IDENTITY OF PERSONS. 



one half of which is pure charcoal, called by chemists carbon, and 

 the other a combination of the gases which constitute common air 

 and water. From this analysis it follows that, in round numbers, 

 the 14 Ibs. of bone which enter into the composition of the human 

 body, omitting minute fractions and insignificant quantities, 

 consist of 10 Ibs. of lime, 2 Ibs, of charcoal, combined with 2 Ibs. 

 weight of the gases just mentioned. 



A similar analysis of flesh and blood shows that they consist, in 

 nearly equal parts, of charcoal and the same gases, so that the 

 24 Ibs. weight of these substances which enter into the composition 

 of an average body, are resolved into 12 Ibs. of charcoal, combined 

 with an equal weight of the gases already mentioned. 



Thus, in fine, the ultimate materials of the average human body, 

 are 14 Ibs. of charcoal and 10 Ibs. of lime, impregnated with 

 116 Ibs. of water, and 14 Ibs. weight of the gases which form air 

 and water, that is, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. 



74. Now those who think that the intellectual principle residing 

 in the human body is nothing more than a quality or a property 

 arising from the matter composing it, must be able to imagine 

 how 14 Ibs. of charcoal, 10 Ibs. of lime, and 116 Ibs. of water can be 

 so mixed up with 14 Ibs. of air as to make a material thing 

 machine let us call it which can feel, think, judge, remember, 

 and reason. Let us try to imagine, for example, the possibility of 

 such a mass of charcoal, lime, and water discovering the existence, 

 position, and motion of the planet Neptune before it was ever 

 seen ; of ascertaining the periodicity of the planetary inequalities, 

 countless ages before many of these inequalities had passed 

 through one of their periods ; of inventing the printing press, the 

 ship, the steam-engine, and the electric telegraph ; of composing 

 " Paradise Lost;" of producing the Transfiguration and the 

 Antinous, or of designing the Parthenon ! 



But it will be answered, that the power of intelligence is 

 ascribed not to the mere inert materials of the human body, but 

 to their organisation. What, then, is organisation ? Let us not 

 be misled by a long and learned word. Organisation is, and can 

 be, but some particular way of arranging the parts of which any 

 thing is composed. Thus, a given number and weight of stones 

 may be arranged in a thousand different ways, so as to compose as 

 many different structures, but each such structure is still a mere 

 mass of stone. It is true that the simple material elements which 

 we have enumerated above may be, and are, curiously combined 

 and arranged, so as to produce the human body. But after this is 

 accomplished, we are left as far as ever from any explanation as 

 to how the mere arrangement and peculiar juxta-position of the 

 material atoms, thus composing such a body, can produce the 



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