OF
E E A S O N .
“ TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.” - Z M C r c t t u « .
VOL. 4.
SILVERTON. OREGON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, JL MJMO (1800.)
T ransm utations.
speaker, em phatically, “ I aim >st
know there is a God and a future
existence.” Thus Prof. Swing, while
declaim ing ag ain st Agnosticism ,
v irtu ally adm itted th a t he was one.
f o r to “ alm ost know ” is not to
know. The tru th is, as Frederick
A. H inckey says in a late address
of his: “ W hat we want at this
hour, and we w ant it not less in the
p u lp it th an in th e counting room,
the office and the hall of legislation,
is a square, u p rig h t and dow nright
m anhood and w om anhood, which
will say precisely what it thinks,
regardless of consequences, in la n ­
guage which will convey one and
the sam e m eaning to all m en.”
NO. 36.
of m utual attractio n and repulsion
which holds them together and
IM E flies and brings its tr a n s m u ta ­
gives form and shape to the body;
tio n s. We
A dvance from age to age, an d cen ­
The Im portant M atter.
im agine the m olecular forces of co
tu ries
hesion and affinity removed, w hat,
R ecurring bring us face to face w ith
BY TH. RIBOT, REV. HENRY FRANK,
hopes,
*
then,
would
be
th
e
consequence?
W ith d u tie s, an d w ith rig h ts unknow n
T. B. WAKEMAN.
The m atter m ust in stan tly break
to m en
W ho lived th e ir day before us, an d who
up into a shapeless nothing. We
fought
P sychology of A ttention.
know in the physical world of no
T h eir tig h t of faith . It is for us to tread
T he p a th th a t they have opened, to e m ­
instance of any p article of m atter
brace
BY TH. RIBOT.
which is not endowed with forces,
T h eir goal, becom e im pressed w ith all
th e sp irit
by m eans of which it plays it a p ­
T h at urged th em on to h ate the bad and
H E R E are two well-defined
pointed p art in some form or a n ­
cleave
U n to th e good. As m odern circ u m sta n ce
forms of a tten tio n : The
other, sometimes in connection with
Im pels, let L iberals walk w orthy, too,
one spontaneous, n a tu ra l;
sim ilar or with dissim ilar particles.
Of th e ir g ran d cause, th e cause of all
m a n k in d .
Nor are we in im agination capable the o th er v o lu n tary , artificial.
—[C ourtland P alm er.
of forming a conception of m atter 1 he form er— neglected by m ost
w ithout force. In w hatever way we psychologists—is the true, p rim ­
H onesty.
And we w ant people so honest m ay think of an original substance, itive and fundam ental form of
th a t when they d o n ’t know a thing there m ust alw ays exist in it a sy s­ attention. 1 he second— the only
FREETHOUGHT MAGAZINE OF ’83.
they will bravely say, “ I d o n ’t tem of m utual repulsion and at investigated by most psychologists
traction between its m in u test p arts, — is but an im itatio n , a result of
H A T the world needs just know ;” and th a t is Agnosticism .
w ithout which they would dissolve education, of tra in in g an d of im ­
now more than a n y th in g
pulsion. P recarious and v a c illa t­
and
tracelessly
disappear
in
uni
else is a revival of hon­
No Creation.
versai space. “ A thiug w ithout ing in n atu re, it derives its whole
esty, or more properly speaking, an
properties is a non-entity, neither being from spontaneous atten tio n ,
advancem ent in th a t direction, es­
BY PROF. LUDWIG BUCHNER, M. D.
ratio n ally cogitable nor em p iri­ and finds only in the latter a point
pecially in the religious world. It
cally existing in n a tu re ” (D ross of support. It is merely an a p p a ­
is very difficult for the C hristian t “ T he universe, c o n ta in in g all th a t e x ­
ra tu s formed by cultivation, and a
clergy to be strictly honest in their ists, has been created n e ith e r by a God bach). Force w ithout m atter is product of civilization.
equally au idle notion. I t being a
public utterances. Some tim e since nor by a m an , b u t has alw ays ex iste d
A ttention is a state th a t is fixed.
a.id will ever rem ain a vivifying fire, be­ law ad m ittin g of no exception th a t
I was riding in the cars in com pany
ing kindled and e x tin g u ish e d acco rd ­ force can only be m anifested in If it is prolouged beyond a reason­
with Col. Ingersoll, and I in tro ­ ing to d efinite law s.” —[H e rac litu s of
m atter, it follows th a t force can as able tim e, p articu larly under u n ­
duced a M ethodist m inister to him E p h esu s.
little possess a sep arate existence favorable conditions, everybody
About the first thing the preacher
knows from individual experience
ORCE is not an im pelling as m atter w ithout torce.
said to the Colonel was, “ Mr. Inger
th a t there results a constan tly in ­
God, not an essence separ­
N othing but the changes w hich
soil, do you believe in a future life?
ate from the m aterial su b ­ we perceive iu m atter by m eans of creasing cloudiness of the m ind,
I'h a v e heard some say you do, and
stratu m of things. A force not our senses could ever give us any finally a kind of intellectual vacu­
some say you do not.”
united to m atter, but floating freely notion as to the existence o* power ity, frequently accom panied by ver­
Col. Ingersoll replied in his pleas­
above it, is an idle conception. which we qualify by the nam e of tigo. T hese light, tra n sie n t p er­
a n t style, “ I d o n ’t know w hether
N itrogen, carbon, hydrogen, oxy­ force. Any knowledge of them by tu rb atio n s denote the radical a n ­
there is a future life or not. Do
tagonism of atten tio n and the n o r­
gen, sulphur and phosphorus pos­ other means is impossible.
y o u ?” The m in ister hesitated a
mal psychical life. The progress
sess their in h ere n t qualities from
W hat are the philosophical con- tow ard unity of consciousness,
m om ent and then said, “ I think
e te rn ity .”— M oleschott.
sequences of this siaiple aud n atu ra l which is the very basis of a tte n ­
there is a future life.” Ingersoll
...........................
“
M
atter
is
not tru th ?
then said, “ I do not ask you what
tion, m anifests itself still better in
like a carriage, to which the
you th in k , but w hat you know
T h at those who talk of a creative clearly morbid cases, which we
forces, like horses, can be put
about it.” The clergym an again
power, which is said to have pro­ shall study later under th eir chronic
or again removed from. A particle
h esitated, and Col. Ingersoll went
duced the world out of itself, or out orrn, nam ely, the “ fixed idea,” an d
of iron is, and rem ains, the same,
on to say: “ I will not em b arrass
of nothing, are ig n o ran t of the first n th eir acute form, which is ec-
whether it crosses the horizon in
you, my friend. I see the differ
and most sim ple principle, founded stacy.
the meteoric stone, rushes along in
ence between you aud me is th is: I
, upon experience and the contem -
The norm al condition is p lu ra l­
the wheel of the steam engine,
or
.
e
.
..
,,
platiou of n ature. How could a ity of states of consciousness,
do not know w hether there is a
circulates in the blood through the .
j
.
. r
6
. pewer have existed not m anifested or— according
fu tu re life o r not, and I alw ays say
to
the expres­
tem ples of the poet. These quail- •
n . . , , .
,
H
\
H
in m aterial substance, but
govern- sion em ployed by certain au th o rs
so. I see th a t you do not know,
ties are eternal, inalienable and un­
ing it a rb itra rily according to in d i­ — polyideism . A ttention is th e
and you do not ap p ear to be honest
transferable.”— Dubois-Reym ond.
vidual views? N either could sep­ m om entary inhibition, to the e x ­
enough to say so. W hen the clergy
‘No
force
can
arise
from
nothing.”
arately existing forces he tra n s­ clusive benefit of a single state, of
become perfectly houest, they and
— Liebig.
ferred io chaotic m a tte r and pro­ this perpetual progression ; it is a
I will not differ very m uch.”
“ Nothing — in the world justifies duce the world in this m anner, r for ■ —
W hen I was last in Chicago I
monoideisno.
But » »W
it aw
is M
necessary
— — - —
VWOCMiy
went to hear Rev. Dr. Swing preach. us in assum ing the existence p erse we have seen th a t a separate exist- d e a r l y to determ ine in w hat sense
In referring to Aguosticism he said of forces, independent of the bodies ence of either is an im possibility. we use this term . Is atten tio n a
in substance: “ There is a new p arty from which they proceed, and upon The world could not have origin- red u ctio n to a sole and single state
a ted out of nothing. A nothing is of consciousness? No; for inw ard
or sect, know n as Agnostics— p e o which they act.”—Cotta.
No force w ithout m atter— no not m erely a logical, but also an observation teaches us th a t it is
pie who affirm they do not know
w hether there is a God or a future m atter w ithout force! N either can em pirical, non-entity. T he world, only a relative rnonoideism; th a t
life or not; b ut th a t class of per­ be thought of per se; separated, or m atter with its properties, which is, it supposes the existence of a
sons will never be very num erous, they become em pty abstractions, we term forces, m ust have existed m aster-idea, draw ing to itself all
for but few people will ever give up Im agine m atter w ithout force, and from etern ity , and m ust last for- th a t relates to it, and nothing else,
the belief in God and a future ex ­ the m inute particles of which a ever— in one word, the world can- allow ing associations to produce
istence. As for m yself,”' said the body consists, w ithout th a t system not have been created.
¡them selves only w ithin very nar-
T
W
F
Attention !
T