IN THE NOON OF SCIENCE 



side does not make the poet or the prophet or the 

 artist or the philosopher; it makes the man of sci- 

 ence. Such occupation, no doubt, tends to deaden 

 our interest in the finer and higher spiritual and in- 

 tellectual values. The physical side of things is not 

 often the joyous and inspiring side. The physical 

 side of life, the physical side of birth, of death, of 

 sex love, the physical side of consciousness and of 

 our mental processes, the physical or biological side 

 of our animal origin, and so on, are not matters upon 

 which we fondly or inspiringly dwell. The heart, 

 which symbolizes so much to us, is only a muscle 

 a motor-muscle, as we may say that acts under 

 the influence of some physical stimulus like any 

 other motor; the brain, which is the seat of thought 

 and consciousness, is a mass of gray and white mat- 

 ter incased in the skull. Every emotion or aspira- 

 tion, the highest as well as the lowest, has its physi- 

 cal or physiological equivalent in our own bodies. 



In the light of physical science our bodies are 

 mere machines, and every emotion of our souls is 

 accounted for by molecular changes in the brain- 

 substance. Life itself is explained in terms of chem- 

 ico-mechanical principles. Physical science spoke in 

 Huxley, and doubtless spoke accurately, when he 

 said, "The soul stands related to the body as the 

 bell of a clock to its works, and consciousness an- 

 swers to the sound the bell gives out when struck." 

 It is not a very comforting or inspiring comparison, 

 59 



