Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

Obedience To Thought Or Knowledge Was Shown By The Fact That His Dinner

Could Be At Once Interrupted By Awakening A New Train Of Feeling By A

New External Impulse. Put A Crooked Stick Resembling A Gun Into His

Hand,  And At Once The Man Was Seized With A Rage Comparable To That

Produced In The Strasburg Dog By Taking Hold Of His Tail. The Fury Of

Conflict Was On Him: With A Loud Yell He Would Recommence The Skirmish

In Which He Had Been Wounded,  And,  Crying To His Comrades,  Would Make A

Rush At The Supposed Assailant. Take The Stick Out Of His Hand,  And At

Once His Apathy Would Settle Upon Him; Give Him A Knife And Fork,  And,

Whether At The Table Or Elsewhere,  He Would Make The Motions Of Eating;

Hand Him A Spade,  And He Would Begin To Dig. It Is Plain That The

Impulse Produced By Seeing His Comrades Move To The Dining-Room Started

The Chain Of Automatic Movements Which Resulted In His Seating Himself

At The Table. The Weapon Called Into New Life The Well-Known Acts Of The

Battle-Field. The Spade Brought Back The Day When,  Innocent Of Blood,  He

Cultivated The Vineyards Of Sunny France.

In Both The Dog And The Man Just Spoken Of The Control Of The Will Over

The Emotions And Mental Acts Was Evidently Lost,  And The Mental

Functions Were Performed Only In Obedience To Impulses From

Without--I.E. Were Automatic. The Human Brain Is A Complex And Very

Delicate Mechanism,  So Uniform In Its Actions,  So Marvellous In Its

Creation,  That It Is Able To Measure The Rapidity Of Its Own Processes.

There Are Scarcely Two Brains Which Work Exactly With The Same Rapidity

And Ease. One Man Thinks Faster Than Another Man For Reasons As Purely

Physical As Those Which Give To One Man A Faster Gait Than That Of

Another. Those Who Move Quickly Are Apt To Think Quickly,  The Whole

Nervous System Performing Its Processes With Rapidity. This Is Not,

However,  Always The Case,  As It Is Possible For The Brain To Be

Differently Constructed,  So Far As Concerns Its Rapidity Of Action,  From

The Spinal Cord Of The Same Individual. Our Power Of Measuring Time

Without Instruments Is Probably Based Upon The Cerebral System Of Each

Individual Being Accustomed To Move At A Uniform Rate. Experience Has

Taught The Brain That It Thinks So Many Thoughts Or Does So Much Work In

Such A Length Of Time,  And It Judges That So Much Time Has Elapsed When

It Has Done So Much Work. The Extraordinary Sense Of Prolongation Of

Time Which Occurs In The Intoxication Produced By Hasheesh Is Probably

Due To The Fact That Under The Influence Of The Drug The Brain Works

Very Much Faster Than It Habitually Does. Having Produced A Multitude Of

Images Or Thoughts In a Moment,  The Organ Judges That A Corresponding

Amount Of Time Has Elapsed. Persons Are Occasionally Seen Who Have The

Power Of Waking At Any Desired Time: Going To Bed At Ten O'Clock,  They

Will Rouse Themselves At Four,  Five Or Six In The Morning,  As They Have

Made Up Their Minds To Do The Previous Night. The Explanation Of This

Curious Faculty Seems To Be That In These Persons The Brain-Functions Go

On With So Much Regularity During Sleep That The Brain Is Enabled To

Judge,  Though Unconsciously,  When The Time Fixed Upon Has Arrived,  And

By An Unconscious Effort To Recall Consciousness.

Of Course The Subject Of Automatism Might Have Been Discussed At Far

Greater Length Than Is Allowable In The Limits Of Two Magazine Articles,

But Sufficient Has Probably Been Said To Show The Strong Current Of

Modern Physiological Psychology Toward Proving That All Ordinary Mental

Actions,  Except The Exercise Of The Conscious Will,  Are Purely Physical,

Produced By An Instrument Which Works In a Method Not Different From

That In Which The Glands Of The Mouth Secrete Saliva And The Tubules Of

The Stomach Gastric Juice. Some Of My Readers May Say This Is Pure

Materialism,  Or At Least Leads To Materialism. No Inquirer Who Pauses To

Think How His Investigation Is Going To Affect His Religious Belief Is

Worthy To Be Called Scientific. The Scientist,  Rightly So Called,  Is A

Searcher After Truth,  Whatever May Be The Results Of The Discovery Of

The Truth. Modern Science,  However,  Has Not Proved The Truth Of

Materialism. It Has Shown That The Human Organism Is A Wonderful

Machine,  But When We Come To The Further Question As To Whether This

Machine Is Inhabited By An Immortal Principle Which Rules It And Directs

It,  Or Whether It Simply Runs Itself,  Science Has Not,  And Probably

Cannot,  Give A Definite Answer. It Has Reached Its Limit Of Inquiry,  And

Is Unable To Cross The Chasm That Lies Beyond. There Are Men Who

Believe That There Is Nothing In The Body Save The Body Itself,  And That

When That Dies All Perishes: There Are Others,  Like The Writer,  Who

Believe That They Feel In Their Mental Processes A Something Which They

Call "Will," Which Governs And Directs The Actions Of The Machine,  And

Which,  Although Very Largely Influenced By External Surroundings,  Is

Capable Of Rising Above The Impulses From Without,  Leading Them To

Believe In The Existence Of More Than Flesh--Of Soul And God. The

Materialist,  So Far As Natural Science Is Concerned,  Stands Upon Logical

Ground,  But No Less Logical Is The Foundation Of Him Who Believes In

Human Free-Will And Immortality. The Decision As To The Correctness Of

The Beliefs Of The Materialist Or Of The Theist Must Be Reached By Other

Data Than Those Of Natural Science.

H.C. Wood,  M.D.

Our Monthly Gossip.

Civil-Service Reform And Democratic Ideas.

A Movement Which Appeals Not To The Emotions,  But To The

Intellect--Whose Advocates Aim At Enlightening-The Public Mind And

Convincing It Of The Truth Of Some New Or Disregarded Principle,  And The

Necessity Of Enforcing It--Needs Above All Things Open And Active

Opposition,  Both As A Stimulant To Its Supporters And As A Means Of

Arousing General Attention. It Has Been Very Unfortunate For Our

Civil-Service Reformers That They Have Never Been Able To Provoke

Discussion. They Have Had The Field Of Argument All To Themselves. Their

Repeated Challenges Have Been Received Only With Silent Respect,

Scornful Indifference,  Or Expressions Of Encouragement Still More

Depressing. Those Whose Hostility They Were Prepared To Encounter Have

Been The Readiest To Acknowledge The Truth Of Their Propositions--

Considered As Pure Abstractions--And Have Even Invited

Them To Apply Their System--In Conjunction With That Which It Seeks To

Supplant. Meanwhile,  The Popular Interest Has Been Kept Busily Absorbed

By Issues Of A Different Nature; And The Reformers,  Snubbed In Quarters

Where They Had Confidently Counted On Aid,  And Hustled From The Arena In

Which They Had Fondly Imagined They Were To Play A Prominent Part And

Exert A Decisive Influence,  Are Now,  It Is Announced,  About To Devote

Their Energies To The Quiet Propagation Of Their Views By Means Of

Tracts And Other Publications,  Abstaining From Any Appearance In The

Domain Of Actual Politics Either As A Distinct Party Or As An Organized

Body Of Independent Voters Appealing To The Hopes And Fears Of Existing

Parties,  And Ready To Co-Operate With One Or The Other According To The

Inducements Offered For Their Support.

We Heartily Wish Them Success In This New Enterprise,  And It Is As A

Contribution To Their Efforts That We Publish In This Number Of The

Magazine An Article Which,  So Far As Our Observation Extends,  Is The

First Direct Argumentative Attack Upon Their Doctrines And Open Defence

Of The System They Have Assailed. We Shall Not Undertake To Anticipate

Their Reply,  But I Shall Content Ourselves With Pointing Out,  On The

Principle Of _Fas Est Ab Hoste Doceri,_ What They May Learn From This

Attack,  And Especially What Hints May Be Derived From It In Regard To

The Proper Objective Point Of Their Proposed Operations. Hitherto,  If We

Mistake Not,  They Have Been Led To Suppose That The Only Obstacles In

Their Way Are The Interested Antagonism Of The "Politicians" And The

Ignorant Apathy Of The Great Mass Of The People,  And It Is Because They

Have Found Themselves Powerless To Make Head Against The Tactics Of The

Former Class That They Intend To Confine Themselves Henceforth To The

Work Of Awaking And Enlightening The Latter. There Is Always Danger,

However,  When We Are Expounding Our Pet Theories To A Group Of Silent

Listeners,  Of Ignoring Their State Of Mind In Regard To The

Subject-Matter And Mistaking The Impression Produced By Our Eloquence.

George Borrow Tells Us That When Preaching In Rommany To A Congregation

Of Gypsies He Felt Highly Flattered By The Patient Attention Of His

Hearers,  Till He Happened To Notice That They All Had Their Eyes Fixed

In A Diabolical Squint. Something Of The Same Kind Would,  We Fear,  Be

The Effect On A Large Number Of Persons Of Well-Meant Expositions Of The

English Civil-Service Reform And Its Admirable Results. Nor Will Any

Appeals To The Moral Sense Excite An Indignation At The Workings Of Our

Present System Sufficiently Deep And General To Demand Its Overthrow.

Civil-Service Reform Had A Far Easier Task In england Than It Has Here,

And Forces At Its Back Which Are Here Actively Or Inertly Opposed To It.

There The System Of Patronage Was Intimately Connected With

Oligarchical Rule; Official Positions Were Not So Much Monopolized By A

Victorious Party As By A Privileged Class; The Government Of The Day Had

Little Interest In Maintaining The System,  The Bulk Of The Nation Had A

Direct Interest In Upsetting It,  And Its Downfall Was A Natural Result

Of The Growth Of Popular Power And The Decline Of Aristocracy. Our

System,  However Similar In Its Character And Effects,  Had No Such

Origin; It Does Not Belong To Some Peculiar Institution Which We Are

Seeking To Get Rid Of: On The Contrary,  It Has Its Roots In certain

Conceptions Of The Nature Of Government And Popular Freedom--Of The

Relations Between A People And Those Who Administer Its Affairs--Which

Are All But Universally Current Among Us.

It Is This Last Point Which Is Clearly And Forcibly Presented In The

Article Of Our Contributor,  And Which It Will Behoove The Reformers Not

To Overlook. Nothing Is More Characteristic Of The American Mind,  In

Reference