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Kitabı oku: «The Idiot: His Place in Creation, and His Claims on Society», sayfa 3

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MATTER AND MIND

"Quare frustra sudaverit, qui cœlestia religionis arcana nostræ rationi adaptare conabitur." Bacon, "De Augmentis Scientiarum."


I have already stated that the study of idiocy was of great interest to the theologian, for I can imagine no more powerful weapon for combating the materialistic tendencies of the day than is furnished by a consideration of the natural history of the idiot. This is neither the time nor the place for me to enter into the question of the mysterious connection between matter and mind, a subject which I have developed at some length in my published works.29 In my various public appeals on behalf of the Asylum for Idiots, I have also usually taken the opportunity of pointing out how the experience afforded by the study of idiocy is utterly opposed to the extravagant dogmas of the materialistic school, and to the crude notions which pseudo-science has engendered; and I have also shown how the results of idiot training furnish a forcible demonstration of the dualistic theory of mind and matter, upon which science reposed till the times of Spinosa, Laplace, Haeckel, Huxley, and others.

The pseudo-philosophers of our time have bewildered the public mind by the wild flights of their imagination; thought, the so-called spiritual attributes of man, are merely a function of brain protoplasm; the brain, say they, secretes thought, just as the liver secretes bile, or as oxygen and sulphur produce sulphuric acid, and all the varied phenomena of nature are nothing more than the molecular changes of matter; the operations of the mind are but the products of the caudate cells of the brain, and volition and consciousness are mere physical manifestations. They see only the physio-chemical side of nature, they utterly ignore any spiritual attribute in man, they regard metaphysics as a relic of mediæval superstition, and they assert that all mental operations are bodily functions, and simply the result of some molecular or atomic change in the brain; indeed, the German philosophers go so far as to say that life itself is only a "special and most complicated act of mechanics;"30 that there is no real distinction between living and dead matter, and that vitality is a metaphysical ghost (ein metaphysisches Gespenst).31

At the International Psychological Congress held in Paris, in 1878, at which it was my privilege to be present, Professor Mierzejewski, of St. Petersburg, laid before the congress the result of his elaborate experiments on the brains of idiots, his communication being illustrated by casts of the brains of idiots, and also of certain animals, and the learned Russian professor's conclusions strongly militated against the theories of the philosophers of whom I have been speaking.

In order to understand the great value and import of Dr. Mierzejewski's investigations, I must remind you that the human brain is composed of two kinds of nerve structure, of an essentially different nature, grey matter and white matter. Examined microscopically, the grey matter is found to be composed of cells, while the white matter consists of fibres; their function also is different, the former being regarded as the generator of nerve force, while the latter simply serves as the medium by which this force is transmitted. As the manifestation of the intellectual powers is supposed to be in some way connected with the development of the grey matter of the cerebral convolutions, one would expect to find in idiots a deficiency of this element of brain tissue.32 Dr. Mierzejewski maintained that this is by no means the case, and he mentioned an instance of an idiot in whose brain the surface of grey matter was enormous. So it would seem that there is no fixed relation between the amount of grey matter of the brain and intellectual power, for richness of grey substance and abundance of nerve cells may be accompanied by idiocy.

Now, as these startling statements of the Russian professor were not made in a hole and corner, but were enunciated in the presence of leading psychologists from all parts of the world, I felt myself justified in telling the materialists that they must be faced, and either answered or admitted as correct; and as my comments upon these experiments were subsequently published in a leading London periodical and widely circulated, I am now justified in assuming that the inferences I then drew from these remarkable experiments cannot be controverted, and that the time has not yet arrived when the broad distinctions between mind and matter are to be obliterated, and man reduced to a mere automaton, a creature of a blind necessity.

Without unduly exaggerating the importance of Dr. Mierzejewski's experiments, it must be admitted that very great interest attaches to them at this juncture, when attention is so widely directed to the mysterious connection between matter and mind. Unhappily, instead of solving the question, the Russian professor's researches tend to shroud it in a still deeper mystery, and show that what has been termed the "slippery force of thought – the vis vivida animæ" – cannot be weighed in the balance; and they fully justify the eloquent language of a recent writer when he says, "Far more transcendent than all the glories of the universe is the mind of man. Mind is indeed an enigma, the solution of which is apparently beyond the reach of this very mind, itself the problem, the demonstrator, the demonstration, and the demonstrants ."

Those who maintain that the brain is the organ of the mind, do not tell us what we are to understand by organ, brain, or mind; they seem to me to confound two things, the one with the other. In fact, they make no distinction between thought, mind, consciousness, and the instrument by which these attributes become externally manifested. It is true, we have no evidence to show that the mind can operate independently of the nervous system; on the contrary, all physiological data bearing upon the question of this mutual relation, go to prove that where there is no nervous system there are no mental manifestations. Moreover, as G.H. Lewes says, "It is the man, and not the brain, that thinks: it is the organism as a whole, and not one organ, that feels and acts."33

Every faculty manifests itself by means of matter, but it is important not to confound the faculty with the corporeal organ upon which the external manifestation of such faculty depends. The word organ is the name given to a part of the human frame by which we have sensation, and by means of which we do a certain act or work; such are the organs of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. All these organs are passive, and require to be operated on ab extra, precisely in the same way as the musical organ, which is an instrument constructed by man, requires man's interference for the production of musical sounds.

When a musician sits down to a piano, the music cannot be said to be in the instrument, but in the soul of the performer. If the instrument be in good order, the inspiration of a Thalberg or of a Liszt will become apparent; break the cords or otherwise damage the instrument, and nothing but discordant strains are produced, the musical faculty of the performer, however, remaining unaffected. We are all familiar with Plato's celebrated dialogue on the Immortality of the Soul, where a disputant with Socrates inquires if the soul is not like the harmony of a lyre, more beautiful, more divine than the lyre itself, but yet is nothing without the lyre, vanishing when this instrument is broken.

Let me further illustrate this point by an allusion to the electric telegraph, by means of which ideas and words are transmitted from mind to mind with a rapidity to which ordinary language cannot attain. Now, the electrical battery may be not inaptly compared to the brain, and the telegraph wires to the nerves which emanate from it. If the battery be out of order, or the telegraph wires be broken, this lightning language, by which mind speaks to mind, becomes impossible. In the same way, idiocy may be considered as a disease of the instrument rather than of the performer; the idiot's brain is damaged and has become an unfit instrument for the outward manifestation of the powers of the mind, but the lowest idiot possesses the germs of intellectual activity and moral responsibility; and within his malconstructed organism, there lies concealed in its fragile, fleshly casket, a precious jewel of immortality – an imperishable essence that is destined to live on for ever and for aye, through countless æons of time, when the dicta of these dreamers of whom I have been speaking, to use the language of one of them, "shall have melted away like streaks of morning cloud into the infinite azure of the past."

I repeat it, we must take care not to confound the organ with the person who possesses this organ: the eye is not that which sees, it is only the organ by which we see; the ear is not that which hears, it is only the organ by which we hear. Precisely in the same way and in the same sense, the brain is the organ of mind, the organ by which our mental faculties become externally manifested. That it cannot be otherwise is shewn by the results of memory. The brain is of a perishable nature, its atoms are constantly changing; the body is continually throwing off old particles and appropriating new ones, every breath that is drawn, and every exertion that is made, cause some minute change in the bodily frame-work, so that it is never entirely the same;34 there is no person, therefore, who has the same brain that he had 20 years ago; and the vivid impressions of the past are utterly inexplicable on the supposition that mental activity is a mere function of any perishable organ like the brain, but they necessitate the conclusion that mind and body, spirit and matter, are two entirely heterogeneous substances, and that mind – the concrete Ego– is independent of the material organ by which its external manifestation is alone possible.35

However tempting it might be, I feel I must not trespass any further by dwelling on the mysterious connection between matter and mind, a subject the complete comprehension of which is beyond the limits of our finite capacities. As Goethe philosophically remarks, "We are eternally in contact with problems. Man is an obscure being, he knows little of the world, and of himself least of all."

It would seem that the great Roman orator, nearly 2,000 years ago, with prescient eye, foresaw the attempts that would hereafter be made to pry into the hidden mysteries of Nature, when he said: —

"Latent ista omnia, Luculle, crassis occultata et circumfusa tenebris, ut nulla acies humani ingenii tanta sit, quæ penetrare in cœlum, terra intrare possit."

These lines of Cicero would seem to be peculiarly applicable to certain modern philosophers, who, in their attempts to bridge over the gulf – the impassable gulf – which separates matter from mind, persistently ignore the fact that there are certain things which, from their very nature, are beyond the pale of precise knowledge, and which cannot be determined by physical investigation – which, in fact, lie outside the sphere of man's intellect. I believe the question I am discussing is one of these, and that, although we may grope with the taper of science into the dark caverns whence seem to issue the springs of humanity, we shall probably fail to understand the mysterious connection between matter and mind, a theme essentially beyond the grasp of human intelligence, and which cannot be fathomed by the puny plummet of human thought or touch.

The study of the idiot is calculated to elucidate this overwhelmingly important subject, and I believe the Idiot Asylum is destined to become the arena and battlefield on which this great question will have to be fought out.

THE PNEUMA, OR SPIRITUAL ATTRIBUTE OF THE IDIOT

Ὁ δε νους εοικεν εγγινεθαι ουσια

τις ουσα, και ου φθειρεσθαι.

Aristot. De Anima, I. 4.

Inasmuch as the instrument by which the manifestation of mind is alone possible is undoubtedly damaged in idiots, they were formerly supposed not to belong to the human family, and their place in the order of creation was disputed. All admitted that they had the σωμα, or material part of our nature; they also conceded to them the ψυχη, or principle of animal life, but they considered that the πνευμα, or spirit of immortal life – that which essentially differentiates man from the brute – was absent in the idiot. This idea seemed to have been entertained by a great theologian of the 16th century, who, on being asked by a father what he was to do with his idiot boy, replied that the child might be drowned as he possessed no soul! Times are happily changed. We don't admit the lawfulness of drowning idiots in these days, but we teach them to swim against the adverse currents to which they are exposed; we buoy them up on the tempestuous waves of life; we pilot them through the rocks and shoals of their ill-starred career till their chequered race is run, and they are safely landed in the haven of everlasting rest.

Not only in the 16th century, but certain philosophers of a later date have questioned the idiot's place in creation, and have disputed his right to be classed among the human family; and some scientists – believers in the so-called doctrine of Evolution, as applied to the Descent of Man – have gone so far as to pretend that the brain of the microcephalic idiot is so far removed from the human type, as to constitute him a connecting link between man and the anthropoid apes! Now, the interesting results of our training institutions, showing the capacity for progressive improvement which exists in the idiot, gives the lie to this absurd and purely sensational hypothesis.

Here let me add that I strongly deprecate introducing the odium theologicum into the discussion of this subject, being fully conscious of the futility of attempting to check an unwelcome or distasteful theory by means of ecclesiastical censures; and I further admit that in anything like a scientific demonstration of truth, an appeal to the affections would be absurdly out of place.36 Moreover, I should not reject the Darwinian theory from any sensational notion that its adoption was derogatory to Man's dignity, and I fully echo the sentiment of the naturalist who said that he would prefer being descended from a good honest monkey, than to be obliged to avow himself the offspring of certain fanatical enemies of scientific knowledge and progress; but I do complain of the tendency of the present day to accept new ideas without knowing or caring how to sift them. Everything is hypothetical, and allowed to enter the mind through the ivory gate of fancy; and on purely hypothetical premises, an attempt is made to found conclusive arguments. Strip the assertions of all their vagueness and superficial varnish, and reduce them to a skeleton of logical statement, and we shall see how much is assumed and how little is proved; and we shall find that we are asked to accept a chain of hypotheses, as if it were an induction founded on ascertained and indisputable facts. In thus expressing myself, I wish to add that the ultimate goal of the scientist is the establishment of truth, and I should as soon attempt to stop the progress of the avalanche that has become dislodged from the mountain top, as to try to bar the path of scientific progress, or to extinguish the torch of discovery. The tide of scientific truth will continue to flow on in spite of the modern Canutes, who may utter from time to time their imperial commands to stay its course. Magna est veritas et prevalebit.

The supporters of evolution base their arguments upon the remarkable resemblance between the brain of man and that of certain other animals. Now, I admit this striking analogy; I admit that every chief fissure and fold in the brain of man has its counterpart in that of the gorilla and the ourang-outang; and I am not prepared to deny the statement, that as far as the organ of intelligence is concerned, there is no very striking physical difference between him who weighs the stars and makes the light tell its secrets as to the constitution of distant worlds, and the howling senseless brute, who lives merely to satisfy his animal appetites. All animals of the vertebrate type are constructed on a plan which is essentially similar, not only as regards their skeleton, but as regards their brain. I don't deny that man is an animal, and that he has the essential properties of a highly organised one; but what I do maintain is, that the brain, after all, is merely an instrument by which the high psychological attributes peculiar to man become externally manifested.37 Thought is not phosphorus, as some would have us believe; the human mind is not the result of a mere molecular arrangement of cerebral matter. There is something over and above all this, and the very resemblance of man's physical nature to that of some members of the brute creation, proves beyond all doubt that his superiority to them is hyperphysical, and I fully endorse Mr. Froude's philosophical remarks, when he says, "It is nothing to me how the Maker of me has been pleased to construct the organised substance which I call my body. It is mine, but it is not I. The νους, the intellectual spirit, being an ουσια – an essence – I believe to be an imperishable something which has been engendered in me from another source." The unhappy idiot, that stricken member of our race, possesses the tripartite nature of man – for he has not only the σωμα or material part, and the ψυχη or principle of animal life, but he also undoubtedly possesses the πνευμα or principle of immortal life.

The above statement could be amply borne out by a reference to cases which have been observed in idiot asylums. I will, however, mention but three: – An idiot boy has been known to retire alone, when there was a thunderstorm, to ask God to take care of his father, who was a sailor. A former superintendent of our Asylum, the late Mr. Millard, noticed one of the inmates praying in private, and on saying to the boy, "God hears prayer," he quietly observed, "Yes, and answers it, too." A little boy in the Massachussetts Asylum for Idiots was in declining health, and became, during his dying illness, an object of great interest to the matron and attendants. Unbidden, he said his prayers frequently, and putting up his little hand, he muttered, "Me want to go up! me want to go up!" Surely he was thinking of some sort of hereafter, because he added distinctly, "They'll say, here comes one of the boys from the Boston School for Idiots." The approach of death seemed to awaken his spiritual life; out of the decaying body appeared to rise the growing soul, for, after repeating the verse of a hymn, the spirit of this simple child became liberated from its earthly tenement – its material habitat – the connection between matter and mind was severed, and, to use the touching language of his biographer, "this poor little idiot boy bade a long adieu to his sorrowing friends, and doubtless there was then joy in heaven, as the recording angel wrote in the Book of Life the name of George Tobey."38

In an interesting essay published many years ago, entitled, "A Morning at Essex Hall, Colchester," its author, the Rev. Edwin Sidney, in describing his visit to the Asylum, remarked that, "The conduct of those who go to Church on Sunday is very decorous. One of the most cheering things in connection with these objects of benevolent solicitude, is the capability some of them manifest in receiving and being comforted by religion. There are amongst them instances of high conscientiousness and piety, which might be examples to such as are gifted with unimpaired faculties."

If any apology be due for pointing out how the mysterious connection between mind and matter may be illustrated by a study of idiocy, I will observe that the subject is of such absorbing interest that it is well that it should occasionally be removed from the heated arena of biological bias, into the calmer and more judicial atmosphere of the class of readers who may be interested in the important subject I am endeavouring to elucidate.

29."Darwinism Tested by Language," Rivington, 1877; "Aphasia or Loss of Speech, and the Localisation of the Faculty of Language," 2nd edition, Churchills, 1890. The reader is referred to these treatises, and especially to his work on Darwinism, for a fuller exposition of the author's views, here only incidentally sketched; and also for a more complete knowledge of the scientific facts and different authorities quoted in support of the position here taken in reference to the connection between Matter and Mind.
30
  "Das Leben ist nur ein besonderer, und zwar der complicirteste Act der Mechanik; ein Theil der Gesammtmaterie tritt von Zeit zu Zeit aus dem gewöhnlichen Gange ihrer Bewegungen heraus in besondre organisch-chemische Verbindungen, und nachdem er eine Zeit lang darin verharrt hat, kehrt er weider zu den allgemeinen Bewegungsverhältnissen zurück." —
Gesammte Abhandlungen zu wissenschaftlicher Medicin s. 25.

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31.One of the leaders of scientific thought in this country tells us that "Life is composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in the manner in which its atoms are aggregated," and it has been gravely stated that the production of man in the chemist's retort may be recorded as one of the future discoveries of the age!
  A clever French writer, commenting on these purely hypothetical statements of the "mechanistic school," makes the following appropriate remarks: —
  "Quand on nous dit que l'organisme des êtres vivants n'est qu'un laboratoire où tout se passe en combinaisons et en compositions des éléments matériels primitifs, on oublie que ce laboratoire est habité par un hôte intime, le principe vital qui ne fait qu'un avec les éléments en fusion. Ici la combinaison chimique ne se fait pas toute seule; elle s'opère sous l'action d'une cause qui en transforme les éléments de façon à en faire un produit d ordre nouveau qui s'appelle la vie." – "La Vie et la Matière," par E. Vacherot, Revue des Deux Mondes," 1878.
32.In an original and very remarkable essay, entitled "The Brain not the Sole Organ of the Mind," Dr. Hammond, of New York, says, "There is no exception to the law that mental development is in direct proportion to the amount of grey matter entering into the composition of the nervous system of any animal of any kind whatever; and that in estimating mental power, we should be influenced by the absolute and relative quantity of grey nerve tissue, in which respect we shall find man stands pre-eminent, although, as we have already seen, his brain, as a whole, is relatively much smaller than that of many other animals; and it is to this preponderance of grey matter that Man owes the great mental development which places him so far above all other living beings. As this grey tissue is not confined to the brain, but a large proportion of it is found in the ganglia of the sympathetic and some other nerves, and as an amount second only to that of the brain in quantity – and, indeed, in some animals larger – is present as an integral constituent of the spinal cord, Dr. Hammond infers, and he cites numerous experiments in support of this inference, that mental power must be conceded to the spinal cord, and that the brain can no longer be considered as the sole organ of the mind."
33."The Physical Basis of Mind." Page 441.
34.The late Bishop of Carlisle illustrates the independence of the Ego, by an allusion to moral feelings. "A murderer," he says, "is convicted twenty years after the offence had been committed, or he gives himself up after so many years, because his memory and his conscience make his life miserable. He has no doubt as to the fact that the person who did the deed of darkness years ago, is the same person as he who feels the pangs of remorse to-day. Every material particle in his body may have changed since then, but there is a continuity in his spiritual being out of which he cannot be argued, even if any ingenious sophist should attempt the task." —Nineteenth Century, March, 1880, p. 510.
35.To those who may wish to pursue this subject further, I recommend a perusal of an essay on "Materialistic Physiology," in the Journal of Psychological Medicine for April, 1877. In this article, the writer, Dr. Winn, seems to share my views as to the paramount importance of boldly facing this matter, when he says: —
  "The unphilosophical and extravagant dogma, that matter can think, is now so loudly and confidently asserted, and so widely spread by a numerous class of medical men and physiologists, both in this country and abroad, that the time has arrived when a doctrine so fallacious, and so fraught with danger to the best interests of society, should be fairly and carefully scrutinised. It is not by mere assertion, or the use of obscure and pedantic language, that such a theory can be established; and if it can be shown that the arguments on which it is based are shallow and speculative, words can scarcely be found too strong to censure the recklessness and folly of those who promulgate views so subversive of all morality and religion.
  "The physicists have utterly failed to establish their position. They were asked to prove by inductive reasoning the truth of their theory, that the universe is the mere outcome of molecular force, and their defence has been clearly proved to be of the most evasive and inconclusive character.
  "The doctrines of the modern school of materialistic physiology are permeating all classes of society, and it is these doctrines, based on the assumption that mind is a mere function of the brain – an assumption that, if true, would reduce man to the level of the beasts that perish – that we are offered as a substitute for the belief in the immateriality of the mind."
  The essay from which the above quotations are taken is full of sound and logical reasoning, and the writer's position is not supported by mere theoretical statements, but by arguments drawn from well-accredited facts in anatomy and physiology.
36.I strongly deprecate, as lamentably wrong and needless, the violent language sometimes used by writers on both sides of this great controversy of the origin of man. If the odium theologicum may have inspired some of the opponents of evolution, it is undeniable that there is strong evidence of an odium antitheologicum amongst not a few of the supporters of this doctrine, who indulge in abusive epithets, launching into personalities of a most objectionable kind; for instance, we are informed that "orthodoxy is the Bourbon of the world of thought; it learns not, neither can it forget." Now I protest against the attempt to obscure argument by appeals to the passions and to prejudice. Science and Theology should not be regarded as two opposing citadels, frowning defiance upon each other, but their votaries should look upon each other as co-labourers in the cause of truth, and they should welcome light and knowledge from whatever quarter it may come, being fully convinced that all systems and theories irreconcilable with truth, are built upon the sand, and must ultimately be swept away.
37.One of our popular novelists, Sir Walter Besant, has philosophically said, "there is between the condition of Man and the Brute an interdependence which cannot but be recognised by every physician. So greatly has this connection affected some of the modern physicians, as to cause doubt in their minds whether there be any life at all hereafter; or if when the pulse ceases to beat, the whole man should become a dead and senseless lump of clay. In this they confuse the immortal soul with the perishable instruments of brain and body, through which in life it manifests its being and betrays its true nature, whether of good or evil." —Faith and Freedom.
38.Cases like this would seem to illustrate the truth of the statement of that great philosopher, Sir Thomas Browne, when he says, "Thus it is observed that men sometimes, upon the hour of their departure, do speak and reason about themselves. For then the soul, being more freed from the ligaments of the body, begins to reason like herself, and to discourse in a strain above mortality." —Religio Medici, p. 208.
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