Notes & Queries.

Freethought Review, Volume I, Issue 3, 1 December 1883, Page 4

Notes & Queries.

ANSWERS. Replying to Query No. 5 ; University College, London, at which I was myself educated, is a great College at which “ theological teaching is forbidden,” Agnostic. I know no better definition of Pantheism than that given in Braude’s Dictionary of Science —“ In Metaphysical Theology, the theory which identifies nature, or the To Pan, the universe in its totality, with God; This doctrine differs from atheism in the greater distinctness with which it asserts the unity and essential vitality of nature; parts of which all animated beings are. The most ancient Greek philosophers were pantheists in this sense ; Anaxagoras being the first who distinctly stated the co-existence with nature of a reasonable creator— ‘ a mind the principle of all things.’ In this sense, too, Spinoza may be called a pantheist.”— In answer to “ Theist’s ” enquiry concerning the teachings of pantheism, I think the following extract from Mr. Becky’s “ Rationalism ” is clear and succint: —“ The pantheistic writings that flowed from the school of Averroes, reviving the old Stoical notion of a soul of nature, directed attention to the great problem of the connection between the worlds of matter and mind. The conception of an all-pervading spirit, which ‘ sleeps in the stone, dreams in the animal, and wakes in the man ’; the belief that the hidden vital principle which produces the varied forms of organisation, is but the thrill of the Divine essence that is present in them all—• this belief, which had occupied so noble a place among the speculations of antiquity, reappeared.”—T. There is no longer any doubt that hemlock—the Greek Koneion —was that used by the Athenians to poison their criminals. The following symptoms are described in the Phtedo of Plato : —“Socrates, having walked about, when he said that his legs were growing heavy, lay down on his back ; for the man so directed him. And at the same time he who gave him the poison, taking hold of him, after a short interval examined his feet and legs ; and then having pressed his foot hard, he asked if he felt, lie said that he did not. After this he pressed his thighs ; and thus going higher, he showed us that he was growing cold and stiff. Then Socrates touched himself, and said that when the poison reached his heart he should then depart. But now the parts around the lower belly were almost cold; when, uncovering himself, for he had been covered over, he said (and they were his last words), ‘ Crito, we owe a cock to -ZEsculapius ; pay it therefore, and do not neglect it.’ ‘lt shall be done,’ said Crito, ‘ but consider whether you have anything else to say.’ To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a convulsive movement, and then the man covered him, and his eyes were fixed ; and Crito, perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes,” A case of poisoning with Conium (hemlock) described by Dr. Hughes Bennett in his Clinical Lectures, and experiments by Dr. Christison on animals, have established beyond all doubt its identity with the poison given to the great atheist. The action of hyoscyamus (henbane) is essentially distinct, producing delirium like that of delirium tremens, Cardinal Manning has made a mistake.—B.

In perusing your Review of November Ist, I notice the reply of " E.T.," of New Plymouth, in answer to the query of "T." as to whether Dr. W. B. Carpenter acknowledged the truth of the phenomena of Spiritualism, Mesmerism, &c. Carpenter puts down the belief in Table-rapping, Table-turning, &c, as an example of "a variety of aberrant actions bordering on insanity." Quoting from a very able work on Spiritualism, " Undoubtedly Dr. Carpenter considers that his theory of unconscious cerebration explains the phenomena of Table-tipping, Table-rapping, &c." But any one who attempts to account for the manifestations of Spiritualism by so shallow a subterfuge as this, must remember that 99 out of 100 manifestations take place where there is no physical contact, and where there could be no unconscious cerebral action. It was long ago the method resorted to by Dr. John Borce Dods, of the United States—this back-brain theory or the unconscious cerebral

action in table-tipping ; but Dr. Dods was compelled to confess his error when he saw things fly through the air that were not within several feet of the medium. We defy Dr. Carpenter or any other scientific man to produce an effect of unconscious cerebation upon an object that is not in contact with any person. These are shallow explanations that serve the scientific world when they do not care to take the time to carry out a thorough investigation, but they do not satisfy those thinking minds who acknowledge the ability of those gentlemen in the various departments of science, knowing there are some things in heaven and earth not dreamed of in their philosophies. Spiritualism is the sublimest fact of the nineteenth century. It either belongs to that class of phenomena that for ever ennobles and elevates humanity, or it proves that the human mind itself is duped by the most sublime of forces. In either case it commands the attention of every enquiring mind, and every fact we can add to the aggregate of its experiences becomes available as the property of —lnvestigator, Palmerston North.

In answer to “ A Rationalist’s” enquiry, “ If it is true that John Stuart Mill proved David Hume’s argument against miracles to be fallacious,” I reply that he did nothing of the kind, hut merely expressed surprise that “ this very plain and harmless proposition, that whatever is contrary to a complete induction is incredible,” “ should either be accounted a dangerous heresy, or mistaken for a great and recondite truth.” The whole of chapter 25, vol. 4, of his System of logic, headed “ Of the Grounds of Disbelief,” is devoted to an examination of the arguments commonly used by orthodox writers against Hume, and especially to an exposure of certain fallacious applications of the mathematical “theory of probabilities” to the credibility of testimony, of which Mr. Babbage’s “ Ninth Bridgewater Treatise is the best known example. No doubt Hume’s argument has occasionally been interpreted to mean that a miracle is in itself impossible, and Mill points out that, granting the existence of an omnipotent Deity, this is a contradiction in terms, but he goes on to say that “ Hume has made out that no evidence can prove a miracle to any one who did not previously believe the existence of a being or beings with supernatural power ; or who believes himself to have full proof that the character of the being whom he recognises is inconsistent with his having seen tit to interfere on the occasion in question.” And he adds that “if we do not already believe in supernatural agencies, no miracle can prove to us their existence.” The fact supposed to be miraculous may be proved, “ but nothing can ever prove that it is a miracle.” It may be due to some unknown natural cause, as indeed it may be even if the existence of the supernatural is admitted. “ Religion following in the wake of science, has been compelled to acknowledge the government of the universe as being on the whole carried on by general laws, and not by special interpositions. To whoever holds this belief there is an antecedent improbability in every miracle, which, in order to outweigh it, requires an extraordinary strength of antecedent probability derived from the special circumstances of the case.”—R.B. Pindar. —The reference £ I sit as God ’ is in Tennyson’s Palace of Act:— “ I take possession of man’s mind and deed, I care not what the sects may brawl ; I sit as God, holding no form of creed, But contemplating all.” In reply to Query G in Number 2, the fundamental principles of Positivism are expressed briefly, by Comte himself in his Preface to the £ Cathechism of Positive Religion,’ as follows : “ In the name of the Past and of the Future, the servants of Humanityboth its philosophical and practical servants— come forward to claim as their due the general direction of this world. Their object is, to constitute at length a Providence, in all departments—moral, intellectual, and material. Consequently they exclude, once for all, from political supremacy, all the different servants of God—Catholic, Protestant, or Deist—as being at once.behindhand and a cause of disturbance.” The maxims “Do to others ” and “ Love your neighbour as yourself, ” are abolished as imperfect, and their place taken by the precept “ Live for others.” Humanity is the real Great Being, suggesting the sacred formula of Positivism : Love as our principle, Order as our basis, Progress as our end. —S.S,

QUERIES. 1. — ls it now believed by the best Oriental scholars that the original teaching of Buddhism excludes the idea of a Personal Ruler of the universe I—Agnostic.l — Agnostic. 2. —ls it true that the stronghold of Buddhism —Thibet — is, by the confession of Christian missionaries themselves, one of the happiest and most truly moral countries on the globe I —Agnostic. 3. —Can any of your readers give a brief and comprehensive view of the Philosophy of Descartes % H. 4. Would a Maori scholar give a description of the Maori Atua before the arrival of the Missionaries I—Centurion.