The Plymouth pilot. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1851-1852, 1851-09-24
Communication.
For the Pilot.
ON THE MIND,
Mr.. EDIToR;--

Mr.. EDrroR;---
In No. 81. Of your paper is another
article OH the above subject. by IAN In
dianian." He manifests at the onset u
great amount of reluctance that such u
controversy has been commenced; che
did not expect his first article would be
assailed." He no doubt thought as thou
sands of others do. that the doctrine of
''Inlerent Immortality has beer 50 long
preached and believed, that no person
would dare TO bring this doctrine in
question. there are however some who
have looked at the other side of the pic
ture, aad have become convinced, that
man does not possess such thing as su
Immortal soul" The "Indiauian"
charges me with bringing this contro-
versy about. we will ic, the reader Judge
of this. And he says he has concluded
to give me a little exercise in what ap-
pears TO be my favorite element" per
haps by so doing he may give himself
something To do.
BY way of commencing upon this sub
ject the "Indianian," takes some notice
of our argument in connection with the
mechanical laws. lie tried to throw
down. but did not propose anything in
lieu tn hereof, and to our mind he has
made total failure, he is pcrplexed to
know our "whereabouts." If he wil!
look again at our fist article, he will
find that we said at was not abstracted-
ly material. but being produced by mate
rial agents it was not immateral." Now
we think this is plain and needs no COM
ment. He says "All matter does not
possesS intelligence, therefore intelli-
Sence is not an essential property of mat
ter" &c. We do not say that all mat
ter does produce intelligence, but we
here say that there was not anything
created III vain, and therefore these or
gans being placed in man are put there
for some purpose, and we insist that it
must necessarily follow that these organs
that are found located in man have each
their several offices or functions to per-
form, for instance a man cannot see with
his ears, nor hear with his eyes, but vice
versa. Now if it So be that the physical
organization has nothing TO do in prodn
cling the mind, will the "Indianian," tell
us how it happens that some men are
idiots. and in every case of idiocity it is
found that the organs are not fully de-
vclo?ed. Also in the case Of insanity,
the physical organs become diseased or
dcranged, and do not perform their func-
tons, consequently insanity ensues, and
us soon as medical treatment is brought
to bear upon them. and Sc. the organs
cleansed, and brought back to their orig
inal healthy State, we see that the mind
is right again, with this agree all emf
ncnt physicians. If i, so be that the
mind is not dependant upon the organs
for its developments, it Ger ainly would
continue uninterrupted notwithstanding
the diseased state of the body or organs
We also see in old age the same mani
fes,ations. the organization becomes shat
tered by disease, &c and we see the man
is not capable of performing the mental
labors. which he could when his organs
were in full vicor Now there Is no
mistaking these things. for there is prob
ably none Of us bu, have seen mole or
less of these fully proved Without stop
ping to notice oil the arguments OF my
opponent. W. Will proceed at once 10