208 THE KIDDLE OF THE UNIVEESE. 



moral proof — that the defects and the unsatisfied 

 desires of earthly existence must be fulfilled by 

 " compensative justice" on the other side of eternity 

 ■ — is nothing more than a pious wish. The ethno- 

 logical proof — that the belief in immortality, like the 

 belief in God, is an innate truth, common to all 

 humanity — is an error in fact. The ontological proof 

 — that the soul, being a " simple, immaterial, and 

 indivisible entity," cannot be involved in the cor- 

 ruption of death — is based on an entirely erroneous 

 view of the psychic phenomena ; it is a spiritualistic 

 fallacy. All these and similar " proofs of athanatism " 

 are in a parlous condition ; they are definitely annulled 

 by the scientific criticism of the last few decades. 



The extreme importance of the subject leads us to 

 oppose to these untenable "proofs of immortality " a 

 brief exposition of the sound scientific arguments 

 against it. The physiological argument shows that 

 the human soul is not an independent, immaterial 

 substance, but, like the soul of all the higher animals, 

 merely a collective title for the sum-total of man's 

 cerebral functions ; and these are just as much 

 determined by physical and chemical processes as 

 any of the other vital functions, and just as amenable 

 to the law of substance. The histological argument 

 is based on the extremely complicated microscopic 

 structure of the brain; it shows us the true 

 " elementary organs of the soul " in the ganglionic 

 cells. The experimental argument proves that the 

 various functions of the soul are bound up with 

 certain special parts of the brain, and cannot be 

 exercised unless these are in a normal condition ; if 

 the areas are destroyed, their function is extinguished ; 

 and this is especially applicable to the " organs of 



