enduring, 30, 126 
 man's action regulated by, 54, 
 
 61 
 
 necessity for, 32 
 past, 30 
 persons variously affected by, 
 
 3,31 
 
 present, 30 
 Painful sensations, 11 
 Paley, 125 
 Papal rule, 127 
 Papilire, termination of nerves 
 
 in, 226 
 
 Parallelogram, 93 
 Paralysis, 190 
 Parents, duties of, towards their 
 
 children, 154 
 Particles, ultimate, 128 
 Particular moral laws, 150, 152, 
 
 153 
 Passion, 45 
 
 violent expressions of, 174 
 Pastors of religion, 106, 107, 
 
 108 
 
 often make infidels, 141 
 Paul Veronese, his method of de- 
 picting what is seen by two 
 eyes at once, 5 
 Perfect deduction, 87 
 Pernitrate of iron, 240 
 Persalt of iron, 229 
 
 Persecution of men for religion, 
 
 141 
 Personal identity enduring for 
 
 ever, 53 
 knowledge tested by books, 
 
 38,41 
 
 Personality, ideas of, 203 
 Persons act wrongly sometimes 
 
 through fear, 65 
 difference of action in, 195, 196 
 differently affected by pain, 31 
 differently affected by plea- 
 sure, 31 
 
 difficulty of explaining objects 
 to, that have not seen by the 
 person addressed, 71 
 duties of every, to every other, 
 
 154 
 
 educated, governed by the 
 sense of right and wrong, 
 58 
 
 influence of one person upon 
 another, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 
 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 
 self-taught, not liable to in- 
 fluence, 54, 60 
 sometimes do wrong to appear 
 
 to do right, 145 
 differences of religious faith in 
 
 different, 161 
 
 Perspiratory glands of skin, 226 
 Pertartrate of iron, 240 
 Phenomena of electricity, 132 
 of galvanism, 132 
 mental and religion, 142 
 of the mind, 52 
 of motion, 132 
 physical, 128, 129 
 Philosophers, 141 
 
 views of, on evolution, 40 
 Philosophies, ideas contrary to 
 reason and religion to be 
 discarded from our, 147 
 Philosophy, natural, teachings 
 
 of, 131-135 
 relation of the mind to, 150- 
 
 156 
 
 natural theory of mental, 1 
 Photographs, use of, 40 
 Photo-sulphate of iron, 240 
 
 voltaic circuits, 240 
 Physical forces, 48, 128 
 forces, laws of the relation of 
 
 natural, 50 
 
 forces, phenomena of, 48 
 and moral laws, 136, 143, 144 
 laws of God, 141, 143, 144, 156, 
 
 166 
 laws, structure of the brain 
 
 adduced to, 180 
 laws, exact definition of, 143 
 laws, immutable, 127 
 laws of the universe, 139 
 restraint, man's action by, 62 
 science, 131 
 science, sources of, 48 
 teachers of religion, ignorant 
 
 of, 106, 107, 108 
 phenomena, 128, 129 
 world, 129 
 Physicians, mode of proceeding 
 
 of, 155 
 
 Pigment layer, 225 
 Pithings, produces death, 178 
 Plants, development of, from 
 
 spores and seeds, 49 
 Pleasantry, 20 
 Pleasurable sensations, 11 
 
 Pleasure, 20, 200 
 and pain, xix., xx., 185 
 fallacies of, 167, 174, 76 
 future, man's action regulated 
 
 by promise of, 61 
 governs human operations, 11 
 ideas of, 203 
 
 infinite enduring, 30, 126 
 man's action regulated by im- 
 mediate, 61 
 necessity for, 32 
 past, 30 
 present, 30 
 regulates action, 54 
 variously affects persons, 31 
 Plexifonn union of nerve-fibres 
 with interspersed nuclei in 
 auditory nerve, 227 
 Plexus of nerves from spinal 
 
 marrow, figure of, 221 
 Ploceus pensilis, nest of, 18 
 Pneuma-noemic faith, 160 
 fallacies. 167. 171 
 qualities of the mind, 195 
 or religious ideas, 161 
 thoughts, 160 
 words, diagram of, 170 
 Pons, 214 
 Poor, duties of the, to the rich, 
 
 154 
 Popular opinion of the present 
 
 day, 146 
 Position, 19, 183 
 Possibility, 89, 90 
 
 laws of, 112 
 Possible inductions, 85 
 Potash, ferrocyanate of, 240 
 
 red ferrocyanate of, 240 
 Potassio-tartrate of iron, 240 
 Potassium, argento-cyanide of, 
 
 241 
 
 Power, creative, 128 
 of attraction, 128, 129, 130, 
 
 131 
 
 of discriminating colours, 4, 16 
 infinite, 125, 134 
 of man, 134, 135 
 of matter, 130, 131 
 motive, 160 
 omnipotent, 126 
 of prayer, 125, 127, 128 
 Powers of sensation and motion 
 
 how annihilated, 178 
 reasoning of, 87 
 Practical action, 155 
 
 Christianity, 154 
 Praise, 148 
 
 Prayer, effect of, 125, 127, 128 
 efficacy of, 44 
 influence of, on the mind, 147 
 
 148 
 
 power of, 125, 127, 128 
 Predestination, what it leads to, 
 
 128 
 
 Premises, 97, 98, 99 
 Preordination, what it leads to, 
 
 128 
 
 Principles deduced from the 
 moral law, under which, in 
 every possible circumstance, 
 governments and all kinds of 
 persons should act towards 
 each other, 154 
 of the human mind, in health 
 
 and in disease, 183-191 
 religious, 164 
 Probability, 89, 90 
 Probable inductions, 85 
 
 S
 
 258 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Problems best decided after 
 
 sleep, 56 
 Process of thought, 199 
 
 of thought natural, 95 
 Prodigality, 20 
 Pronouns, definition of, 73 
 Pronoun ' I,' value of, 108-113 
 Properties of matter to attract, 
 
 133-135 
 
 of matter, 121-135 
 of numbers, 122 
 of symbols, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91 
 Propositions, definition of, 76 
 examples of a resultant of 
 
 several, 98, 99 
 Protestants, 116 
 
 Proteus, epithelial cells from the 
 olfactory region of the, 228 
 vision of the, 6 
 
 Providence, if direct interference 
 of, in the details of human 
 affairs, 127 
 Prudence, 19 
 Prus?iate of potash, solution of, 
 
 238 
 
 Psalmist on development of the 
 various members of man, 53 
 Psalms, general tenor of, 126 
 
 quotation from, 53 
 Pulpit, mischief often done in 
 the, through injudicious 
 reasoning, 57 
 
 the attributes of the Deity 
 neglected to be taught from 
 the, 137 
 
 Punctuation, quibbles by a varia- 
 tion of, 119 
 Punishments of criminals, 54, 64, 
 
 65,66 
 Punishment, effect of wrongful, 
 
 on a good man, 67 
 Puns, quibbles by, 113, 114 
 Pure principles of religion, deve- 
 lopment of, 145 
 religions, 165, 171 
 religion, desire for, 146 
 Purgatory, 140 
 
 Quacks, 117, 173 
 
 Qualified nouns, quibbles by, 
 114 
 
 verbs in a sentence, 80 
 Quibbles by action, conjoined 
 with the use of words, 118 
 
 by begging the question, 119 
 
 by cause and eifect, 117 
 
 by changing the word for the 
 same thing, 119 
 
 by circular reasoning, 110 
 
 by the constitution of words, 
 115 
 
 by denying the desire to do a 
 particular act during the per- 
 formance of it, 120 
 
 by exalting a probability, 
 118 
 
 by general principles with ex- 
 ceptions, 116 
 
 by giving a right conclusion, 
 but concealing, increasing, 
 or altering the whole or 
 part of the premiss, 120 
 
 by the inference of a fraudu- 
 lent design in the motives of 
 men, 117 
 
 by introducing hypothetical 
 facts amongst direct asser- 
 tions, 120 
 
 Quibbles by the question involv- 
 ing two answers, 115 
 by a question involving a false 
 
 premiss, 119 
 by multitudinous statements, 
 
 121 
 
 by qualified nouns, 114 
 by puns, 113, 114 
 by reasoning upon that which 
 
 may be known, 119 
 by taking advantage of some 
 
 abnormal state of the second 
 
 party, 121 
 by a variation of punctuation, 
 
 119 
 by variations of emphasis, 
 
 118 
 
 by variations in number, 115 
 by the verb, 116 
 by words, 69, 113-121 
 by two words for the same 
 
 thing, 116 
 by using words contrary to 
 
 well-known principles, 117 
 used by controversial writers, 
 
 120 
 
 Quotation from Milton, 6 
 from the Psalms, 53 
 from Shakspeare, 148 
 from Young, 149 
 
 Rabbit, brain of, 220 
 
 Rabbits, experiments on, 176, 177, 
 
 178 
 subcutaneous cellular tissues 
 
 of, 176, 177, 178 
 Range of sight, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
 
 of sound, 7 
 Rashness, 19 
 Rational faith useful to man, 
 
 159, 160 
 
 Rationality, 83, 84 
 Ray, electrical, 235-240 
 Reality, 185 
 Reason of brutes, 15 
 a caricature of, 47 
 conflict of, 140 
 
 doctrines of faith not to be be- 
 lieved unless accepted by 
 reason, 142 
 
 required by faith, 157, 164 
 should test faith, 159, 160, 161 
 should discard false faith, 157, 
 
 165, 166 
 laws of God in accordance 
 
 with religion and, 142 
 laws of God taught from in- 
 duction from particular in- 
 stances by, 150 
 human, perfection of, how 
 
 secured, 205 
 by language, 21 
 of man, 15, 146, 147, 148, 149 
 guides man's actions, 56 
 man not affected by the higher 
 
 power of, 57 
 
 material or idolatrous wor- 
 ship discordant with, 141 
 true, and mediaeval credulity, 
 the coming conflict between, 
 206 
 
 by mind, 21 
 natural process of, 199 
 noemic, 15 
 
 how to affect persons by, 57 
 and religion, 142, 146, 147, 148 
 and religion not discordant, 
 105, 137 
 
 Reason and religion do not oc- 
 cur in idol-worship, 138 
 
 by words, 21 
 Reasoning, artificial, 82 
 
 by cyphers, 109 
 
 by mechanical inventions, 109 
 
 natural, 15 
 
 powers, 14, 87 
 
 quibbles by circular, 119 
 
 by words, 109, 114, 122 
 Red ferrocyanate of potash, 240 
 Reflection, 56, xxviii.-xxxi. 116 
 
 practice of abstraction by, 38 
 Reflex action explained, 222 
 Reformation, the coming, 146, 206 
 
 the combatants of the next, 
 
 206 
 
 Regulation of our own minds to 
 withstand the influence of 
 others, 54-67 
 Relation, laws of, 94, 
 
 of man to the universe, 243 
 
 of mind to God, 125 
 
 of the mind to moral philoso- 
 phy, 150-156 
 
 of symbols, 89 
 
 of verbs to substantives, 74, 75, 
 80 
 
 of certain words to one an other, 
 
 97, 98, 99 
 
 Relational and Differential Ma- 
 chine employed for language, 
 92-105 
 
 machine, analogous to process 
 of thought, 95 
 
 machine, power of, extensive^ 
 95 
 
 employed for calculation, 96 
 
 deduction of probabilities, by 
 use of, 96, 100-105 
 
 mechanism of, 92-105 
 
 geometrical arrangement of 
 words by means of cyphers, 
 92 
 
 various results obtained from 
 it, 92-105 
 
 employed for logarithms, 96 
 
 its use described, 69, &2, 93, 94, 
 95, 96 
 
 showing the action of th< 
 brain by means of the, 197. 
 198 
 
 various forms of construction 
 
 of, 92, 205 
 Relational slate, 94-105 
 
 mechanism of, 97 
 
 how designed, 199 
 Religion, 32, 43, 44, 105 
 
 should declare the works of 
 God and the laws which 
 govern the universe, 138 
 
 aim of some teachers of religion 
 to rule mankind for theii; 
 self -aggrandisement, 139 
 
 as frequently taught in the 
 pulpit not the religion of 
 the mass of the congregation, 
 why? 108 
 
 importance of, in governing 
 the actions of mankind, 136, 
 137 
 
 influences on criminals, 66 
 danger of the period from 
 
 whence, 141 
 
 details of, religious belief often 
 determined by the person's 
 avocation in life, and by their 
 position in society, etc. 140
 
 INDEX. 
 
 259 
 
 Religion, development of the pure 
 principles of, 145 
 
 of dissenters, 140 
 
 doctrines of, how to be taught, 
 141, 142 
 
 doctrines of religion brought 
 into contempt by the vain 
 conduct of idle ceremonies 
 and discussions on frivolous 
 garments instead of on the 
 elucidation of the moral laws 
 of God, 144 
 
 doctrinesof faith not to be be- 
 lieved unless accepted by rea- 
 son, 142 
 
 of Established Church, 140 
 
 examples showing that it is 
 sometimes difficult to define 
 what is right and what is 
 wrong, 143, 144 
 
 and faith, 141, 153, 161, 165, 
 206 
 
 faith, aisthenic, 157, 158 
 
 faith, distrust by, 164 
 
 faith, examples of trust by, 
 157, 162, 163 
 
 faith, exercise of, shown in the 
 idea of the true God, 160 
 
 faith, false, 157, 159,160,165, 206 
 
 faith, influence of, on the mind, 
 157-166 
 
 faith, influence of, on the for- 
 mation and application of 
 general laws, 160 
 
 faith should be tested by the 
 mind, 159, 160, 161 
 
 faith, noemic, 157, 159 
 
 faith, our, in the omnipotence 
 of God and the immutability 
 of His laws, 162 
 
 faith, syndramic, 157, 158 
 
 faith, sure, 157, 161 
 
 faith.without reason dangerous 
 to pure, 159 
 
 faith, pneuina-noemic, 160, 161 
 
 how to confirm a sure faith, 
 146, 147 
 
 faith held in some forms of 
 religion higher than truth, 
 152 
 
 faith, the higher departments 
 of thought, how affected by, 
 159, 160 
 
 faith used in our notions of 
 spiritual ideas, 160, 161 
 
 faith, spurious, 165 
 
 faith, true, 157, 159, 160 
 
 faith, true, test for, 161 
 
 false, based on pneuina-noemic 
 fallacies, 171 
 
 a sure test for false, 152 
 
 teachers of false, insist on faith 
 being superior and indepen- 
 dent of reason, and on truth 
 being subservient to faith, 161 
 
 false, 141, 206 
 
 God, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 
 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149 
 
 God, attributes of, 136-149 
 
 God,laws of, in accordance with 
 reason and, 142 
 
 God, laws of, taught, and their 
 bearing on particular in- 
 stances by, 150 
 
 ideas contrary to reason and 
 religion to be discarded from 
 our philosophies, 147 
 
 idolatry, 147 
 
 Religion, idolatrous or matter- 
 worship, discordant with 
 
 reason, 141 
 worship of idols, 171 
 immortality and faith sure, 161 
 indications of future action in, 
 
 144-149 
 
 of the industrial classes, 140 
 ideas of infinity, 138 
 importance of truth not exist- 
 ing in all forms of, 152 
 cause of infidelity, 140, 141 
 insanity, 140 
 influence of prayer on men's 
 
 minds, 147, 148 
 laws of God, physical, 166 
 laws moral, exact definition of, 
 
 143 
 
 man, 155 
 
 matter-worship, 141 
 men prone to fall away from 
 
 the true belief, for the idea 
 
 of some material object or 
 
 idol, 138 
 men sometimes do wrong to 
 
 appear to do right, 145 
 when it ceases to control men's 
 
 actions, 138 
 and mental phenomena, 136, 
 
 142 
 necessity for prudent action in, 
 
 144-149 
 necessity of, for the eradication 
 
 of heathenism, 140 
 omnipotence of God, 138, 140 
 our notion of, how obtained, 105 
 moral laws, 140, 141 
 the moral law tampered with 
 
 in early ages, 139 
 pagan, 165, 171 
 
 many pagan superstitions con- 
 tinued at the present time in 
 
 our great, 165 
 
 pastors often make infidels, 141 
 persecution of men for, 141 
 physical laws, 140, 141, 143, 144 
 praise, 148 
 prayer, 147, 148 
 the primary truths of, on the 
 
 minds of men at the present 
 
 time, 137 
 pure, 165, 171, 206 
 pure, desire for, 146 
 pure, first element of, 137 
 purgatory, 140 
 and reason, 142, 146, 147, 148, 
 
 161 
 and reason not discordant, 
 
 why ? 108, 137 
 
 relation of the mind to, 136-149 
 the coming reformation, 146 
 and science should be taught 
 
 together in schools, 106, 107, 
 
 108 
 
 of scientific men, 140 
 spurious, 165, 196 
 spurious, of the heathen, 141 
 spurious teachings of, 139 
 superstitions, 165 
 teachers of, their duties to 
 
 meet the requirements of the 
 
 times, 145 
 teachers of, ignorant of the 
 
 physical laws, which govern 
 
 the universe, 106, 107, 108 
 teachers of, neglect to teach 
 
 the primary truths of religion, 
 
 137 
 
 Religion.teachings cf St. Paul, 139 
 teachings of, for the future, 
 
 146, 147, 148 
 
 worship of false gods, 171 
 Religious belief, 44 
 doctrines in conformity with 
 
 reason, 105 
 faith irrational, destructive to 
 
 man, 159, 190 
 faith rational, useful to man, 
 
 159, 160, 162, 163 
 faith, differences of, in different 
 
 persons, 161 
 faith, exercise of, should be 
 
 tested by reason, 159, 160, 
 
 161, 164, 165, 166 
 ideas, 142, 165 
 laws of God, 162, 163, 164 
 laws, moral, 165 
 laws, physical, exact definition 
 
 of, 143 
 
 or pneuma-noemic ideas, 161 
 principles, 164 
 teaching, 105-108 
 thought, 136-149 
 thought and true faith act to- 
 gether, 161 
 thought and mental thought 
 
 one, 136, 134 
 thought, acts from the general 
 
 law to the particular in- 
 stance, 136 
 worship of *God, 171 
 Researches with injection with 
 
 carmine, 131-234 
 of Professor Ferrier, 217-222 
 Resignation produced by prayer, 
 
 128 
 Resolution of a sentence, 69, 77, 
 
 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 
 of a word or sentence as it was 
 
 received in the brain, 69, 77 
 Retina, artery of, 230 
 external granulated layer of ,225 
 internal granulated layer of ,225 
 of the eye, 6 
 fallacies of, 167 
 
 figure of the layers of man, 225 
 figure of nervous fibres of, 224 
 ganglia cell layer, 225 
 layers of rods and cones, 225 
 membrana limitans externa, 
 
 225 
 membrana limitans interna, 
 
 225 
 
 nerves of, 9 
 optic fibre layer of, 225 
 pigment layer of, 225 
 Rhinaisthenics, 8 
 Ribaldry, 20 
 Rich, duties of the, to the poor, 
 
 154 
 Right, 103 
 
 and wrong, 150 
 Royal Society for the Promotion 
 
 of Natural Knowledge, ten- 
 dency of, 106 
 
 St. Paul's Cathedral, 107, 108 
 
 school, 37 
 
 teachings of, 139 
 Sarcolemma, 226 
 Sarcons tissue, 227 
 
 Schisms, 132 
 
 Schools, religion and science 
 should be taught together in, 
 106, 107, 108 
 Schultze, Max, 236
 
 260 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Science of arithmetic, 122 
 of geometry, 122 
 physical, 131 
 and religion should be taught 
 
 together in schools, 106, 107, 
 
 108 
 
 sources of physical, 48 
 teachers of, ignorant of the 
 
 moral laws which govern the 
 
 actions of mankind, 106, 107, 
 
 108 
 
 teachings of, 133-135 
 of trigonometry, 122 
 Sciences, natural, 37, 38 
 Scientific men, doubts of, 127 
 
 religion of, 140 
 Seeds of plants, development of, 
 
 49 
 
 Selection, natural, 52 
 spontaneous or accidental, doc- 
 trine of, 47 
 
 Selfishness, definition of, 152 
 Senility, state of brain in, 34, 37 
 
 state of mind in, 34, 37 
 Sensation, ideas from, 1 
 and motion, powers of, how 
 
 annihilated, 178 
 carriers, 8 
 derived from external force, 
 
 27 
 mechanism of, the organs of 
 
 voltaic, 176, 177 
 nerves of, 105, 221 
 nervous fibres, organs of, 179 
 of nerves in skin, voltaic force 
 
 in, 177 
 organs of, 1, 20, 22, 30, 45, 56, 
 
 69, 73, 74, 148, 157, 158, 178, 
 
 194, 231 
 
 organs of, in the body, termi- 
 nation of nervous fibres in, 
 
 224, 225, 226 
 
 organs of, in childhood, 35 
 organs of, in man, 196 
 practice of, 38, 40 
 unity of, 203 
 Sensational amusements of the 
 
 period, dangers of, 141 
 faith, 154 
 literature of the period, 
 
 dangers of, 141 
 Sensations, 1 
 of the body, 27 
 of ear, 7 
 of eye, 1 
 of feeling, 8 
 of mea. frequently concealed 
 
 froa others, 62 
 of odour, 8 
 organs of, brain and muscles, 
 
 a voltaic battery, 180, 181 
 painful, 61, 67 
 pleasurable, 61, 67 
 pleasurable or painful, 19 
 of taste, 7 
 
 Sense, common, its derivation, 15 
 of duty, 153 
 of feeling, 83, 84, 241 
 Senses, 110, 203, ix., x., 184 
 of animals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 
 
 8,9 
 
 of a child, 34, 35 
 combination of, xi., xii., 184 
 Sensor nerve opposed to motor 
 
 nerve, 179 
 Sensor nerves, 28, 203, 211, 212, 
 
 214 
 and voltaic circuit in, 177, 178 
 
 Sensor and motor nerves, division 
 
 of, produces death, 178 
 Sensorium, 69, 71, 74, 77, 110 
 Sentence, diagram showing by 
 symbols or cyphers the ar- 
 rangement of substantives in 
 a, 78 
 
 diagram showing in symbols or 
 cyphers cause and effect, 82 
 
 diagram showing by symbols or 
 cyphers the resolution of a, 
 83 
 
 expressed by letters, 81 
 
 ideas, communication of, 77, 
 78, 79, 80 
 
 verbs, arrangement of, in a, 
 80 
 
 letters, 78 
 
 mind, combination in the, 77, 
 82 
 
 mind, images of the, 77 
 
 notation of chemists and na- 
 turalists similar to that of 
 sentences, 78, 79 
 
 nouns, geometric arrangement 
 of, in a, 79 
 
 nouns limited, 78, 79 
 
 resolution of, 69, 77-83 
 
 resolution of a word or sen- 
 tence as it was received in 
 the brain, 69, 77 
 
 sensorium, action transmitted 
 to, 77 
 
 substantives, arrangement of 
 in, 77, 78, 79 
 
 substantives, geometric ar- 
 rangement of, 79 
 
 thought, 80 
 
 verbs qualified, 80 
 Sentences, cause and effect, 80, 81, 
 82 
 
 arrangement of substantives 
 in, 77, 78, 79 
 
 arrangement of verbs in, 80 
 
 geometrical arrangement of, 82 
 
 ideas on cause and effect, 81 
 
 ideas communication of, 81, 
 82 
 
 limitation of verbs in, 81 
 
 limited nouns, 78, 79 
 
 natural process of thought, 82 
 
 notation of, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 
 82 
 
 relation of verbs to substan- 
 tives, 74, 75, 80 
 
 Series, geometric, 80, 90, 91, 92, 
 95, 96, 97, 197 
 
 geometric arrangement of 
 cyphers, 93 
 
 geometric, indicating certain 
 combination of letters, 70 
 
 geometric, indicating time 
 past and time future, 75 
 
 geometric, symbols arranged 
 
 as a, 87, 88 
 
 Shakspeare, quotation from, 148 
 Shocks, electric, 235, 236 
 Sight of animals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
 
 of birds, 5, 6 
 
 of the flea, 6 
 
 of man his range, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
 
 of mole, 6 
 
 of the proteus, 6 
 Sign minus, 79 
 
 plus, 79 
 Signs, 69 
 Silence, 19 
 Silver, nitrate of, 240 
 
 Single voltaic circuit, 210, 211 
 Size, what constitutes, 133 
 Skin, cutaneous texture of, 180 
 and mnscle, voltaic battery, 
 
 180, 181, 182 
 blood-vessels of, 231 
 of electric eel, 239 
 figure of the ultimate nervous 
 fibres as distributed to the, 
 226 
 
 perspiratory glands of, 226 
 voltaic force in nerves of sensa- 
 tion of skin, 177 
 Shite, differential, 97, 103-105 
 differential, illustration of the 
 laws of judgment by means 
 of, 104 
 
 relational, 94-105 
 relational, mechanism of, 97 
 relational, how designed, 199 
 Sleep, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 42 
 Sleep-walking, 193 
 Sleeplessness, 25 
 Smelling, 184 
 
 Society, Astronomical, 158 
 Hunterian, 236 
 New Sydenham, 224 
 present tendency of, to group 
 
 together in classes, 106, 107 
 Softness, 19 
 Solidity, 19 
 Somaisthenics, 8, 26 
 Song of praise, 148 
 Sophistry, 109 
 Soul, 46, 53, 185, 195 
 ideas of, 203 
 not to be confounded with the 
 
 body, 203 
 Sound, 19, 129 
 actions of, 133 
 vibrations of, 240 
 and voltaic circuit, 240 
 Sounds, 69 
 
 musical, 7 
 
 Sources of physical science, 48 
 Space not to be confounded with 
 
 matter, 203 
 Species, 78 
 Specific action, xxxvii. xxxix. 
 
 187 
 
 creatures and evolutions, 46 
 creations, doctrine of, 53 
 Speech, various parts of, treated 
 biologically and grammati- 
 cally, 69-77 
 Spider's web, 182 
 Spinal chord, 214, 216, 228, 232 
 blood-vessels of, 232 
 division of, causes death, 178 
 of fish, electrical, 238 
 grey matter of, 232, 233 
 marrow, 221 
 termination of nerves in the 
 
 brain and, 228 
 Spirit, 46 
 infinity of, 203 
 the material cannot affect, 
 
 135 
 
 and mind, 52 
 Spirits, 52 
 Spiritual ideas faith used in our 
 
 notion of, 160, 161 
 Spontaneous appearance of 
 
 plants, not proved, 51 
 thought, 141 
 Spores of plants, development of, 
 
 49 
 Spurious faith, 165
 
 INDEX. 
 
 261 
 
 Spurious religions, 165, 196 
 
 religions, of the heathen, 141 
 Statements, value of repetition of, 
 to influence persons, 54, 56, 
 59 
 Stewart, Dr., of St. Thomas' 
 
 Hospital, 223, 225 
 Stone, worship of, 171 
 Strata, geological, 49 
 Strieker's diagram, 221 
 human and comparative histo- 
 logy, 224, 226 
 Structure of the nervous fibres, 
 
 176, 179, 180, 181 
 of the organs of thought, or 
 brain, adduced to physical 
 laws, 180 
 
 of brain microscopical, 224 
 Study, what conduces to, 43 
 Sub-laws, 155 
 Substantive verbs, 75, 77 
 Substantives, 69, 70, 95, 96 
 definition of, 70, 71 
 geometric arrangement of, 79 
 limited, 78, 79 
 Sulphate of copper, 179 
 
 of zinc, 179 
 Superstitions, 165 
 
 mediseval, 108 
 Sure faith, 157, 161 
 Sydenham Society, 224 
 Symbol, absent in negation, 88 
 
 positive with a negation, 88 
 Symbolic language, 70. 72, 74, 
 
 75 
 Symbols, 69, 72. 74, 84, 87, 88-90, 
 
 101, 111, 112 
 combination of, 89 
 denoting action, or combina- 
 tion of actions, 88 
 denoting ideas, 88 
 impressed on the brain, 99 
 geometric series of, 80, 90 
 of the charge, 111 
 equal, 88, 89 
 of the evidence, 111 
 explanation of, 87, 88. 89, 90, 
 
 91 
 arranged in geometric series, 
 
 88 
 
 higher, 88, 89, 96, 97 
 laws of the relations of, 88 
 lower, 88, 89 
 lower geometrical, 97 
 relation of, 89 
 Sympathy, 62 
 Syndramic, 9 
 battery, structure of, 181 
 faith, 157, 158 
 fallacies, 167, 168 
 ideas, 169 
 
 ideas of simple objects the 
 words representing them to 
 be printed with a capital 
 initial letter, 170 
 ideas, words expressing ideas 
 abstracted from, to be printed 
 in small capitals, 170 
 images, 200 
 knowledge, 36 
 words, diagram of, 170 
 System, artificial, for repre- 
 senting various images im- 
 pressed on the brain, 69-77 
 logical, 113-121 
 
 muscular, termination of ner- 
 vous fibres in, 226, 227, 228 
 nervous, 105 
 
 System, nervous, illustration of 
 
 the probable construction of 
 
 the, 207, 208, 209 
 nervous, influences on, 67 
 nervous, of animals, 242 
 nervous, operation of, 3 
 nervous, voltaic mechanism of. 
 
 210-242 
 nervous, voltaic construction 
 
 of, 203 
 
 nervous, one organ, 182 
 of notation, artificial system of, 
 
 95 
 
 Theory of chance, 47 
 
 of Darwin, &c., 47, 48, 49, 50, 
 51, 52, 53 
 
 of the evolution of brain and 
 mind of man from matter, 
 53 
 
 of instinct in animals, 176, 182 
 
 of mental action, 176-200 
 Thermo-voltaic circuits, 241 
 Thieves, 63, 64, 65 
 Thought, 45, 71, 74, 80, 122, 185 
 
 amenable to fixed principles, 92 
 
 by words, 89 
 
 faith without reason dangerous 
 to pure, 159 
 
 higher departments of, how 
 affected by faith, 159, 160 
 
 how performed, 15 
 
 laws of, 87 
 
 laws of, amenable to fixed prin- 
 ciples, 92 
 
 laws of, by deduction, 86-87 
 
 laws of, by indurtion, 83, 86 
 
 laws of, by words, 87, 88, 89, 90, 
 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 
 
 mental, 136 
 
 natural process of, 82, 114, 109, 
 122 
 
 natural powers of, 99, 114 
 
 partial, 20 
 
 practice of abstraction by, 38, 
 43 
 
 process of, 82, 199 
 
 powers of, 195 
 
 relation of the mind to reli- 
 gious, 136-149 
 
 religions, 136 
 
 religious and true faith act 
 together, 161 
 
 spontaneous, 141 
 
 structure of organs of, or brain 
 adduced to physical laws, 180 
 Thoughts, all mental, exercise 
 faith, 157 
 
 frequently concealed from 
 others, 62 
 
 government of, 160 
 
 of man on the Almighty, 137 
 
 of men, great changes are tak- 
 ing place in the, 146 
 
 pneumo-noemic, 160 
 
 subjugated to moral laws, 38. 
 
 44 
 
 Thoughtfnlness, 32 
 Time, 19, 132, 133, xiv.-xvi., 184 
 
 fallacies of, 167, 173 
 
 future, definition of, 75 
 
 ideas of, 203 
 
 infinite, 20 
 
 not to be confounded with eter- 
 nity, 203 
 
 our notions of, 74 
 
 past definition of, 75 
 
 present definition of, 74 
 
 Timidity, 32 
 Tissue, sarcons, 227 
 Tongue, blood-vessels of, 231 
 
 fallacies of, 168 
 Torpedo, figure of, 237 
 transverse section of, figure of, 
 
 237 
 Tortoise, affected by a yellow 
 
 colour, 6 
 Totality, 184 
 Traditions, human, 108 
 Treatise, Bridgwater, 126 
 Trials, 110-113 
 civil cases, 110-113 
 defendant, 110-113 
 examples, 110-113 
 imperfection of, 110-113 
 jury, use of, 110-113 
 testimony contradictory, 110- 
 
 113 
 
 theoretical perfection of ,110-113 
 verdict generally only one of 
 
 probability, 110-113 
 words, use of, 110-113 
 Trigonometry, science of, 122 
 Triple nervo-voltaic circuit, 212 
 True faith, conditions of, 157, 
 
 159, 160 
 
 law for, 157, 161 
 Trust by faith, examples of, 157, 
 
 162 
 
 Truth, 20, 107, 142, 165, 166 
 absolute, 150, 151 
 definition of, 151 
 importance of, 152 
 not held in such estimation in 
 some forms of religion as 
 faith, 152 
 Truthfulness, 151 
 
 Ultimate particles, 128 
 Unconsciousness, 22, 23, 24, 25, 
 Unit, 183 
 
 Unity of sensation, 203 
 Universe, 132-135 
 creation of, 125, 130, 131 
 designed and created by an 
 
 omnipotent power, 126 
 effect of prayer to control the 
 
 laws of the, 128 
 
 formation of, on fixed laws, 128 
 laws of the, 138, 139, 146, 162, 165 
 material, 128 
 perfection of the design of the, 
 
 126 
 
 relation of man to the, 243 
 whether God immediately in- 
 terferes in the course of the, 
 126 
 
 Vacillation, 195 
 
 Value of the pronoun ' I,' 108-113 
 of the pronoun ' I ' on evidence 
 and testimony, 69, 108-113 
 
 Varieties, tendency of, to resume 
 their original type, 46 
 
 Vascularity of tissues, where 
 nerves arise and terminate, 
 210, 228-232 
 
 Veins of electric eel, 239 
 
 Venous, blood, 235, 236 
 
 Ventriloauist, 169 
 
 Verb, quibbles by, 116 
 limitation of, 81 
 
 Verbs, arrangement of, in a sen- 
 tence, 80 
 
 arrangement of, to substan- 
 tives, 74, 75, 80
 
 262 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Verbs, definition of, 73, 74,75,76,77 
 Verdicts, sometimes given wrong- 
 ly, reason for, 111, 112 
 Vertebrae of electric eel, 239 
 
 of electrical fish, 238 
 Vertebrate animals, basis of, 216 
 Vibrations of sound, 240 
 Vice, 20, 156, xlii. 188 
 compensation for, 154 
 of the day, 154 
 ideas of, 203 
 Virtue, 20, 152, 156, 
 ideas of, 203 
 and vice, xlii, 188 
 Vision, 184 
 centre of, 230 
 extreme range of, 2 
 fallacies of, 168, 169 
 how it affects the mind, 6 
 faith, 158 
 
 of animals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
 of the eye, 230 
 of insects, 6 
 of man, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
 of mole, 6 
 of the proteus, 6 
 voltaic character of acts of, 6 
 Visions, 196 
 
 Visual power limitation of, 2 
 Volition of, xliv, 188, 177 
 of the Creator, 133, 134 
 powers of, 176 
 
 or will, the resultant of im- 
 mediate impression in the 
 body, 180 
 Voltaic batteries, 25, 179 180, 181, 
 
 182,200,235 
 
 Voltaic battery, experiments 
 with, on animals and fish, 
 177, 178, 179 
 double, with mode of detecting 
 
 the voltaic current, 24 
 how composed in organised 
 
 beings, 210-242 
 of brain, muscles,and organs of 
 
 sensation, 180, 181, 182 
 Voltaic character of acts of vision, 
 
 6 
 circuit compound, 210, 211, 212, 
 
 213 
 construction of the nervous 
 
 system, 203 
 circuits, electric, 241 
 circuits, how formed, 240 
 circuit and sounds, 240 
 circuits, various artificial, 210, 
 
 229-242 
 
 current in the eye, 177 
 current between the muscle of 
 the eye, and the choroid, 177 
 current of nerves, 179, 180 
 current in nose, 178, 241 
 current mode of detecting in 
 double voltaic battery, 242 
 
 Voltaic current in sensor nerves, 
 177, 178 
 
 electricity, 229 
 
 electricity, influence of, upon 
 blood corpuscles, 179 
 
 force produced by electrical 
 eel, and ray, 235-240 
 
 force in nerves of sensation of 
 skin, 177 
 
 laws, 178 
 
 mechanism of the nervous 
 system, 210-242 
 
 mechanism of organs of sensa- 
 tion are, 176 177 
 Volume, 19 
 Voluntary action, 28, 29 
 
 Want of definition of moral laws, 
 
 136, 143 
 
 Wasp's comb, 182 
 instinct of, 17 
 nest, 17, 18 
 Web of spider, 182 
 Weeks, 51 
 
 West Biding Lunatic Asylum, 217 
 White matter of brain, 221, 222, 
 
 223, 224 
 
 Will of human action, 28 
 laws of, 28, 29 
 
 not altogether voluntary, 28, 29 
 Will or volition, the resultant of 
 immediate impression in the 
 body, 108 
 Witchcraft, 165 
 Witnesses, 110, 111, 112, 113 
 Women, mental capacity of men 
 
 and of, 193 
 
 Words, 111, 112, 113, 183 
 adjectives, 72, 77 
 adverb, 76, 77 
 argumenting, 109 
 articles, 73 
 conjunctions, 70 
 different, should be given to 
 different qualities of ideas, 
 167, 169 
 
 expressing ideas connected with 
 the Infinite to be printed in 
 large capitals, 170 
 geometrical arrangement of, 92 
 how expressed on the rela- 
 tional slate, 97 
 imperfect artificial mechanism 
 
 of, 121 
 
 induction by, 83 
 pneuma-noemic,diagramof,170 
 quibbling by, 113-121 
 quibbles by actions conjoined 
 
 with the use of, 118 
 quibbles by two words for ths 
 
 same thing, 116 
 laws of thought by, 69, 87, 88, 
 
 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 
 and language, 69, 197 
 
 Words and language employed 
 for deceiving human beings, 
 121 
 
 and language, fallacies arising 
 in, 169 
 
 and language, the moral law, 
 as a whole, can be worked 
 out and set out in, 154 
 
 and language, use of, 122 
 
 and language, words imper- 
 fect artificial mechanism of, 
 122 
 
 noemic, diagram of, 170 
 
 limited nouns in a sentence, 78, 
 79 
 
 pronouns, 73 
 
 prepositions, 76 
 
 reasoning by, 21, 109, 114, 122 
 
 relations of, 114 
 
 relation of, to one another, 97, 
 98,99 
 
 representing syndramic ideas 
 of simple objects to be 
 
 Erinted with a capital initial 
 itter, 170 
 
 resolution of a word or sen- 
 tence as it was received in 
 the brain, 69, 77 
 substantives, 70 
 syndramic, diagram of, 170 
 thinking by, 89 
 time, how defined by, 74, 75 
 use of, 69 
 
 verbs, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77 
 Works of God, how perceived by 
 
 a thoughtful man, 138 
 of nature, 125 
 
 World, the substantial reality 
 of, sometimes doubted by 
 man, 204 
 
 government of the, 130 
 physical, 129 
 Worms, the .burrowing, whether 
 
 specifically created, 49 
 Worship of animals, 171 
 of false gods, 171 
 of God, 171 
 of idols, 138 
 of matter, 38, 141 
 of man, 107 
 of men, 171 
 of stone, 171 
 Wrong, 150 
 
 sometimes done to appear to 
 have done right, 145 
 
 Young's discoveries, 4 
 Young, quotation from, 149 
 Youth, education of, 38 
 powers of observation in, 36 
 
 Zinc, sulphate of, 179 
 
 London : Printed by JOHN STBANGEWAYS, Castle Street, Leicester Square.
 
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