zW <*c tu i / f f -A “ TRL'TM BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR T R L T H .” - ^ , , , ,.,y , , /ô, 4/ VOL. 5. S II.V E K T O X , OREGON, THURSDAY, JANUARY m. E. M. .Id . io .il. P a ssa g e s F r o m th e “ C hoir In v is - to subm it every aspect of «hi. im- .erised prim itive m an. and has „1 ible.” (To be M em orised.) portant dogma to a critical « n » ways been widelv ’spr-»d 'th e sec BY GEORGE ELIOT, o v 0. 1. ally , however, they refrain Hvi.’. Z i 't ^ V ’- ■ nation, and to prove its untena-j oudary absence of belief in ¡m inor-' empirical scien^Tof the 'bra' ,h e e ” »iriCal ' " « 7 < " * ' ..... late stage „ „ L e d sô Z ^ d , ^ MAY I jo in th ecfy o ir in v isib le, Of th o se im m o rta l dead who live again In m in d s m ade b e tte r by th e ir p resen ce: live In p u lse s s tirre d to g e n e ro sity . In deeds of d a rin g r e c titu d e , in sco rn F o r m isera b le aim s th a t end w ith self. In th o u g h ts su b lim e t h a t pierce th e n ig h t lik e s ta rs , A nd w ith th e ir m ild p e rs is te n c e u rg e m a n ’s search. To v a ste r issues. d ata of m odern biology. o f history : i t ta tbe ripe fruit of century th a t the soul could con- in order to have a sh o rt and con profound reflection on life and tinue to be regarded as its m yster- venient expression for the two op- death, the outcom e of bold and in- posed opinions on the question, we dependent philosophical specult- lous in h ab itan t. It was the gigantic f-hall call the belief in m a n ’s ( r 'lio n . We first meet it in some of progress of biology ¡n the present sonal im m o rtality “ a th a n a tism ” the Ionic philosophers of the sixth century, and especially in the later h alf of the century, that finally de (from ath an e s or ath an ato s, dea h- cen tu ry B. C , then in the founders less or im m o rtal). In the otoer of the old m aterialistic philosophy, stroyed the myth. The establish hand, we give the nam e of “ tban- D em ocritus and Em pedocles, and ment of the theory of descent aud atism ’ (from thanatos-deal h ) to and also in Sim onides and E p i the cellular theory, the astounding discoveries of ontogeny and experi th e opinion which holds th at a t a curus, Seneca and P linius, and in m ental physiology—above all, the So to live is h eav e n : m a n ’s death not only all the other an elaborate form in Lucretius To m ake u n d y in g m usic in th e w o rld , physiological functions are arrest <1, C arus. \\ itfi the spread of C hristi m arvellous progress of the micro- B re a th in g as b e a u te o u s o rd e r t h a t c o n "pie anatom y of the brain, g ra d u but his “ soul ’ also d isappears— an ity a t the decay of classical a n tr o ls ally deprived athanatism of every W ith grow ing sway th e gro w in g life of th a t is, the sum of cerebral func tiq u ity , a th a n a tism , one of its chief m an. tions which psychic dualism regards articles of faith, dom inated tin basis ; now, indeed, it is rarelv th a t * „ * as a peculiar en tity , independent o f world, and so, am id other forms of an informed and honorable biolog ist is found to defend the im m o rtal T h a t b e tte r self sh a ll live till h u m a n the other vital processes of the liv superstition, the m yth of personal T im e ity of the soul. All the m onistic ing body. im m ortality cam e to be invested S h a ll fold its ey elid s, a n d th e h u m a n philosophers of the century (Strauss, In approaching this physiological sk y with a high im portance. heuerhach, Büchner, Spencer, etc.) Be g a th e re d lik e a sc ro ll w ith in th e problem of death we m ust point N atu rally , through the long night are ath an atists. out the In d iv id u al ch aracter of this to m b U n read forever. organic phenom enon. By death -ve of the D ark Ages it was rarely that 1 he dogma of personal im m ortal a brave free-thinker ventured to ex T h is is th e life to com e understand sim ply the definite ce> s- ity owes its great popularity and its W hich m a rty re d m en have m ade m ore press an opinion to th e c o n tra ry : ation of the vital activity of the In high im portance to its intim atecon- g lo rio u s the exam ples of Gilileo, G iordano nection with the teaching of C h rist F o r u s who striv e to follow . M ay 1 dividual organism , no m a tte r to Bruno, and other independent p h i which stage or category of individ rea ch ianity. This circum stance gave rise losophers, effectually destroyed all T h at p u re s t heaven, be to o th e r so u ls uality the organism in question i to the erroneous and still prevalent Heresy only belief th a t the myth is a fu n d a T he c u p of s tr e n g th in som e g re a t longs. M an is dead when his o* i freedom of utterance. ag o n y , personality ceases to exist, w hether Became possible- whan tl. ; B efore,a- m ental d em en t of all the higher E n k in d le g e n ero u s a rd o r, feed p u re he has left offspring th a t they may tion and the R enaissance had religions. This is by no means the love, broken the power of the papacy. Beget th e sm iles th a t have n o c r u e lty __ continue to propagate for m any case. The higher Oriental religions The history of m odern philosophy Be t he sw eet p resen ce of a good d iffu sed , generations or not. In a certain include no belief whatever in the tells of the m anifold m ethod- by A n d in d iffu sio n ever m ore in te n se . sense we often say th a t the m inds im m ortality of the soul; it is not So sh a ll I jo in th e c h o ir in v isib le which the m atured mind of man of great men (in a dynasty of em i found in Buddhism , the religion W hose m u sic is th e g la d n e ss of th e sought to rid itself of the su p ersti nent rulers, for instance, or a fam th a t dom inates th irty per cent of w orld. tion of im m ortality. Still, the in ily of talented artists) live for m any the entire hum an ra ce; it is not tim ate connection o f the belief with The Im m o rta lity of t h s Soul. generations : and in the sam e wav found in the ancient popular relig the C hristian dogm a ’invested it we speak of the ‘ soul” of a noble ion of the Chinese, nor in the re BY ERNST HAECKEL. with such power, even in the more woman living in her children and formed religion of Confucius which em ancipated sphere of P ro te sta n t H E N we tu rn from the c h ild re n ’s children. But in these ism, th a t the m ajo rity of convinced succeeded i t ; and, what is still genetic study of the soul cases we are dealing with intricate free-thinkers kept th e ir sentim ents more signicant, it is not found in to the great question of phenom ena of H eredity, in which a to them selves. From time to tim e, the earlier and purer religion of the Jew s. N either in the “ five Mosaic its im m o rtality , we come to th a t microscopic cell (the sperm -cell of some distinguished scholar ven books,” nor in any of the w ritings highest point of superstition which the fath er or egg-cell of the m other) tured to m ake a frank declaration of the Old Testam ent which were is regarded as the im pregnable cit tran sm its certain features to off of his belief in the im possibility of w ritten before the Babylonian Ex adel of all m ystical and d u alistic spring. T he p a rtic u la r personali the continued life of the soul after ile, is there any trace of the notion notions. For in this crucial ques ties who prodnce those sexual cells death. 1 his w'as done in Erance of individual existenee after death tion, more th an in any other prob in thousands are m ortal beings, in the second half of the eighteenth It was unknown to the earliest lem, philosophic th ought is com pli and at their d eath their personal century by V oltaire, D anton, M ira- speaking man (the hypothetical cated by the selfish interest of the psychic activ ity is extinguished beau, and others, and by leaders of like every other physiological func homo prim igenitus of Asia), to his hum an person” ..t,y, who is determ the m aterialistic school of those tion. j , rr i t predecessors, of course, the pithe- ined to have a guarantee of his ex days, Holbach, Lam ettrie etc Thp .. , B * • • , ' canthropus and prothylobates istence beyond the grave at any sa m e opinion nninirm wua a f^ ^ A ^ A 1 J a a n n d a same was A defended by ac the ............ ... ptiH hud it asserted in philo to the least developed of his modern price. This “ higher necessity of friend the of the Ma M aterialists, feeling” is so powerful th a t it sweeps S° phic’ and especially in theologi- g able test*of te r' aIlHtH> the successors, the V eddabs of Ceylon, aside all logical argum ents of criti- c a *’ wor^ 8 belief in th e im m or ' <> ænzo erns, t i e the Seelongs of In d ia, and other cal reason. Consciously or un- °f the hum an soul was origi- • Sans- d istan t races. W ith the develop- consciously, most men are influ- n a,ly shared by all m en—or, at r ' ,h " ° U, ref erick the merit of reason and deeper reflection enced in all their general views, ,ea8t’ h-v all “ ra tio n a l” men. T h a t / / A . - ’ ” ‘L J T " 7 / J ‘Hnat,Ht and OD Hfe and death, sleep and dream s, and, therefore, in th eir theory of is not th e Ca8e- This dogm a is not m nniat’ . e ®om Pare 18 m ystic ideas of a dualistic composi- life, by the dogm a of personal im- an o r’gbial idea of the hum an m ind, gUccep(,or of o fi, tion of our nature were evolved— m o rtality ; and to th is theoretical nor i,a8 ever f°u «d universal ac- c 88or 0 o ay . independently of each other—in a error m m ust ust be con- ceptance. cePtan ce- „ Among thoughtful physicians the num ber of the earlier races. Very error be added added practical practical con-i • W sequences of the most far-reaching ,* * • convlcl,on that the existence of the different influences were at work in character. is our therefore, t t h h a a ^ n U a U s m sm character. It It is our task, task, therefore" ^ h ^ i b c ^ ï T ” r i e i ^ l i Z b ” “ ' 7 *OU' C‘ me ,o a " end *“ 8‘ de#th de»«h has >'« polypbyietic creations-w or- e>, thanati. m which originally charac- been common for centuries : gener- ship of ancestors, love of life and