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VOL. 2.
SILV ER TO N , OREGON. TH U R SD A Y , A P R IL 21, 1898.
R eason.
|g lass of wine turns a wise man into
a fool, is it not clear th at the result
Rise. Reason, shine on all o u r race.
is the consequence of a change in
Shed confidence aro u n d ;
For where thou g u id ’s t our w andering th e m aterial conditions?
The
steps
thoughts and will are changed
Is sure, is solid ground.
A nother glass and even conscious
Rise, sun th at lights the m ental world,
ness is laid at re s t—no longer
And drive night visions h en ce;
l>ispel the clouds of e rr o r ’s gloom
ex ists;—and hence, such existence
With beams of com m on sense.
is clearly but a tem porary and de
Shine: from the shores of C olum bia
pendent condition; —as much so as
sh in e ;
Extend from sea to sea,
light or heat, fragrance, beauty, or
Till all th e n a tio n s of th e earth
any electric or m agnetic phenom e
Illuminated be.
The day w ill come, th e h a p p y day
na.
. , The sam e reasoning ■’ which
Is spreading o ’er th e sky,
When tru th shall ch ase vain dream s induces the (»inclusion Unit th e
away,
. brein is an instrum ent of the m ind,
And m idnight p h an to m s fly.
m ust force a consistent m an t o
— [Selected.
conclude th a t the steam engine is
not the m achine producing, but (lie
W h a t Is th e B rain ?
in stru m e n t of th at which is pro-
duced by its action; or th a t of the
BY HENRY GEORGE A T K IN SO N , F . G. S. I
g a lv a n ic a p p a r a tu s is th e
N< >. 22.
G eneral A spects of th e S p ecial- survives am ong educated people.
We all know th a t the savage
th in k s of each strik in g phenom e
BY H E R B E R T SPE N C E R .
non, or group of phenom ena, as
caused by some special personal
Early ideas are not usually true
agent; th at out of this fetishistic
ideas. Undeveloped intellect, he it
conception there grows up a poly
th at of the individual o r th a t of the
theistic conception, in which these
race, forms conclusions which re
m inor personalities are variously
quire to he revised and revised, he-
/
.
,
, ,
I g en eraliz'd into deities presiding
lore they reach a tolerable corre-
.
;
/
. ,
¡over different divisions of n atu re ;
resp o n d en cc w ith re a litie s. W ere a ,
,,
,
. . . . . . .
. , .
..
a n d th at these are ev en tu ally fu r
ti otherwise there would be no dis- »•
J
.
, .
th e r g en e ra liz ed .
I b is p ro g re ssiv e
rovpry,
<>f " ' f 11"»"«® -1 consolidation of causal agencies
" hl,t r e c a l l tl.e progress of knnwl- ,nay
trw e i, ¡n (,>e
of
P,,K® '* the l.n n g in g of thoughts rHct,a;
¡s fa,. fr()h)
jn
'» to harm ony wilh tilings; and it |h e tre(.d8 of J>e |))((e( a d „ ance(,
" » l’hes th a t the first thoughts are raeeg T he unlettered rustics who
->'her wholly o u t o f harm ony with (i„ our fie|dg d() f|((t ,et t|)p
things, or ,n very incom plete h a r-j sciougllegtl ()f a 8 |(prem e power
C reation H y p o th esis.
in stru - n io n y w ith th e m .
wholly absorb the aboriginal eon
Mind is the consequence or prod- m ent of a galvanic will or
If illu stratio n s he needed, the ¡ceptions of good and evil soirits
UCtof the m aterial m an, its existence power.
Men turn nature topsy- history of every science furnishes > and charm s or secret potencies
depending on the action of the brain. tu rv y ,—ta k e effects for causes, to them.
The prim itive notions of I dw elling in p a rtic u la r objects The
The proof th at m ind holds the same su it their fancies;— in defiance o f m ankind as to the structure of the earliest mode of thinking changes
relation to the body, th a t all _ other
„ „ reason, and of all d e a r and true heavens, were wrong; and th e no- only as fasl as the co n stan t rela-
phenomena do to m aterial condi- analogy. Shall we suppose th at tions which replaced th e m were tions am ong phenom ena are estab-
tions (light, for in stan ce,o r in stin ct the music plays itself, and “ uses successively less wrong. T he orig- lished. Scarcely less fam iliar is the
in an im als), and th at it is not some th e instrum ent to show forth i ts 'in a l belief respecting the form of tru th th a t while accum ulating
sort of b rillian t existence lodged in pow ers’ ?— not the powers of the the earth was wrong; and this knowledge makes these conceptions
the body to be clogged and tram - in stru m en t,
hut
its
own wrong belief survived through the • of personal causal agents gradually
melled by e a rth ly conditions, is to powers?
Shall
we
su p ‘ p o se, hi>t civilizations.
T he earliest
re vague, as ,, it u merges
itjg m them
Lilt'll] into
IIJIU
be found by all who will exert t h e i r a -----
■’ ><leas that ‘ 1 have
.....- ------
---- - to -----
—------ causes, it also destroys the
sp :_'
irit x not " in *’
the growth of ’ the
come down
us general
senses and understanding, released body, hut got there we ktiow not I concerning the natures o f the ele-1 habit of thin k in g of them as work-
_
-11 m anifest
_ • P
r . •
.....— 4...
______
1
I
• I .
from nursery processions.
It may 1_
how,—all
im perfections
n.ents were wrong; and only in ¡,lg a fter the m ethods of personal
be found in the whole circum stan being only im perfections of the quite recent times has the compoei- agents. We do not now, like Rep-
ccs of m an’s existence, his origin and in stru m en t?
th a t all spirit or tion of m atter in its various forms ler, assume guiding spirits to keep
growth: the faculties following the m ind is, in reality, pure and been better understood. T he inter- the planets in th eir orbits. It is no
developement of the body in m an, equal? and. by the sam e reasoning pretations of m echar ical facts, of longer the universal belief that the
and in other an im als; the direction (or conclusion w ithout reasoning), meteorological facts, of physiologic- | sea was once for all m echanically
of the faculties being influened hv are we to imagine the “ great spirit a 1 facts, were a t first wrong. In all parted from the d ry land;
or
surrounding circum stances; the de- of the universe” all perfection? and these cases men set out with beliefs th a t the m ountains were placed
sires, the will, the hopes, the fears, th a t all evil, pain, Might, death, which, if not absolutely false, con- where we see them by a sudden
the h ab its,an d th e o p in io n s being &c., are the defects of the instru- tained hut sm all am ounts of tru th creative act. All but a narrow class
effects traceable to causes— to nat- m ent, N ature.
It does not appear disguised by immense am ounts of have ceased to suppose sunshine
ural causes—and becoming the facts to me th a t such assum ptions would
error. and storm to be sent in some arbi-
of History and S tatistics.
We ob- support those notions about free
Hence the hypothesis th a t living tra ry succession. The m ajority of
serve the influence of clim ate,—of will, and some other m atters, beings resulted from special crea- educated people have given up
sunshine and dam p,— of wine and notions absurd in our eyes, w h ich 'tio n s, being a prim itive hypothesis, th in k in g of epidem ics as punish-
opium, and poisons, of health and
v are adduced to uphold. \\ ben ) probably an u n tru e hypothesis.
____ stances
_
and neglect .. fact ’ If
T the
f interpretations
. .
...
.
u i.ta.e
the
circum
of r men , desert nature,
..
of , nature
giv-
j.ij.
j
,
.
....
a n d reaso n
for th e
im a g in a tio n ,
lu*oty an a m adness;— the differen-
between in d ividuals and their
likeness to the lower anim als, , and „
ths di flerent condition of the sam e
'b ¡dual at different times.
But
it is unnecessary to insist more to
you on the evidence which is now
generally adm itted, of the relation
,M4ween the body and the m ind,
is not so generally adm itted, how-
■1, that m ind is the consequence
aud phenom enon only of the brain.
t pev are gure to entanude them
selves in th eir own web.
jf we have extinguished Hell
we have not lived in vain. True,
we get no credit for it;but th at does
n ° t m atter. True,we are denounced
* * d , ^ ', ', !
" If dii-’cler "v
did not hate us, we should be of no
use in the world.
And m any of
thcii poor dupes are no doubt very
unhappy ri° " tf;at hell tortures
s not a th in g having a seat or
-up in the b rain ; b u t it is the
u^iiifestation or expression of the
brain in action; as heat and light
are of fire, and fragrance of the flow-
have already found a substitute for
th e o]d torture with which they
afflict their souls. Probably, now
th a t hell no longer tortures them,
ii” ' t / ? rl Ure t i n s e l ves about us
.
.
.
.
*
«n by aboriginal men were wrong
in other directions, they were most
likely erroneous in this direction,
It would be s tr a n g e if, while these
aboriginal men failed to reach the
truth in so m any cases where it is
com paratively conspicuous, they
yet reache<1 tl,e t r u |h in a caPe
where it is com paratively hidden.
Besides the im probability given
p, th e belief in special creation, by
jtK aHSO(.ja t jon ,vjth m istaken earlv
,
,
* ' »
gard a m adm an as one possessed by
a demon. T h a t is to say, we every
where see iading aw ay the an t bro
I P°m orphic conception of the Un-
known Cause. In one case after
an o th er is abandoned th a t inter-
p retatio n which ascribes phenom e-
na to a wiJ1 a n a ia goU8 to the hum an
will, w orking by m ethods analagous
to h u m an methods.
then, of this once num erous
,an i’*y of
the im m ense m a-
beliefs in general; a further ihiproM
have become ex tin ct, we m ay
ability is given to it by its associa- not unr,;as<’nably expect th a t the
tion with a special class of m istak-
rernai r‘>ng m em bers of the fam
en beliefs. It belongs to a family ily wiH become ex tin ct. Oi
One of
of beliefs which have one after an- these is the belief we are here
con-
I he brain, as even some ph re- distressed to think th at there is no other
destroyed by advancing b,uf'r i" g — the belief th a t each spe
1 ’ ’’gists have asserted, “ the in- Hell for even such people as we a r e ., knowledge; and is, indeed, alm ost c*es ° ^ (,rganisni was specially ere
' rumen t of the m in d ”.
\\ hen a —[E x.
•
the only meml>erof the fam ily th at
( c o n t in u e d on s ix t h p a g e .;