The Plymouth pilot. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1851-1852, 1851-11-05
COMMUSlCATED.
For the Pilot.
on THE MIND.

1
ties of matter, and all he says about the
essential properties of matter, is just as
applica Bile to stone as TO any part OF
the human body. He gives US the essen
tial properties of inGRimate matter, and
finding 10 consciousness. no reason, no
intelligence in this, he rushes TO the IL
logical and unphilosophical conclusion.
that organized liring matter. cannot
think! This foundation-his starting
point, is wrong, and his superstructure
worthless. The question is not, whe Their
stone can think, but whether liuing
man, organized from the elements Of ma
ture, thinks by his brain. When the
'lndianian' has proved that thought is
not dn essential property of matter. he
has gained nothing. | can prove that
sound is not an essential property of
musical instrument but what Will that
prove? Will ii prove that the harmony
of sound is not dependant upon the or
ganizatiOn of the Wind (or other musi
cal) instrument? Take the wood of
which an instrument is made, and there
is no music in it. Let it be organized
and yet there is no music in it. What
is the reason? Why music is not an es-
sential property of GOOD; this is matter,
and there is no music in matter; what is
wanting now to produce the concord of
sweet sounds" We must have the at
mosphcre, for where there is no atmos-
phere sound cannot be produced. But
the atmosphere is matter. and there is
no music in matter. Says the '.lndan-
ian." Cor he would say judging by what
has been said. an intelligent mind is ne
cessary to the production of sound. Yes;
but there is no music in the mind The
mind has the power of producing what
is not all essential property of itself.
And it has the faculty of approaching
the harmony of sounds produced. Now
for the application of this Illustration:
There is no sound, or harmony of sounds
in all instrument, none in the Amos
phere, ard none in the mind; but by com-
bining the three we have what is not in
either separately. So there may be no
thought. no reason, no intelligence in in-
animate matter; but when that matter
is organized, as we see it in man. who
will affirm ii cannot manifest thought!
Take the case of ID watch. There is no
time in the materials of which d watch Is
made; and yet, when organized by an in
telligent mind. it will indicate the lour
minute. and second. The msher winds
it up, and 1t continues to perform rs
functions until it runs down. So with
man; there may be no reason, or thought
in the component parts Of his coHstitu-
ton separately considefed but when or
gani1ed, and put in motion by the spirit
of life in the osphere, breathed into
5 his nostri!s by his Maker. he awakes to
consciousness. TO thought and reason.
The '.Indianian' has not been informed
| trust, that by combinins-chrmical
combining. two substances, third can
be produced, possessing none of the prop
critics of the two elements used. He has
not to be informed hope that man is
chemically formed or organized; and that
the light of analogy makes it highly pro-
bable, to say the least of 1t, that matter.
f thus chemically combined, is capable of
manifes ing mental functions. The word
nGturC embraces all created things. ami
ma tie and imam mate. Thus we have or
Sanzed aud unOrganized nature. The Or
ganized is again divided into the vegeta-
BILE and animal. Matter is nowhere in
the Scriptures, contrasted, or put in OPP
position TO spirit. Spirit is not the an
tithesis of matter. AaimaL stands OPP
posed To spirit. We use the term mat
, | of VIII ,h
} BILE. or of which the senses take cogni-
zance. Bat matter exists in ten thou
t sand forms. ana is carabe of almost end
5 less combina tions and sublimations. The
term spirit. when used III relation to the
mind. TO man. and 10 angels, seems to ex.
press different notifications OF matter
The ward immatcriai-not material. not
matter does not appear 10 be applicable
to anything in the universe. But. for
the sd e of argument, let u.s. suppose that
there is an immatcrial thing in exist
ence; how will you prove it! You can
not see it, for if you can see il, it is no
longer immaterial. You cannot smell it.
hear it, nor feel il; il is not tangible TO
any Of the senses; how then will you de-
fine ii? But we now 90 to examine some
of his proofs, for this is really all that we
have to do al present, he Gfirms we deny;
this he cannot deny in truth, for he says
the mind is immaterial and never dies"
we deny it, and charge him to bring the
prooi-we care nothing for his assump-
tons they are not worth a straw in this
argument, bring on your proof. Mat.
10: 70. And fear not them which kill
The BODY, but are not able to kill the
soul; &c. The "Indianian" displays
his strength on this text, but he does not
treat the subject fairly, the first deduc
ton he makes from the text is that 1.-THE