The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-05-19

Z TIE THREE SOULS.

e'1 Lon : TIE THREE SOULS.
'A4A In 1916 1 finished my sixth year of
transcendental philosophy at Heidel-
berg. You know of what a lordly
go as0soft the university life is. You get
up at mid day, smoke your old pipe,
drink glass or two OF schnapps, and
"a then you button your coat up to the
s@s chin, set your hat on one side, and go
to listen calmly for half an hour 10
the illustrious Professor Hasenkopt.
Every one ia free to do as he chooses
to 20 to sleep if he likes. The lee
ture over, you betake yourself to the
WRB j tavern of Gambrinus, where the
z ~ pretty servant maids, In black silk
7ssaes ebod:ces.l bring you plates of sausages,
with slices of ham, and glasses of
go strong peer Y GU whistle an air from
-s4asa the q Robbers of Schiller; one calls
his dog Hector; another seizes Char
lotte or Gredale by the waist; or,
sometimes a quarrel begins, when In
comes the Waterman, and you are
~s-se carried off to pass the night In
ewes Hduranee vile.
szea In this way the days, months and
sao sya years passed by.
I was then thirty-two years old.
u - and the bottle, the pipe and saur-
krout had begun to fall in my estima-
u iations / felt the need of change.
-. Often did l say to myself: KasDer
Zaan, it is not good to know too
much nature has no more illusions
- for theep' - r-rt-r
49, 81 e, Such was my melancholy state of
eazf mind When, toward the close of the
7a-- = = spring of 1S45 terrible event hap
e5ar pened, which taught me that was
of1e1 far from knowing everything, and
5s that the. path Of the philosopher is
- not always strewn with roses.
Among my old comrades was a GER
tain Wolfgang Schart, the most in
=, -. flexible logician l have ever met with.
= Is Figure to yourself little dried up
man, with white eye-lids, and eyes
sunkeR in his head, with bushy red
e hair, and hollow cheeks adorned with
I. 49, a coarse beard; wearing, moreover,
tattered cloak over his broad shout
ders, and you have him before you.
Viz Wolfgang thought only of meta
physics. For five or six years he had
lived on bread and water, in garrett
of the old meat market; so that the
7axw poor fellow was frightful to look at.
"a asa.a This strange being in his voluntary
~ A isolation, seemed to feel for me little
sympathy. He came to see me from
time to time, and gravely seated in my
Ii arm chair he would impart to me his
wild meditations.
s-.tl It Kasper," said he to me one day
s'-'-1A "a Kasper, what is the soul?''
Proud of displaying my learning to
his eyes, I replied, with a pedantic
.av air, According to Thales, it is a kind
. OF -oagnet-according to Asclepiades,
'-a an excitation Of the senses. Anazi
mander said"
2" Yesl yesl but what think you of
4 ~ the Substance of the soul.
e ~ 3" de, Wolfgang? | know nothing
.s about it. All judgment must come Of
gae.4 the seEses and, since the soul does
net fall under my senses, l can make
no judgment concerning it.
Nevertheless, Kasper, see how
many animals, such as insets, fishes,
ETC., are wanting one or more of the
senses. How do we know whether
we have them all ourselves2 May
there not exist some of which we have
eE@E not even an idea?
J...s +. - :. Quite possible; but, in the doubt,
sl.a5 / hesitate to say"
,....-,, Do you think, Kasper that we
,.as5 can know anything without having
learned it?"
No; all science proceeds either
.xsra from experience or from study"
But, then, comrade, how happens
It that the little chickens, when they
break the shell, start off to run and
take their food of themselves? How
ys,s is il that they discover the hawk far
l4.as.ss up in the clouds, and take refuge
under the mothers wing? Did they
learn to know their enemy while they
sgla89 were yet in the eggY
All that is the result Of instinct
WolfgaDg; all animals are obedient to
instinct"
Then it seems that instinct con-
sists in knowing what has never been
.ga1 & learned2p'fF u lE. IE84EI
"OhP said /, you ask me toe
much. How can telll'
s.ssnts He smiled disdainfully, threw thu
coTnsr of his cloak over his shoulder
d Ieaiss.and cent ont without adding another
word. looked upon him as a luna
tic. but of the most harmless kind
n1 Who would have thought that the
passion for metaphysics could b.
dangerous? 81. II
Things stood thus when the ole
cake-woman Catherine Wogel, sud
denly disappeared. This good woman
as was her custom, clme to the beer
house OF Gambrinus at about clever
o'clock. The students joked with hel
about the freaks of her youthful days
at the remembrance of which sht
seemed much amused and laughed
heartily. Her disappearance came Il
be remarked the third day after this
What can have become of Catha
rineP Can she be i'll? She seemed
so merry the last time we saw herl'
My opinion was that the old woman
having drank little too much kirsch
water, had fallen into the river durin
the nigh.
On the morrow, coming out iron
= :. HasenkOpfs lecture, met Wolfgang
As soon as he perceived me he hast
ened toward me, his eye sparkling
l1A and said, Kasper, I've been lookin
,Elefor you man, the hour of triumph
has c0me-iOIloW me.
His look, his paIlor, his very mo
.aat1 ton betrayed extreme agitation; and
rs he seized me by the arm, leading
III me toward the quarter of the Tanner:
could not keep down the feeling o
underlined fear that crept over me
The street through which we proceed
9s ed at sharp walk led behind thu
49,. mInster into a collection of house
old as Heidelberg itself. The square
-oofs, the wooden balconies, the exte
Az rier crooked stairways; the many wal
aud curious faces peering with cage