The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1858-06-03

This is all that we could SEQ If D.
llartley's conjectures were proved by actua
, observation, because this is all that exists i
motion according to our conception of il
and all that we mean when we say tina
there is motion in any substance Is it in
telllgible, then, to say that this motion, tn
whole of which VIC see and comprehend, j
thought and feeling, and that thought ant
feeling will exist whenever we can excit,
a similar molten in = similar substance
This was written in 1906.
Will the reader please bear in mind thai
VIC all speak of thought as an act of tn,
mind ! Now an act is action, and all ac
ton is motion, and vicc rersa.
OF course no intelligent gentleman, a,
this day, will suppose that the motion OF
the organs Of the body is thought and
feeling. We all agree that matter cannot
develop thought and feeling. But how few
arc there among us who will deny that
there Is feeling in the bodily organise
1t receive an injury in the shape of a
blow upon my person, does thero not arise
in the part injured a sense of feeling-call
it pain, if YOU please-Mere existing and
there prolonged?
II this be so,-that is to say, if feeling
DO arse IN any portion Of my body, that
very same feeling cannot consistently lie
SAID to arise in my power of thought and
emotion, unless you identify me with the
part affected, and thus make ne a n,ateria,
being, and make matter capable of feel
ing, which is the very point in issue.
have no particular theory to offer to
the readers attention on this subject, but
am very much inclined to think with Hart
ley, that the organs Of the body are only
capable of mechanical motion or agency.
and that all intelligent motion or agency is
exercised or performed 10y being wholly
Imlnatcrial and wholly cmLo lied in matter.
Therefore, if hear any sound, or see auv
Object IN the outer world, do these in,eli-
gent acts, anu they are bound to be intel
i'gent acts if performed by an intelligent
belnS) upon the direct apprehension of mo.
ton or agency in my organs, similar to the
motion OF agency carried on in the outer
world.
Say, for example, see tree or horse.
The process is effected III this way: The
rays of light from the object fall upon my
organ OF vision and there make an impress
sion, which so far is wholly mechanical.
But 1t ceases to be mechanical and becomes
Intelligent, when from within regard or
behold that image or impression, and from
tie perception that the image has been
c"sed 10y the rays Of light operating be-
tween the horse and tie rctna of my eye,
and that it is a horse or tree that the
image represents.
If now, | directly apprchend the motion
or mechanical agency Of my organs, must
indirectly apprehend the objects and mo-
tons existing and carried OH in the outer
world, since 1 apprchend the one through
the office and agency Of the other.
But the question that wished TO bring
to the readers attention is this: Since Il
man is unit, do not his thoughts and pas
sions originate in the same source,-tlat is
to say, in him as a unite
In other words, do his thoughts originate
in one faculty, and do his affections origi-
nate in another and a different ones
We may still state the question differ
emily: Are there two separate and distinct
faculties or provinces in being acknowl-
| edged and declared to be a unit himself,
and as such, capable of thought and emo
ton; and are we to assign his thoughts and
his emotions, not to him as unit, but to
two different faculties, separate from him
and separate from each other?
In the first place, if am the author of
my thoughts, originated and caused to exis:
by my own independent agency, can it,
then, be said with consistency that my
thoughts originate in one Of my faculties 2
Does not the whole debate turn upon the
meaning TO be attached to the term faculty ?
in what light are we to regard the faculties
of being who is always and under all cir
cumstances to be regarded as a unit, and
not rs dual or triune2
| Revenons nos montous Let lis re-
turn to the subject of love, or affec.
ton.
Docs the affection Of the heart of the
lover for his mistress originate. in the same
fountain that his thoughts with respect to
abstracts do?
On this point, I think it'll the Frencl,
writer in respect to light: On ne cherche
point a prouuer la lumiere." There is nc
need to prove that light exists.
Soft is not necessary to prove that Oh,
thoughts and affections arise in the same
fountain, SO long as we hold man to be a
| H..