, 1842-09-10
For THE RADICAL.
T Concluded merit ueek.

of your paper, my attention was direct
ed 10 a communication signed a." pur
porting to be a crifique on a chapter Sc
lected from my book, recently published
in the Radical"
Whenever a Reviewer manifests a dis
position to withhold from public ~investi.
CATION and scrutiny, opinions, whethe,
civil, political or religious, at variance
with his own, and by distorted extracts
and misquotation, misrepresents the real
sentiments of the writer ~endeavours to
turn them into ridcule, no stronger evil
dence can be offered of s~elfishness, pre-
JUDGE and i'll nature. And TO impugn
the motives of an editor for conducting a
free, Independent and unshackled Press,
portrays a spirit not only dogmatical and
unsenerous, but verges closely on the
tyrannick. 1t is against such feelings
and such principles, | have raised my
voice, however feeble, in the work, |
have manifested some disposition 10 sub
nit TO the public; a production, which a
writer, signing himself.'J" has not only
prejudged, but refuted and condemned.
But before an intelligent community can
be ~dragooncd into his service, | will pro-
coed to point out the g%laring illiberality
and injustice exercised by the Reviewer
in the article under consideration. From
the entire chapter. two sentiments only
ofthc authorare selected for the criticism
and animadversion of the Reviewer.
The first, is as follows: "When her
habitation, her tools and nutriment be-
come vitality extinguishcd, and enter into
a state of physical decomposition ,wha,
then becomes of the brain, | profess an
utter ignorance, barely observing Sc
In commenting upon these words, the
the writer expresses himself as follows:
Il profess no acquaintance with the sci
ence Of Physiology, but | had been fought
to believe that the brain was a material
substance ike any other part OF the hu-
man frame, and returned like the rest Of
the body TO its kindred dust. The au-
thor ifhe meant any thing must have al
luded to the mind"
Now Mr.. Reviewer, if You had felt
the smallest disposition to have rendered
justice TO the author, you would have
given your readers his entire meaning.
Why did You halt at the word Observing
without giving the entire sentence
which was continued as follows: 'barely
observing, that my own brain has never
yet furnished me with an idea sufficient
ly vivid 10 conceive of a substance indie
pendent OF its properties The reader
will bear in mind, that | submitted the
proposition, which | endeavored TO sus-
tain and illustrate, that the brain was the
immediate organ of the mind, or in other
words, that there could be no mind with
out a brain, and were as inseperably
connected as the stomach ard digestion,
or the liver and bile. My sentiment
then, was as follows: barely placing be-
tween packets, such words as were stu
diously avoided, to prevent repetition, or
Pathology. "When her (the brain habi-
tation, her tools and her nutriment be-
come vitality ~extinguished, and enter in
to a state of physical decomposition.
what then becomes of the brain (the sole
and immediate organ ofthe mind) | pro-
iess an utter ignorance, barely observing. J
that my w brain has never yet fur
nished me with an idea sufficiently vivid
to conceive of a substance (the mind)
independent of its properties, (the scull.
inc Dlood, The line external senses, and
the nevous system.) If however, the
Reviewer can, by any system of Dialcc-
ticks or ratiocination, ~provethe minds in
dependence Of physical organization, or
in other words, a brain, then | will rea-
Oily acknowledge, that every PROPOSE
ton contained in the chapter published
originated in ignorance and arror, and was
unworthy of publication or perusal. The
other sentiment Git it may be so termed)
Is criticized as follows. After my imaein-
ed decapitation, | use the following Ian
guage. "Abstractedly, the reader might
be drawn to the conclusion, that | felt
(i~magined) myself dead. Far, rcry far
from it. On the contrary, both body