OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL. 



Now the problem we are dealing with is of this inverse kind. It may 

 be stated, Given the structure of the cerebrum, to determine the nature 

 of the agent that sets it in action. And herein the fact which chiefly 

 guides us is the absolute analogy in construction between the elementary 

 arrangement of the cerebrum and any other nervous arc. In it we plainly 

 recognize the centripetal and centrifugal fibres, and their con- External influ- 

 vergence to the sensory ganglia, the corpus striatum and f^ 

 optic thalamus ; we notice the vesicular material at their tial arc. 

 external periphery as presented in the convolutions of the human brain ; 

 and if in other nervous arcs the structure is merely automatic, and can 

 display no phenomena of itself, but requires the influence of an external 

 agent if the optical apparatus be inert and without value save under 

 the influences of light if the auditory apparatus yields no result save 

 under the impressions of sound since there is between these structures 

 and the elementary structure of the cerebrum a perfect analogy, we are 

 entitled to come to the same conclusion in this instance as in those, and, 

 asserting the absolute inertness of the cerebral structure in itself, 

 to impute the phenomena it displays to an agent as perfectly 

 external to the body and as independent of it as are light and sound, 

 and that agent is the soul. 



It would not comport with the object of this work to pursue this ar- 

 gument in its details, yet I can not forbear observing that, even so far as 

 we have already advanced, the point which, after all, is of the utmost 

 importance, is completely attained. Those who have accused physiology 

 of tending toward materialism have never duly weighed the accusation 

 they make, and certainly have never understood the nature of the argu- 

 ments it can present ; for such as the one here imperfectly set forth, from 

 their tangible nature, will commend themselves to many minds who do 

 not appreciate the strength of purely metaphysical arguments, and herein 

 they may become subservient to the highest and most enduring interests 

 of our race. 



And thus it may be proved that those actions which we term intellectual 

 do not spring from mere matter alone, nor are they functions Inde endence 

 of mere material combinations ; for though it is indisputably and immortal- 

 true that the mind seems to grow with the bodily structure, lty J 

 and declines with it, exhibiting the full perfection of its powers at the 

 period of bodily maturity, it may be demonstrated that all this arises 

 from the increase, perfection, and diminution of the instrument through 

 which it is working. An accomplished artisan can not display his power 

 through an imperfect tool, nor, if the tool should be broken, or become 

 useless through impairment, is it any proof that the artisan has ceased to 

 exist ; and so, though we admit that there is a correspondence between 

 the development of the mind and the growth of the body, we deny that 



