The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1841-01-30

published.
The subject which have chosen for this
evenings lecture is,
| THE MENTAL FACULTIES.
I All our knowledge is obtained through
the medium Of the external senses: ii 10
these senses that convey 10 the brain the
different impressions made upon them by
surrounding bodies, but of themselves they
would be inadequate 10 give us any ideas,
or 10 ins,ruc! the mind regarding the uni
verse. Ii is necessary that the brain should
take cognzance of objects presented by the
external senses before any perception or any
idea of them can exist: Ii is the province
Of the mind to convert the impressions con-
| veyed TO it into such ideas.
All the operations in the mind are the ef-
fects OF motions previously excited in the
brain, and every idea and thought appears
to depend upon motion peculiar to itself:
In a sound slate OF the mind these motions
| are regular, and succeed impressions upon
The brain with the same certainty aud uni.
| formlty, that perceptions succeed impress
ions upon the senses in their sound state.
The internal sensations, which consist
oil the numerous wants and apeti,es necessa-
ry for individual preservation and the pre-
servaton of the species, and the affective
and en1ofiUe faculties or the faculties of the
heart, it is not my intention to consider,
further than that they influence mans dispo-
si!ion and direc. his social existence.
Tie investigation Of these differen, mental
! and moral phenemena, was at one day, ,ardu-
ously pursued by men of splendid acquire
menls to but little effect, and constituted what
has been called psychology from notion
that they are exclusively the production of
the mind. They have been considered as
essentially distinct from matter or organiza.
| tion;and hence the appellstion Metaphysi-
clan applied to such as did, in their inyes.
| legations OF these subjects, proceed beyond
wha. was physical, ma!eriaI,or corpo,eal.
There have been many opinions enter
! iained on the subject of the mental faculties.
But will emily sdver, to three which ap.
pears 10 claim consideration.
lst Tha, all the mental phenomena are
immaterial and the exclusive product OF the
mind
2nd That the scniient principle within u.
requires the intervention Of an organ through
which i. acts. That mind has distinct ma
ture and is distinct reality from the body;
that it is gifted with immortality, and that i,
is a something snPeradded to organization.
| 81 That mind is the result Of organza-
tion and consequently where organization
Is imperfect, perception will lie imperfect, e.
when sound and vigorous, perception will
be clear and vigorous. This IS maferialism
which supposes certain condition Of mater
| capable oil thinking. reasoning and under
standing.
The doctrine, that our intellectual and
| moral acts are superadded to organic alton,
during life, and that there is an organ Of the
| body concerned in their manifestations lis
the one. which appears to me most consist
| ent with reason and analogy.
If the mental and moral phenomena were
the exclusive products of the immaterial
beyond the bounds of physiological inquiry.
but there are facts connected with the
manifestation Of the mind explicable under
this view Of the subject.
An immateral on spiritual principle ought
10 be immutable;yei we should have to sup.
pose il capable of al,eraiion;-of growing
with the growth Of the body; and OF becom.
ing old with it; of being awake or asleep;
sound or diseased; in fact of adapting itself
to the different states into which the body
may be thrown.
Understanding, memory, Imagination.
passions, the principle Of faith, with the
moral faculty, conscience, and the sense of
deity are the mental faculties, these are in.
nate and depend wholly upon bodily i'm.
pressions to producerheir specific operations,
which Impressions arc made through the
medium of external senses; hence the neces-
ny for the sound integrity of those senses.
II will be admitted that the mental facnl-
ties are acted upon and modified by the diff
fersni states and conditions of the body. In
the same individual the faculties vary accor-
ding 10 circumstances;-they are not the
same in the child as in the adult, nor IN
the adult as in one in advanced llfe;in health
as in disease; in wakenng as in sleep. Du-
ring an attack Of fever they become tempo
rarilv deranged, and permanently SO IN all
the varieties Of insanity. Again If thess fac
ulles were the exclusive product of the mind
and of course not TO be ascribed 10 diversity
Of organization we should have to admit tina.
each individual has different immaerial
principle and OF course that.he must be az
many kinds as there are individuals.
This is position which the advocates
of the doctrine wouId mt wish IN assume |