MATTER AND MIND. 183 



MATTER AND MIND. 



By FRANCES EMILY WHITE, M. D. 



~I TNDER cover of the words placed at the head of this paper, it is 

 v-J proposed to call attention to a few only of the more salient 

 points involved in the subject, and especially to those suggested in a 

 recent article in this journal,' in which the attempt is made to apply 

 the principle of correlation to certain forces (called indifferently men- 

 tal and spiritual), without recognizing that highly-important factor in 

 the manifestation of all known force, viz., matter. 



In examining any subject from what claims to be a scientific point 

 of view, established facts must not be ignored; and in proportion to 

 the importance of the question which science is called upon to answer, 

 should be the exactness of the solution offered. 



It has been conclusively shown, by experimental methods similar 

 to those employed in demonstrating other correlations, that emotion 

 and thought are correlated with heat and electricity;'' and the corre- 

 lation between thought and mass motion^ through the action of nerve 

 and muscle, is constantly exhibited in the human body. It must, then, 

 be admitted that these forces (thought, etc.), like those with which 

 they are correlated, are manifestations of matter. 



The scientist knows of no mode of energy manifested in any other 

 way than through matter; and the supposed "cycle of operations in 

 which there is no annihilation of spiritual force" must be regarded, 

 Tiot as a cycle, but rather as a segment of the great cycle which in- 

 cludes all natural phenomena. 



The idea of annihilation either of matter or of force is inadmis- 

 sible to science ; but there is a constant shilling a disappearing and 

 reappearing of different modes of energy, corresponding to the un- 

 ceasing mutations of matter; the special force manifested in any given 

 case depending on the kinds and conditions of the matter involved. 



The supposition of other kinds of force, differing from those recog. 

 nized by the pliysicist, implies either different kinds of matter, or the 

 same kinds differently conditioned. 



The relations of the different parts of an organism to each other, 

 and of the entire organism to its environment (the environment in- 

 cluding other organisms, as well as inorganic matter), must all be 

 scrutinized when we attempt to trace the source of the power mani- 

 fested by any organism, A symphony of Beethoven is made up of 

 bars and interludes of points and rests of quavers and semiquavers 



' " On the Annihilation of the Mind," by Prof. John Trowbridge, Popular Science 

 Monthly, April, 1877. 



2 University Series, No. 2, " Correlation of Vital and Physical Forces," by George F. 

 Barker, M. D. 



