THE FUTURE OF MIND. 239 



that my imaginary diagram bore a very close resemblance to the 

 corona observed in America on the occasion of the total eclipse of the 

 sun on the 11th of January, 1880. 



Enough has been said, I think, to prove that the theory I have 

 ventured to put forward is the result, at any rate, of considerable re- 

 flection ; and I may add that, since its first announcement, I have not 

 seen reason to reject any of the links of my chain of argument : these 

 I have here endeavored to strengthen only by additional facts and 

 explanations. 



If these arguments can be proved to the entire satisfaction of those 

 best able to form a judgment, they would serve to justify the poet 

 Addison when he says : 



" The unwearied sun from day to day 

 Does the Creator's power display, 

 And publishes to every land 

 The work of an Almighty Hand." 



Nineteenth Century. 



-+++- 



THE FUTURE OF MIND * 



Br PETER BRYCE, M. D. 



BUT what does science testify as to the probable future of mind in 

 earthly life ? Have mind and body attained their supreme 

 development ? Is humanity a fixed entity, incapable of essential modi- 

 fications or improvement ? All the evidence goes to show that the 

 improvement of the human race is practically illimitable. This is true 

 both of mind and body, which, as has been shown, advance pari passu, 

 and is made very evident by the fact that the pre-eminence of Euro- 

 peans over barbarous races, which is so manifest in their intellect, is 

 just as manifest in their anatomy and physiology. There is a diver- 

 sity of proofs of the advance of the physical man in modern times. 

 No one questions that the average duration of life is being steadily 

 prolonged. Besides a multitude of new arts and new sciences, all the 

 arts and sciences known to the ancients have been so wondrously de- 

 veloped as to seem like new creations of the modern man. Geology, 

 zoology, botany, chemistry, geography physical and political medi- 

 cine, painting, politics, theology, etc. every department, in fact, of 

 human interest have grown, as it were, into new and marvelous 

 revelations. But to suppose that these immense developments of art 

 and science can have resulted without corresponding improvements in 

 the human intellect, is to ignore very important biological principles. 



* From a discourse on " Some of the Phenomena of Mind," delivered before the 

 Medical Association of the State of Alabama, April 11, 1882, by Dr. Peter Bryce, Super- 

 intendent of the Alabama Insane Hospital, etc. 



