PHYSICAL LIFE.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2162, 8 December 1875, Page 2

PHYSICAL LIFE.

(To the Editdrfof the Evening Star.)

Sib,—l see in. your paper of tHe 2nd my questions on iPhysical Lifer &c. I give him credit for tjoldhess, sincerity, and a little.ingenuity in his answer; bat to my taste he-iiSrklitWesv too severe upon the ministersjbfvttieV gospel and, religious denominations; generally^hey'Will bear a favourable" comparison to .other- people. As I understand Mr Wood His."answer is —that-vegetable, animal arid: mental life is the' % atmosphere; this I deiyj/and will endeavour to prove that it is notilritmosphere. ' We can knqw ; ywhat tht£ atmosphere is by analysis, but do*not find one particle 'of vegetable ;or animal life in it: ThaJ; pu|[h^ to satisfy any one that it is not the same. Vegetable,., animal, and. mental life are. three distinct things, and not atmosphere at all. Animals ¥have five senses; which vegetables have not;, that is sufficient to show-they ; are* not the same; anS then there is a. great distinction between animal life and men|al life, as developed in man. One great philosopher says that man is God's great unsolved problem We know a great deal about him! but we do not know; what he is. There is a depth of mystery about Kirn we cannot fathom, and; some think that there are later powers about him that we know little about now hut will be developed in a futureilifel •/TheisameOorO similar to what exist in the -Animal world. The lungsl and the, jstoinacji exist;k loqg |iine before they,are ,wanted. There, area few distinguishing':pr6perties about 'mental life from animal life' as: much different as the lungs and the"stomach—and all of vast impdrtancel' For instance, take the affec.tionsV j which is >>one! distihctf department. So important is this that hu--manity could riot exist without, for what wbuldfjttoj; -world ibe ■without; lpv£ and goodness? This is one property to distinguish mental life from animal life. Again, there is the intellect, another faculty that animals do. not possess. Another' is"" the moral nature. Man is capable of'doing right or wrong. Ariiinals are ;g«jded by ■! instinct; but-iman has! reason—conscience—to guide ; him. IJe is not at liberty to go by his inciiriktidns or passions -'without being first subject to conscience: .and reason.-Another pro;: party that the mind has that animals hare not is.,the religious' faculty.,.;-,, Animals have no organ foe. this so as to worship the Supreme, Being; Of all the faculties that? Baan-fpossesses this appears at the head—the mdstrsublime, and qualified to afford more enjoyment than any other, if cultivated. If the sceptic admit of this—andjl do not see how he can deny it any more than be ; could deny that man had a heart or any UhW organ—his props would be taken from under him, for. all' I the rest must -ifollowi,. These are a few of the, properties that, make mental life' different to ariiihal life; and yet this .wonderful being (man or mental, life), according to Mr Wood,! has to vanish into air at death; ;To sme it appears to bo so very absurd, for mind is the greatest force in existence that \ve know of; some say that electricity is' the greatest force; i say no, for man,,'is capable of controlling it and making-it serve him ; he makes use of it to. ; send his thoughts round the world almost .im stantly. What is it that makes .man conquer the world? All the kingdoms of nature must serve him; the vegetable^ the animal, and'the mineral kingdom must bow to'his sceptre and contribute to his comfort: It is not his physical strength that gives him his power, but the mind. ; It is this which enables?him to • fly over I the earth with such large ponderous weight of dead matter; it is this which makes him king and lord of all the earth. When the simplest forms of matter cannot he destroyed; for to imagine that the highest form of existence-^-that is, mental life —is scattered like a cloud into that simple form of matter, air, that is more than;l can. believe; it is easier .to, beljeve that noble part of ourselves exists after death. Everything is U.ttle when compared to the mind; the body is only it's house for a time, and the world is only it's servant, and it never dies. We know, a great deal, ab^out/theiinin.di but we do not know what it is, or how it originated ; only'(Jodnjad^jit,, and it is the same substance as Himself, only varying in decree ::Hej is infinite and the mind finite. M^n's modesty would have i prevented him from claiming relationship to God. if the uoqd old Book had not informed him of this close rela-

tionship that he is His son. It appears when God made man He gave him the power to propagate his kind both physical and mentally. There are many things that exist " besides vegetable, phy-' cal and mental life " that we cannot prove by analysis and cannot know what they really are. Such as gravitation, electricity, galvanism and magnetism, we. know they exist, but what they are is a puzzler, A great deal we know about' them, but there i* a great deal more in the back ground we do not know. But to make out that mind is breath or atmosphere it equal to making it out to be nothing, Jtye only argument that' Mr Wood usek'to prove his position, is that'we cannot liv# without'air t but this no more proves the point; .than that mind k light, pjc food, is electricity, because we cannot live in this world without them.—lam, youra, &c, -r. , J. HOBN. December 6th 1872.