New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-09-05
meant that he to be burr: and burnt accordingly
he was, on the 10th OF February. 1900.

aured his knees and with his hand the holy
Gospels, the neliocentrc doctrine. After Gseo
Kepler, who from his German home de1ed the power
beyond the Alps He traced out from preGxsting OBJ
servations the laws OF planetary motion. Tue problem
was thus prepared for Newton who bound those empir
ca laws together by the principle Of gravitaton. Dur
ing the Middle Ages the doctrine OF atoms had to all
pearance vanished from discussion. In all probability
II held its ground among sober-minded and thoughtful
men, though neither the Church the world pre-
pared to hear OF it with tolerance Once, in the
l34s received distinct expression But retractation
by compulsion Immediately followed and thus dscOur
aged, II slumbered TIL the seventeenth century when IL
was revived by contemporary Of Hobbies and DESCRIBES
the Pere Gassendi The analytic and synthetic teDden
cies OF the human mind exhibit themselves throughout
history, writers ranging themselves sometimes
the one side, sometimes on the other. Men OF lofty
feelings, aud minds open to the eevating impress
SONS produced by nature a whole. whose satisfac
ton, therefore Is rather ethical than logical. have
leaned to the synthetic side while the analytic har
monies best with the more precise and more mechan
cal bias which seeks the satisfaction Of the understand
ing. Some form OF p1ntheism usually adopted by
the one, while a detached Creator working more
less after the manner OF men, Was often assumed by
the other, Gassendi hardly be ranked with either
Having formally acknowledged God as the great first
cause, he Immediately drops the idea applies the known
laws OF mechanics to the atoms, and thence deduces all
vital phenomena. God. VINO created earth and water,
plants and animals produced in the first place definite
number Of atoms, which constituted the seed OF all
things. Then began that series Of combinations and
decompositions which at the present day
and which Will continue in the future. The prin
ciple of every change resides in matter. In arti-
fetal productions the moving principle is different from
the material worked upon but in nature the agent
works Within being the most active and mobile
part Of the material itself Thus this bold ecclesasc,
without mourning the censure OF the Church or the
world contryes to outstrp Mr. Darwin The same east
Of mind which caused him to detach the Creator from
his universe led him also TO detach the soul from the
body though TO the body he ascribes an influence so
large to render the soul almost unnecessary. The
alterations OF in his view an affair Of the
material brain. Mental disease is brain disease but
then the Immortal reason sits apart, and cannot be
touched by the disease The Of madness are err
rors Of the instrument. not OF the performer
GAssENDfs AND MOST RECENT VIEWS.
II may be than a mere result Of education con-
Meeting itself probably with the deeper mental struc-
OF the two men, that the idea Of Gassend above
enuncated is substantially the same as that expressed
by Prof. Clerk Maxwell at the close Of the very noble
lecture delivered by him at Bradford last year. Accord
ing TO both philosophers, the atoms II understand
Alright, are the prepared materials, the mahuidc-
tured articles" which, formed by the skill OF the High
est produce by their subsequent interaetOn all the
phenomena of the material world. There seems to be
this difference, however, between Gassendi and Max
well. The one postuates, the other IDfers his first
cause. In his manufactured articles. Prof. Maxwell
finds the basis OF an induction, which enables him to
scale phiosophic heights considered inaccessible by
Kant and 70 take the logical step from the atoms 10
their Maker The atomic doctrine, In whole or ia part,
entertained by Bacon, Descartes, Hobbies, Locke,
Newton Boyle and their successors, until the chemical
of multiple proportions enabled Dalton to confer
upon it entirely significance. In our day there
are secessions from the theory but 10 still stands
firm. Only a year two ago Sir William Thom-
son, with characteristic penetration, sought to deter
the sizes OF the atoms, or rather 10 NIX the limits
between which their e while only last year the
dlscourses of Williamson and Maxwell illustrate the
present hold Of the doctrine upon the foremost scientific
minds. What these atoms seifmoved and self-posted
can and cannot accomplish In relation to life Is at the
present moment the subject OF profound scientific
Thought. / doubt the Legitimacy OF MaxwePs logic;
but 1t is impossible to feel the ethc glow with which
his lecture concludes. There is moreover, Lucretian
grandeur his description Of the seadastness OF the
atoms Natural causes as we know are at work. Which
tend to modify they do not at length destroy all the
arrangements and dimensions OF the earth and the
whole solar system But though in the course OF ages
caasrophes have occurred aud may yet occur 10 the
heavens though ancient systems may be dissolved and
new systems evolved Of their ruins, the molecules
out OF which systems are built, the foundation
stones Of the material universe remain unbroken and
unworn."
BISHOP BUFFERS ANALOGY.
Ninety years subsequent 10 Gassend the doctrine OF
bodlly Instruments AS 1t may be called, assumed i'm
mense importance in the hands OF Bishop Butler Wno'
IN his famous Analogy Of Religion developed IRON
his own poiut Of view, and with consummate sagaey'
a similar idea. The Bishop still Influences superior
minds and it will repay 70 dwell for "a moment on
his Views He draws the sharpest distinction between
our real selves and bodily instruments lie docs
not as far as / remember the word SOUL possibly
because the term was hackneyed in has day as IL had
been for many generations previously But ne speaks
of Giving powers" "perceivng" or "perclpeht pow
era moving agents." yourselves, IN the same sense
as we should employ the term soul" lie dWels upon
the fact that limbs may be removed, ana mortal us
eases assa the body, while the mind almost up !" Tue
moment OF DEATH clear, He reiers 10 sleep ana
10 swoon where the Living powers" are suspended
but not DESTROYED He considers it quite as easy u Goa
ceiye of an existence OF our bodies as IN them tht
We may animate succession OF bodies, the uis'ouou
of all OF them having no more tendency W uSso'o oA
real selves or deprive OF living faeultes-tne iacu
ties OF perception and aeton-thah the usso'u-
too Of auy foreign which We are capable OF re-
ceiving i'm pressons making use oI LOT the eo-
mon occasions of lie" This is the Key oil the bhop
nostion-" Our organized bodies are no more part Oh
our,eyes than any other matter around u.s. In PROOF
of this he calls attention TO the use OF glasses "ch
"prepare objects" for the "perclpent power exactly
s the eve does The eye Itself is no more pereipeht
than the glass, and quite 10 nueh tue Va
the true self and foreign to the true sell dc He
glass s II We see with our eyes ONLY III the 0'ne
manner az we do with glasses, the Ike may justly DC
concluded from analogy OF all senses" Lucretius
as you are aware reached precisely opposite concur
son ana it certainly would be interesting II not pront
allie 20 Ms ALL 70 hear what he would or could urge IN
opposition TO the reasoning of the Bishop.
AN IMAGINARY DISCUSSION.
As brief discussion Of the point VIII enable US 10 see
the bearings of Important question: Will mere per
mt discnle of Lucretius try the strength OF the
Bisbon nostion and then allow the Bishop to retaate
with the view of rolling back if he can, the dincny
unon Iucreti,s Each shall state his fully and