The Evolution Of The Soul E-Book

Thomas Jay Hudson

• Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Seitenzahl: 499

Beschreibung

In arranging the essays and lectures in this book for publication, their respective dates of production have been disregarded for the sake of presenting them, as far as possible, in a natural sequence. The first of the articles contains a statement of the fundamental principles of the author's hypothesis, and may be regarded as introductory to those which follow. It will be found that these principles are restated, briefly, in other parts of the book ; but the repetition is due to the fact that the papers were written at considerable intervals of time, and for readers or audiences not always familiar with the author's theories. I have ventured, however, to eliminate much of the iterated matter, leaving only that which bears directly upon the subject under consideration in the article in which it occurs.

Leseprobe

The Evolution Of The Soul

And Other Essays

Thomson Jay Hudson.

Contents:

Preface.

Biographical.

The Evolution Of The Soul

Science And The Future Life

Man's Psychic Powers

Spiritistic Phenomena As Evidence Of Life After Death

Spiritism And Telepathy As Involved In The Case Of Mrs. Leonora E. Piper

How I Became Convinced Of The Existence Of The Faculty Of Telepathy

The Rationale Of Hypnotism

Hypnotism In Its Relations To Criminal Jurisprudence

Psychological Problems Relating To Criminal Confessions Of Innocent Persons

Hypnotism A Universal Anaesthetic In Surgery

The Danger Lines In Hypnotism

A Psychopathic Study

Prophecy, Ancient And Modern

How To Prepare The Mind For Success

The Evolution Of The Soul, T. J. Hudson

Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck

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ISBN:9783849623371

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PREFACE.

IN arranging the following essays and lectures for publication, their respective dates of production have been disregarded for the sake of presenting them, as far as possible, in a natural sequence. The first of the articles contains a statement of the fundamental principles of the author's hypothesis, and may be regarded as introductory to those which follow. It will be found that these principles are restated, briefly, in other parts of the book ; but the repetition is due to the fact that the papers were written at considerable intervals of time, and for readers or audiences not always familiar with the author's theories. I have ventured, however, to eliminate much of the iterated matter, leaving only that which bears directly upon the subject under consideration in the article in which it occurs.

It was the author's purpose to revise his essays before their republication in the form of a collection, but his life's work ended with the last page of " The Law of Mental Medicine." The revision, however, would have resulted only in amplifying and elaborating the applications of his hypothesis. He had no changes to make in its fundamentals. During the ten years which have passed since the appearance of the first of his works on psychological subjects, no fact ever came under his observation which demanded the alteration of one of the basic ideas of his theory; and it can be said that he was not only an earnest and early seeker after facts, but what is better, an honest one. He found critics and opponents, but the most zealous have failed thus far to adduce a single phenomenon out of harmony with the principles laid down in his first work. Had such a phenomenon been presented, he would have been the first to announce the invalidity or inadequacy of those principles.

In regard to the theory of duality of the human mental organization, attention should be called to the fact that he did not insist upon a literal acceptation of the premise that man possesses two minds, but said clearly and repeatedly that it is a matter of indifference whether it be held that he has two minds, or that he has but one which is capable of manifesting itself in two distinct modes or conditions of activity or states of consciousness. He indicated the line of demarkation between the phenomena characteristic of each : he pointed out their respective functions in life, and the powers and limitations by which each is distinguished from the other, and he was content with the proposition that all observable psychic phenomena support the hypothesis of mental duality.

He did not claim to be the discoverer of a " subliminal self," of an "unconscious ego," of an "under-self," or of a "secondary consciousness," and, moreover, he recognized the plagiarism in that claim when made by others. To quote his words, " The theory of duality has been dimly floating around in the minds of various philosophers from the time when Greek philosophy ruled the intellectual world until the present age."

He accepted the hypothetical duality, just as others have done, but he did so with no disposition for dalliance and coquetry with terms, or for shuffling or evasion. He made no effort to protect his theories from assault by surrounding them with a haze of metaphysics, metaphor, or phrases in the subjunctive. He opened his front to attack, and threw down the gage.

The specific claim which should be made for the author of " The Law of Psychic Phenomena " is not, then, the hypothesis of mental duality, but the apprehension of the laws governing the action of the two minds, the delimitation of the powers and functions of each in its relation to the human organism, the perception of the inter-relation of the laws of duality and suggestion, and the formulation of the master-key which unlocks so many psychological mysteries and opens the door long barred by ignorance and superstition

C. B. H. Detroit, Michigan,

BIOGRAPHICAL.

THOMSON JAY HUDSON was born at Windham, Portage County, Ohio, on the 2nd day of February, 1834. His early life was spent on a farm, where he bore the brunt of the hardships incident to farm life in days before agricultural machinery lightened its labors. To this, as well as to heredity on both sides of his house, he owed his robust health and iron constitution. His early education was acquired in the common schools of his neighborhood, and at an academy in a neighboring town. It was here that some of the characteristics of his adult life first asserted themselves. He refused to be bound by precedent or to submit to authority in the matter of his education ; while he followed the prescribed course faithfully, he insisted on adding such studies as he deemed valuable. For instance, he surprised his common-school teacher on one occasion by announcing his intention to study Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Logic, then and there. It is said, however, that young Hudson was aided and abetted in his scheme of private education by a learned uncle, who loaned him books and gave him private instruction. The sorrow and disappointment of his life came when he was prepared to enter college. It was then that his father announced to him that there was one condition, and only one, upon which he would consent to give him a college education ; and that was that he should enter the ministry. This the young man flatly refused to promise, and expressed his desire and determination to study for the bar ; adding that he could not conscientiously preach the theological dogmas which he did not believe. The result was that the young man abruptly left the paternal roof under circumstances that would have daunted a nature less energetic, determined, and hopeful than his. He pursued his studies, however, with unabated zeal, reciting to private tutors, so that by the time he was admitted to the bar he was fairly well equipped for battling with the world. His career as a lawyer was, however, destined to be of short duration. In 1860 he removed to Port Huron, Michigan, and in 1865 he definitely abandoned his profession and entered the field of journalism and politics. He never but once sought a political office for himself; and that was in 1866, when he became his party's candidate for Senator. He was defeated, however, his party being in the minority. He made a strong canvass on the occasion, and established a reputation as a campaign orator. Soon after this he sold out his paper and removed to Detroit, where he became editor-in-chief of the Detroit Daily Union, In this field he achieved a notable success, and soon became widely known as a brilliant editorial writer. A few years after this the Union was merged with the Detroit Evening News, and he became one of the principal editorial writers on that paper. In 1877 he was induced to go to Washington as the correspondent of the Scripps Syndicate, which then consisted of five daily papers, published, respectively, in Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. He served in this capacity for several years ; but in the meantime he was offered a position on the Examining Corps of the United States Patent Office. He accepted this position in 1880, and continued in the service for more than thirteen years. He was rapidly promoted, and in 1886 was made Principal Examiner and placed in charge of one of the Scientific Divisions of the Patent Office. He served in that capacity with distinguished ability until after the publication of his first book, in 1893, "The Law of Psychic Phenomena" Without violence to the truth it may be said that one morning, in 1893, Hudson awoke to find himself famous throughout the English-speaking world. His book found an enormous sale, which still continues in a constantly increasing ratio. It was followed two years later by '' A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life." By many the latter book is preferred ; but his first great work will be the standard by which posterity will estimate his standing as a pioneer in the scientific survey of the whole past field of psychical research. These were in turn followed by "The Divine Pedigree of Man," and in 1903, by "The Law of Mental Medicine." The latter was published only a few days before Dr. Hudson's death, which occurred at his home in Detroit, May 26, 1903, after a severe attack of heart trouble.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL

SOME years ago I tentatively formulated a working hypothesis for the systematic study of the phenomena of the human soul, otherwise popularly known and designated as psychic phenomena. These include mesmerism, hypnotism, spiritism, demonology, mental therapeutics, and a thousand other things which need not be mentioned here, for I have no intention of troubling you with them on this occasion.

The central idea in my mind when I entered upon the study of this subject was that the phenomena of the soul could and should be studied just as the physical sciences are studied. In point of fact I had been deeply impressed by the opening sentence of Lord Bacon's Novum Organum. These are the words:

" Man, the minister and interpreter of nature, does and understands so much as he may have discerned concerning the order of nature by observing or by meditating on facts : he knows no more, he can do no more."

It is true that these words were spoken in reference to the physical sciences ; but I confess that I never could understand why the same remark does not apply to the investigation of all truth, physical or spiritual. If there is truth in spiritual philosophy, there must be facts in existence demonstrative of that truth.

I hold that if there is in this world anything that it is important for man to know, he can, and will, eventually find it out by the processes of induction, — that is, by reasoning from observable facts and phenomena. There are many facts in nature which man is curious to know, but which he never can know. But it will generally be found that they are facts which it is unimportant that he should know. For instance, it might gratify a laudable curiosity to learn what is on the farther side of the moon ; but it would be difficult to imagine what benefit humanity could derive from the knowledge. On the other hand, if man has a soul, it is of the utmost importance to him that he should know it; and there are facts which can bear no other rational interpretation. It is of some of these that I purpose now to speak.

In my published works I have set forth many facts which seem to me to be demonstrative, not only that man has a soul, but that it is destined to a future life. These, however, are mostly psychical phenomena, which I do not now propose to consider, except incidentally. Not that I distrust their validity, for a psychic fact is just as much a fact as a granite mountain ; but as it is quite fashionable in certain highly respectable circles to deny the existence of psychic phenomena altogether, I intend, on this occasion, to confine myself largely to the universally admitted facts of the physical sciences, particularly those of organic evolution, and incidentally those of cerebral anatomy and experimental surgery.

My theme is Evolution and the Dual Mind, or the Genesis of the Human Soul. These two topics are inseparably connected, and must, therefore, be treated together.

The hypothesis upon which I base all my conclusions is embraced in two fundamental propositions, the first of which may be stated as follows:

Man is endowed with a dual mind.

That is to say, in the sum of the faculties, capacities, powers, and limitations of the mind of man, there are two distinct phases of activity, or states of consciousness, each characterized by phenomena peculiar to itself. Stated thus conservatively, the proposition will not be seriously disputed by any student of psychology who has kept pace with the discoveries of modern science. I prefer, however, to state it, provisionally, thus:

Man is endowed with two minds.

I prefer this mode of stating the proposition for two reasons : First, because it appears to be true. That is, everything happens just as if it were true, and that is all any student pretends to expect in a working hypothesis. Secondly, I prefer it because it admits of clearer treatment, inasmuch as it requires less of roundabout phraseology to express my exact meaning. The conclusions derivable from the proposition are, however, precisely the same, whichever way it is stated. I adhere, therefore, to my usual way of putting it, and state, as my first proposition, that man is endowed with two minds.

Each of these two minds is capable of independent action, and they are also capable of synchronous action. But in the main, they possess independent powers and perform independent functions. The distinctive faculties of one pertain wholly to this life : those of the other are specially adapted to a higher plane of existence. I distinguish them by designating one as the Objective Mind, and the other as the Subjective Mind.

The objective mind is that of ordinary waking consciousness. Its media of cognition are the five physical senses. Its highest function is that of reasoning. It is especially adapted to cope with the exigencies of physical environment. It is the function of the brain; and the latter is the ultimate product of organic evolution.

The subjective mind is that intelligence which is most familiarly manifested to us when the brain is asleep, or its action is otherwise inhibited, as in dreams, or in spontaneous or induced somnambulism; or in trance or trancoid states and conditions, as in hypnotism. Any one who is in the least acquainted with the phenomena resulting from any one of these mental conditions is aware that wonderful exhibitions of intellectual power often result. The significant feature of the phenomena is that, other things being equal, the intellectual powers thus displayed bear an exact proportion to the depth of the trance (to use a generic term), or, in other words, to the degree in which the action of the brain faculties is inhibited.

Thus far I have not travelled outside the range of the observation and experience of any intelligent person; but I have made a prima facie case of duality of mind. There are thousands of illustrations that amount to demonstration of the law, which must be omitted for want of time, but which will be readily recognized on reflection.

The second proposition of my hypothesis is this :

The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control by suggestion. A corollary of this proposition is that the subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning. The meaning of this is that the subjective mind involuntarily accepts as veridical the ideas or statements of fact imparted to it. These statements or ideas may be imparted by the oral suggestions of another, or they may arise from the education of the individual. In the latter case they are termed auto-suggestions. There are no exceptions to this law, although there are some apparent exceptions. It will invariably be found, however, that the apparent exceptions are the clearest possible illustrations of the absolute universality of the law. A crude example of the power of suggestion is witnessed when a hypnotist declares to his subject that he is another person. The alacrity with which the subject accepts the suggestion, and the fidelity to nature with which he personates the character suggested, are matters of general knowledge and observation.

A third proposition which must be stated in this connection is this :

The subjective mind possesses the power of transmitting intelligence to other subjective minds otherwise than through the ordinary sensory channels. In other words, it possesses the faculty of telepathy.

I trust that no one will be startled out of his sense of propriety when I remark that the world owes much of the valuable knowledge ft possesses of the subject of psychology to that much maligned practice, that bete noir of ignorance, hysteria, and malignant imbecility, known as hypnotism. It is to hypnotism that we are primarily indebted for the verification of the law of duality of mind ; although a vague and speculative idea of that law has been floating loosely in the minds of various philosophers for more than two thousand years.

It IS known to everybody that when a subject is completely hypnotized his brain is asleep, — that all the phenomena of natural sleep are present, including the inhibition of the senses and a more or less complete retirement of the blood from its channels in the brain. It is also well known that in this state the subject will often exhibit a preternatural intelligence, far transcending his normal powers. This intelligence is that of the subjective mind, of which the brain is not the organ, the action of the brain being at the time inhibited.

Telepathy was demonstrated to be a faculty of the human mind by the immediate successors of Mesmer. Owing, however, to the determined stand taken against mesmerism by physicians, who were frenzied because it had been demonstrated to be a valuable therapeutic agent, telepathy was ignored by the scientific world until the London Society for Psychical Research made it respectable to believe in it. Their demonstrations were made largely by means, of hypnotism. I may perhaps be pardoned for remarking that I was the first to point out the fact that the power of telepathy belongs exclusively to the subjective mind.

The law of suggestion was also discovered by means of experimental hypnotism. In fact, it was supposed to be applicable only to persons in a state of induced hypnosis until, in my first publisher work, I called attention to the fact that it is a universal law of the subjective mind. I then made a generalization of the subject matter by formulating the proposition that the subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning.

I now invite your attention to a table, — the result of many years of study of this subject. It classifies the faculties of the two minds in strict accordance with the facts of experimental psychology as developed by thirty years of my own experimentation, and of that of the Society for Psychical Research beginning in 1882.

Objective Mind                                                          Subjective Mind.

1.                                                                    1. Instinct or Intuition.

2.                                                                    2. Controlled by Suggestion.

3. Inductive Reasoning.                                  3.

4. Imperfect Deductive Reasoning.                4. Perfect Deductive Reasoning.

5. Imperfect Power of Recollection.               5. Perfect Memory.

6. Brain Memories of Emotional                    6. The Seat of the Emotions.

Experiences.

7.                                                                    7. Telepathic Powers.

8.                                                                    8. Kinetic Energy.

In undertaking an analysis of the faculties of the two minds, one broad and pregnant fact stands forth in bold relief and strikes one with the force of a revelation, and that is that the only faculty which belongs exclusively to the objective mind is that of inductive reasoning.

The other objective faculties set down in the list, namely, the power of deductive reasoning and of memory, are the necessary concomitants of induction. The obvious explanation is that inductive reasoning presupposes facts to reason from ; and memory is the storehouse of facts. Moreover, the power of deduction is obviously a necessary part of inductive reasoning.

It will be observed that these faculties, the concomitants of induction, are shared by the subjective mind; the only difference being one of degree. That is to say, they are perfect and inherent in the subjective mind, whereas, in the objective mind they are exceedingly imperfect, and depend for their degree of development upon laborious cultivation.

Other faculties belonging primarily to the subjective mind are represented in the brain ; as, for example, the emotions. We are told that every faculty, every emotion, has its special compartment in the brain structure. This may be, and doubtless is, true. Whether each compartment has been correctly located, is another question. However that may be, our emotional experiences are registered in the brain. That is, each objectively conscious experience creates new brain cells, which in the aggregate constitute the brain memories of our experiences. But they are only memories. They are facts for the use of our inductive powers. They complete the mental organism of the brain. The seat of the emotional faculties is, nevertheless, in the subjective mind.

It will thus be seen that the aggregate of the faculties of the objective mind constitute pure intellect. They are the faculties of reason and judgment. They form the judicial tribunal of the dual mind. When properly cultivated and developed, they sit in judgment upon every act of our lives; they regulate every emotion; they restrain every passion and direct it into legitimate channels. In short, reason is at once the tenure by which man holds his free moral agency, and the power which enables him to train his soul for weal or woe in this world and the world to come.

Referring now to the faculties of the subjective mind, I will premise by saying that it is impossible to make a complete analysis of them without being compelled to consider them with reference to a future life. The reason is that many of them are wholly useless in this life. Others perform limited functions in this life, but each and all are perfectly adapted to the uses of the discarnate soul.

The limitations of power in the subjective mind consist in the fact that as long as the soul inhabits the body, it is normally amenable to control by suggestion. That is to say, it accepts as veridical every suggestion imparted to it. This apparent deficiency is to a great extent supplied in this life, and wholly in the future life, by the faculty of intuitive apprehension of essential truth.

I have now laid down a provisional foundation for the argument which is to follow. I am sensible that the proofs are thus far meagre and unsatisfactory from a scientific point of view, but I hope to be able to remove that objection before I conclude,

I shall first consider the subject from the evolutionary view-point. I do so for four good and sufficient reasons, namely :

First, because the known facts of evolution are demonstrative of duality of mind.

Secondly, because they are demonstrative that the brain is not the Sole organ of the subjective mind.

Thirdly, because they show that in the lowest order of animal life is found the promise and potency of a human soul.

And fourthly, because the same facts reveal the Living God, and demonstrate the divine pedigree of man.

In dealing with these propositions I must take for granted what science so clearly shows, that man is the product — the highest possible product — of organic evolution. That is, by a series of progressive changes, man was evolved from the lower orders of animal life.

I shall undertake to show that, in the history of organic and mental evolution in this world, the subjective mind antedates the objective mind by untold millions of years; that the highest manifestation of intellectual power in mankind finds its embryotic prototype in the mental powers of the lower animals ; that, as the physical man descended in a direct line from the primordial germ, so do we find therein the promise of a human soul, with all its God-like attributes and potentialities.

In undertaking this task I shall not tax your credulity by propounding unsupported dogmas or undemonstrable propositions. I purpose to deal with the simplest of the well known facts of organic and mental evolution. The only thing that I shall take for granted is that every intelligent person present accepts the fundamental doctrine of evolution. There are two theories to choose from:

One is that the Great First Cause is an infinite intelligence, and as such is capable of impressing the universe of matter with such laws as result in the creation of worlds and of men by a process of gradual, progressive development or evolution.

The other theory is that God is a being of somewhat limited intelligence, and is, consequently, compelled to supplement his work from time to time, by special creations to supply deficiencies or meet unexpected emergencies.

I take it for granted that most of us are capable of entertaining the grander, nobler conception of the Deity and his attributes embraced in the theory of evolution. I shall not, therefore, weary your patience with a long dissertation on the subject of evolution. It must suffice to say that the accepted theory is that man is descended from the lower animals by a line so direct and obvious that the scientific investigator is compelled to yield instant assent to the doctrine. Happily, the time is past when belief in evolution subjected one to the charge of religious skepticism, of materialism, or of atheism. Enlightened people are no longer frightened at the progress of science, or regard it as the enemy of religion, or fear that a demonstration of the truth of the doctrine of evolution will annihilate God or subvert the teachings of the Man of Nazareth. In point of fact, the study of purely organic evolution, whilst it gives a higher conception of the powers and attributes of the Great First Cause, neither proves nor disproves any of the essential doctrines of Christianity.

It begins with the primordial germ and ends with man ; but it can neither prove nor disprove the doctrine of spontaneous generation of life in the germ, nor can it either prove or disprove the doctrine of the immortality of man. It traces his pedigree from a microscopic, unicellular organism up through a thousand gradients to the grand culmination of physical perfection; and it has demonstrated that he is the highest possible product of organic evolution; but it pauses, helpless and impotent,, before the grander problem, — that more momentous question, — " Is this all there is of evolution? Is there nothing in your science to inspire a hope that in some higher realm evolution may still carry us forward to a grander and nobler destiny? "

Thus far the study of organic evolution has failed to throw more than a faint sidelight upon the problem. The manifest reason is that its students have confined their attention to the physical aspect of the question, leaving the mental and spiritual sides unexplored. Even those who have sought to link the problems of the soul with the facts of organic evolution have generally begun at the wrong end of the subject and lost their bearings -in a maze of metaphysical speculation.

It will eventually be found that it is in the study of the evolution of the mind, beginning where animal life begins, that we come into contact with the facts which not only reveal the Living God, but proclaim the divine pedigree of man. It is there that the facts may be found, which demonstrate the existence of a soul in man; which reveal its genesis, and by which can be traced its rise, progress, and development from the beginning of organic life on this planet up to its perfection in man as a self-existent entity.

Let us begin, then, with the lowest form of animal life — the protozoa. These exist in vast numbers and in considerable Variety. They are unicellular organisms, microscopic in size, and are composed of protoplasm. The latter term is applied to a viscid, contractile, semi liquid, more or less granular substance, which forms the principal portion of an animal cell. It is, according to Huxley, " the physical basis of life." To be more exact, it should be said that it is the basis of the material medium through which life manifests itself.

Of the protozoa there is one group called the Monera. These, according to Haeckel, appear to be the lowest of the protozoa, for the reason that they are without nuclei, and hence, without visible organs.

To use the language of Haeckel :

" The Monera are the simplest of permanent cytods. Their entire body consists merely of soft, structureless plasson. However thoroughly we examine them with the most delicate chemical reagents and the strongest optical instruments, we find that all the parts are completely homogeneous. The Monera are, therefore, in the strictest sense of the word, ' organisms without organs ' ; or even in a strictly philosophical sense, they might not even be called ' organisms,' since they possess no organs, since they are cot composed o various particles. They can only be called organisms in so far as they are capable of exercising the organic phenomena of life, of nutrition, reproduction, sensation, and movement. If we tried to construct, a priori the simplest conceivable organism, we should always be compelled to fall back upon such a Moneron.''

Here, then, we have the very lowest form of animal life, — " an organism without organs," a simple mass of plasson, minus even the nucleus which belongs to the true cell; and, therefore, absolutely without a physical organization. And yet it is endowed with a mind — a conscious intelligence. In view of the function it performs, this is necessarily true. Any adaptation of means to ends is perforce the result of a mental process. A living creature is a mind organism; for it is mind, and mind alone, that distinguishes the animate from the inanimate. A cell is a living creature: therefore, the cell possesses a mind.

This, quoting largely from memory, is the reasoning of Professor Gates, of Washington, who has for the last twenty years given more intelligent study to the subject of cellular psychology than has any other man living.

In an article in the Therapist, for December, 1895, he says:

"Unicellular organisms possess all the different forms of activity to be found in the higher animals. Thus, the simplest cell can transform food into tissue and other metabolic products, and this is the basis of all the nutritive activities and processes of the higher animals; the cell can move parts of itself and is capable of locomotion, and this is the basis of all movement in the higher animals brought about by bone and muscles ; the cell can feel a stimulus and respond, and this is the basis of the sensory faculties of the higher animals ; the cell can reproduce itself by segmentation, and this is the basis of reproduction in the higher animals ; the cell on dividing inherits the actual qualities of its parent mass, and this is the basis of heredity ; in short, the cell contains in simplest form all of the activities to be found in man."

Before taking leave of Professor Gates, I desire to remark that he has demonstrated by a series of experiments that the cell has a capacity to acquire knowledge; that is to say, it can be educated. I have no time, however, to dwell upon that branch of the subject. It is sufficient for our present purpose to know that the unicellular organism, of the lowest order, is endowed with a mind.

What is this intelligence which so unerringly adapts means to ends and enables the creature to perform all those acts which are preservative of its life and of its species ? The ready reply is, " Instinct." True, we have a name for it that is in the mouth of every schoolboy. But names do not explain anything. What is instinct? Before defining it in set phrase, I must remark that instinct in the lower animals and intuition in man are identical, the latter being merely a higher and more complex development of the former. I define it as follows :

Instinct, or intuition, is the power possessed by each sentient being, in proportion to its development and in harmony with its environment, to perceive or apprehend, antecedently to and independently of reason or instruction, those laws of nature which pertain to the wellbeing of the individual and of the species to which it belongs.

Like every other faculty, organ, or agency in nature or in human affairs, it had a simple beginning. Like everything else of value to mankind, it has developed by a series of progressive steps to a state of wonderful complexity. It has kept pace with the physical development of animal life and with the mental development of humanity, until now it is the most wonderful faculty known to man; it is the most potential force below that of omnipotence ; it is the most gigantic intellectual attribute below that of omniscience; it is the subjective mind of man; it is the mental organism of the immortal human soul.

Let no one be frightened at the prospect of being compelled to find the genesis of his soul in such simple beginnings. When the theory of organic evolution was first promulgated, many sensitive persons revolted at the idea of tracing their physical pedigree back through a simian ancestry to a microscopic mass of protoplasm ; but facts are the words of God ; and the pedigree of the physical man is too plainly written in his organism to be misinterpreted by Reason.

But no one has cause to be ashamed of the origin of his soul, for its first manifestation of intelligence in the protoplasmic cell was essentially divine. In other words, it exhibited the essential attribute of omniscience, differing only in degree. The mental power that enables the moneron to perceive or apprehend the laws of its being is a power antecedent to and independent of reason, experience, or instruction; and, I submit, no other terms are required to define the essential attribute of omniscience.

The profound significance of this one fact cannot be overestimated. Standing on the very threshold of sentient life, science beholds indubitable evidence of an antecedent, omniscient intelligence; and, in the primordial germ, the embryo of physical man and the promise and potency of an immortal soul, endowed with God-like attributes and powers.

Step by step this intelligence expanded and became more and more complex as animal life rose in the scale of being and increased in mental and physical complexity, until man appeared — the crowning glory of sentient life, the ultimate product of organic evolution. Nor did the process stop here. It is still going forward, reaching into higher and higher realms as man approaches the higher civilization.

Much has been written on the subject of instinct by Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Romanes, and a host of lesser lights. Many facts have thus been accumulated; but it seems to me that no adequate generalization has yet been made, nor have the phenomena been correlated with cognate phenomena in such a way as to give us a true conception of the far-reaching significance and importance of the faculty.

There are many and variant definitions of the word " instinct " ; but none of them seems to me to describe the full scope and province of the faculty. All authorities agree, however, that it is antecedent to reason, and yet that it impels to just such acts as reason would approve ; that its sphere of usefulness among the lower animals is to preserve the life of the individual and to perpetuate the species to which it belongs.

Is this all there is of instinct? Is that faculty confined, in its sphere of operations, to the preservation of physical life? I think not.

It is within the knowledge of every one that instincts can be cultivated and their scope enlarged. Every step from the lower animals upward is marked by a corresponding enlargement and a constantly increasing complexity of the instinctive faculty. Heredity plays an important role in this development ; and up to the time when the brain appeared as a factor in organic evolution, heredity was doubtless the prime factor. When the brain appeared, however, instinct did not cease its functions. On the contrary, it developed the more rapidly, and the more rapidly enlarged its sphere of activity and usefulness.

In fact, the brain seems to have been evolved in response to the necessities of animal existence in the " great struggle for life " then going on, just as other weapons of offence and defence were evolved. When it appeared, it immediately became the educator of the subjective mind, which is the mind of instinct or intuition, and which, under the law of suggestion and by means of its perfect memory, accepts, assimilates, and retains whatever is imparted to it by the objective mind. The subjective thus becomes a vast storehouse of memories, habits, and principles, good or bad, that flow into it through the education of the objective mind. Hence it is that when the subjective faculties are roused into activity, they pour forth their accumulated store of knowledge, often displaying unsuspected ability and learning.

I am aware that it has been held that as intelligence increases, instincts decrease in number and complexity. Cuvier, for instance, maintained that instinct and intelligence stand in inverse ratio to each other. On the other hand, it has been shown by Pouchet that those insects with the most wonderful instincts are certainly the most intelligent. In the vertebrate series the least intelligent members — the fishes and amphibians — do not possess complex instincts. And, according to Morgan, the mammal most remarkable for that faculty, namely, the beaver, is highly intelligent. In point of fact, the exact opposite of Cuvier's dogma is demonstrably the truth; and when we come to include man in the category of animals possessing the faculty of instinct, it will be obvious that intelligence and instinct stand in direct ratio to each other in all the broad realm of sentient life.

Darwin made a partial statement of a great truth when he said : " Some intelligent actions, after being performed during several generations, become converted into instincts and are inherited." (See Descent of Man, p. 67.)

If he had said that " all intelligent actions, whether of animals or of men, which are promotive of the well-being of the individual or of the race, physically, mentally, morally, or religiously, after being performed during several generations, become converted into instincts and are inherited," he would have made a more complete statement of the principle, and would have defined the higher limitations of the faculty of instinct as developed in this world.

Among the lower animals, instincts are comparatively fixed and stable in their operation from generation to generation. But as animals rise in the scale of intelligence, their instincts are modified from time to time to meet the exigencies of changing environment. Some are wholly lost when there no longer exists a necessity for their exercise. Others are radically changed, and innumerable new ones are acquired. Romanes, in his great work. Mental Evolution in Animals, cites numerous examples illustrative of these propositions.

As before remarked, man forms no exception to these rules. The acquisition of a brain by the lower animals did not destroy the mind previously existent: on the contrary, it only served to give it greater scope, complexity, and power. Neither did the wonderful development of the brain in man destroy that mind through which instinct had manifested itself from the moneron upward. It only served to modify the old instincts, eliminate those which were no longer useful, and add new ones suitable to the environment and the stage of intellectual and moral development.

In man, instinct is no longer confined to mere physical self-preservation. It reaches up into the intellectual realm — into the domain of sociology, morality, religion, conscience — into all the higher activities which distinguish man from the brute creation. All the acts resultant from these higher activities of the mind, in the language of Darwin, "after being performed during several generations become converted into instincts and are inherited."

In the meantime, the general function of instinct is the same in man as it is in the lower animals.

Let me not be misunderstood on this point. What I desire to be understood as saying is this : that all impulses, desires, or emotions which are promotive of the well-being of the individual or of the species to which he belongs, appertain to the domain of instinct or intuition. And this is true whether they are manifested in the lower animals in the impulses of self-preservation and reproduction, or in the noblest acts of man when they are promotive of the general welfare of humanity, physically, mentally, morally, or spiritually.

Moreover, the memory of the subjective mind being perfect, all the experiences of the individual, all the learning which he may have acquired, however superficially it may have been impressed upon the brain, contribute to the grand sum-total of the intellectual and moral equipment of his soul.

Unperverted instincts are always promotive of the highest interests of the individual and of the general welfare of the race. But it will be readily understood that even the higher instincts, in common with the lower, may be perverted by a wrong education or pernicious environment. A perversion of the instinct of religious worship has drenched the earth with blood. A perversion of conscience lighted the fires of the Inquisition, and still peoples the earth with cranks, who would relight those fires if they had the power.

Thus far I have confined my remarks to those instincts which pertain to the well-being of the race, and which may be classed under the generic title of the " instinct of self-preservation," although they include the broadest altruism in their ultimate development and application. It is, however, with the higher intuitional powers that we are most concerned for the purposes of this argument. I have said that instinct and intuition are identical. They differ only in degree and sphere of activity, and even in these they merge by imperceptible gradations. They are both concerned with general laws and essential truth. They both pertain to the welfare of the individual and his species. But intuition is concerned with the welfare of the soul in the future life as well as with that of the body in this life.

I now approach another class of instincts or intuitions of a more purely intellectual character. I provisionally classify them separately for the reason that they do not, save in a very indirect way, contribute to the preservation of life or of the race. It is, nevertheless, but a higher development of the same faculty, and it is generally denominated "intuition."

I refer to that power or faculty in man which enables him, under certain conditions, not yet clearly understood, to perceive or apprehend certain fixed laws of nature by intuition — that is, antecedently to reason and independently of objective education. It is a faculty rarely developed, and only appears under abnormal, or at least exceptional, conditions. A sufficient number of cases, however, have come to light to enable us to be certain that the faculty exists, and to lead inferentially to some very broad generalizations.

The instances of its development which are most familiar to the general public are in mathematical and musical prodigies, of whom Zerah Colburn and Blind Tom are, respectively, representatives. Colburn could solve the most intricate arithmetical problems instantaneously when he was a mere child and before he had been taught the powers of the nine digits ; thus demonstrating the fact that he possessed the intuitive power of perception of the law of numbers.

Blind Tom was an idiot, and hence was incapable of receiving an education, and of reasoning in the objective sense of the term ; and yet, when a child, and absolutely without instruction of any kind, or the brain capacity to receive instruction, he was able to improvise the most delightful and harmonious strains of music on the piano.

From this case alone two very important conclusions are to be derived :

First, it is demonstrative that Blind Tom possessed an intuitive knowledge of the laws of harmony of sounds ; for he had no education, musical or other ; nor was he capable of receiving an education depending upon a brain structure, for he was a microcephalus — an idiot.

Secondly, it is demonstrative that the brain is not the organ of the subjective mind; for all real music has its origin in the soul.

On this latter point I particularly desire to make myself clearly understood. I have assumed that the subjective mind of man is directly descended from that mind which is found in the lowest order of animal life, differing only in its degree or stage of development; that it existed millions of years before a brain was developed; and that, consequently, the brain never was its organ and is not its organ now. Startling as this hypothesis may be to materialistic scientists, it is, nevertheless, demonstrably true, as I shall proceed to show.

There is, in fact, no a priori reason why it should not be true. On the contrary, it would require a violent stretch of the imagination to conceive the idea that an organized intelligence once existent could be destroyed by progressive development. Moreover, it would require very strong affirmative evidence to convince a reasonable being that an intelligence once located in a physical structure could change its organ of manifestation. Since we know, therefore, that the subjective mind once existed independently of a brain, we must suppose that it continues to do so, at least until the contrary is demonstrated.

I say we know that it once existed independently of a brain structure. That is, we know that the instinctive mind of the lower animals is identical with the subjective mind of man ; for the reason that the faculties are the same in both. A glance at the list will make this proposition clear.

The first is intuition, which is identical with instinct in animals. The second is deduction, which is a concomitant of instinct or intuition. Inerrant deduction is the instinctive logic of the subjective mind ; and this is as true of the lower animals as it is of men. Next come the emotions, which are obviously the same in men and animals, being differentiated only by the restraining powers of reason and conscience. The next on the list is telepathy. There are many who hold that telepathy is largely employed by the lower animals to supply their deficiencies in oral means of communication. I do not pretend to know whether this is true or not, never having investigated that subject with sufficient thoroughness to enable me to venture an opinion. However this may be, the faculty of telepathy clearly belongs to the subjective mind of man, and, like many other faculties of that mind, it contains the promise and potency of powers indispensable to the discarnate soul.

I must not forget to mention in this connection that the limitations entailed by the law of suggestion are precisely the same in animals as in men. Were this not true, man could never have obtained dominion over animals stronger than himself. In other words, but for that law man could never tame a tiger or harness a horse.

It will thus be seen that all a priori reasons sustain the proposition that the brain is not the organ of the subjective mind.

Fortunately, however, the materialistic scientists themselves have unwittingly demonstrated this fact by the use of the scalpel. The scalpel, you know, is their favorite instrument of search for the human soul. They have cut and carved, weighed and measured and chemically analyzed the brains of men living and dead; and because they have failed to corral a soul by those means, they have dogmatically declared that man has no soul.

But, as I said, they have, without realizing it, demonstrated the fact that they have all along been looking for it in the wrong place. Thus, more than twenty years ago, ex-Surgeon-General Hammond, in the President's address delivered before the New York Neurological Society, showed that certain faculties of the mind are seated in the spinal cord, and not in the brain. In his great work on Insanity he reiterates his declaration and demonstrates by many original experiments that the brain is not the organ of the instinctive faculties. Among other experiments, he totally eliminated the brains of certain living animals, and found that the instinctive functions were performed precisely as before.

He quotes many eminent authorities to sustain his position, and explicitly declares that the instinctive faculties do not reside in the brain. He further declares that they are seated " exclusively in the medulla oblongata, or in the spinal cord, or in both those organs."

Now, be it remembered, those faculties which are found not to be located in the brain are all faculties of the subjective mind.

I am not disposed, however, to agree with Dr. Hammond in his confident statement that those faculties are located exclusively in any organ of the human body, much as I admire him for his genius and his vast learning. That declaration was doubtless made without duly considering all the facts collateral to the subject he was then investigating. Be that as it may, he has succeeded in demonstrating duality of mind by the use of the scalpel.

He doubtless felt that it was incumbent upon him to locate the instinctive faculties somewhere, since he had shown that they do not reside in the brain. This, however, is a fallacy which the Doctor will probably admit freely when his attention is called to the consequences it involves.

Materialistic scientists have succeeded in demonstrating that the objective mind is a function of the brain, and that it is, therefore, inherent in the brain. It follows that when the brain dies the objective mind ceases to exist.

This is unquestionably true. But it does not follow, as they would have us believe, that the subjective mind is inherent in any one or more organs of the body. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the subjective mind exists independently of any specialized organ whatever. That its control of the body is not dependent upon any specific physical organization, is shown in the moneron. Haeckel tells us that the moneron is a simple, homogeneous mass of plasson, and is entirely destitute of any organs whatever — not even containing the nucleus, which is the earliest development of a physical organ in animal life. Yet this moneron is animated by the intelligence of which I have been speaking, this God-like intelligence which materialistic science has dismissed under the name of instinct or intuition, without accounting for either, but which, wherever it appears in animate nature, is the symbol of Divinity.

Now, it seems to me to be self-evident that the power which is capable of animating a homogeneous mass of plasson with life and intelligence, is certainly not dependent upon specific organs for its capacity to animate the human body and to control its functions. There is, therefore, no a priori reason for supposing that the brain is the organ of the subjective mind.

Again, this is demonstrated in experimental hypnotism by the well-known fact that when a hypnotic subject is deeply entranced, he retains no recollection of what has occurred during his sleep, however exciting, or even tragic, may have been the scenes through which he passed. Now, every student of cerebral anatomy knows that every brain-thought, every experience of which the brain takes cognizance, causes a modification of brain cells, thus creating brain memories. The absence of brain memories immediately following an exciting experience is, therefore, demonstrative that the brain was not cognizant of the experience.

There are, in short, thousands of good and sufficient reasons, backed by facts beyond dispute, for declaring that the brain is not the organ of the subjective mind ; and not one fact or valid argument has ever been adduced to show that it is.

These facts alone demonstrate the duality of mind. These facts alone go far to demolish the last stronghold of materialistic science in its efforts to prove the impossibility of a future life. A few words will make my meaning plain :

Their argument is based upon the hypothesis that the mind is the soul, the question of duality of mind, of course, not being considered. Their next proposition is that mind is the function of the brain and is inherent in that organ. Then they proceed to demonstrate by cerebral anatomy and experimental surgery that each faculty of the mind is controlled by a certain portion of the brain ; and that when one of these brain centres is eliminated or paralyzed by accident or design, the part or faculty of the mind controlled by that brain centre is forever destroyed. This, they argue, is demonstrative that the mind (and soul) is inherent in the brain and necessarily perishes with that organ. They also point out the fact that when the body is wasted by disease the mind grows correspondingly feeble ; and they draw the not unnatural conclusion that body, brain, and mind perish together. In these premises and in these conclusions they are unquestionably right ; and vain would be our hope of a future life if it depended upon the continued existence of the objective mind. That necessarily shares the fate of the physical organ of which it is the function. On the other hand, as I have already pointed out, the subjective mind is not the function of any physical organ. It is not an effect, but a cause — a cause antecedent to physical organization: an entity dependent upon organization only for the means of its phenomenal manifestation, and not for its existence. In other words, it is immanent and not inherent in the body.

A further illustration of the entire distinction in the sphere of the subjective from that of the objective mind is afforded by the involuntary functions, over which the former exercises an absolutely undivided sway. The objective mind cannot directly control one purely involuntary muscle. It cannot hasten or retard one vital process. All the marvellous co-ordination of the vegetative functions is effected through the dominion and sleepless vigilance of the subjective. Its medium of control is the sympathetic nervous system. The objective mind, on the other hand, normally directs the voluntary muscles and functions of the physical organism. Its medium of control is the cerebro-spinal system.

Now, a very important fact in this connection is that the functions of the two minds are not interchangeable. Thus, whilst the objective mind cannot, of its own volition, move a single involuntary muscle, the subjective mind can, and often does, take possession of the entire body and wield it at its will. This can be brought about experimentally by means of hypnotism, when the brain functions are held in total abeyance. It almost invariably occurs when the body is in imminent and deadly peril At such a moment the objective faculties are benumbed; but, under the control of the subjective mind, the body acts with preternatural rapidity and precision, and feats of strength are often performed that would be impossible under normal conditions. Spontaneous somnambulism furnishes many familiar illustrations of subjective control over both the voluntary and involuntary muscular systems.

I have cited these well-known facts for the purpose of showing how much more intimate and pervasive must be the connection between the subjective mind and the body than that subsistent between the objective mind and the body.

This difference being thus provisionally established, we might reasonably expect to find that the time of reaction to sensorial stimuli would be materially decreased during hypnosis. Accordingly, we learn from the experiments of Professor Stanley Hall and others that the time of reaction is decreased nearly one-half.

These evidences, however, are merely subsidiary ; but they are such indications as we might expect to find if the hypothesis is correct that the soul is immanent in the whole body and not inherent in any one part of it. The demonstrative evidence of the truth of this hypothesis is found in the phenomena immediately preceding that divine event to which the whole world moves — death.

When that supreme hour approaches we find that the observable phenomena are precisely what we should have a right to expect if it is true that the soul of man is immortal, and that it is, therefore, immanent, and not inherent, in the body.

We also find that the objective mind, on the approach of death, exhibits precisely the phenomenon that we should have a right to expect if it is true that it is inherent in the brain, and therefore perishes with that organ. The respective phenomena of the two minds then exhibited are simply these: the objective mind, in exact proportion to the growing weakness of the bodily organs, ceases to perform its functions in perfection. And it is generally, if not always, completely obliterated before final dissolution. Materialistic scientists have taken great pains to demonstrate that fact, believing it to be a conclusive argument against the doctrine of immortality. We may, therefore, accept their facts without further question, but not their conclusions.

On the other hand, the phenomenal manifestations of the subjective mind become more and more pronounced as death approaches and the body grows weak, and its strongest ones are at the very hour of dissolution. This fact is attested by all the records of psychic phenomena, including those of the Society for Psychical Research.

It is, in fact, the ultimate phenomenal demonstration of the universal law that the more perfectly quiescent the brain becomes, the stronger become the manifestations of the subjective mind. At the hour of death, therefore, after the brain has ceased to act and the objective mind is totally extinct, there is an interval before the soul takes its flight, in which it shines forth with transcendent lustre, to give the world assurance that the death of the body is but the birth of the soul into a more perfect life.

This IS somewhat of a digression, but it was necessary in order to make my position clearly understood in reference to a vital point in the evolution of the soul.

As I have before remarked, many instances are recorded of intuitive perception of the laws of physical nature that are fully as remarkable as those I have mentioned. The conditions most favorable to the development of the power are not known. It seems probable, however, that comparative freedom from the suggestions embraced in the technicalities of objective education is one, at least, of the necessary conditions ; for it is sometimes developed in idiots and frequently in children. When it is developed in children possessing a normal brain structure, it is always found, as in Zerah Colburn's case, that an objective education in the line of the development results in the loss of the subjective power. In Blind Tom's case an objective education was impossible, and hence he never lost the subjective faculty which distinguished him.