Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1877-02-08

uu1lunu.a = = uuu.uruuuu - - = - z !. |.
more or less all mental processes. For
example, when spectator at . seance
is creduious, the chances for the power
of the dominant idea are increased.
Hi, ereduliiy is,a state Of expectancy,
which brings about an intense attention.
He may be led so fer % 10 lose the BIO
per exercise Of memory Judgment; he
magination will be highly. excited, and
he will detect similarities sbetveea the
false, representations Of The spiritualists
and the faces Of those whom he once
knew, who are long since dead. -n.i,eir
The application Of the theory in the
'tassociation Of ideas" ,brisgso out the
point very yividly.d IL there y > tone
Of VOICE Of q single feature in the rep,
reseptnsipg ikr That az The dGpsstsdr 81
VII eslk NJ many, others to his mind.
All these points Of Ofresemblance are parts
of the one idea which the tension Of at
tention and expectancy WHITES and rem
ders for the time the ruling principle. It
is the this special form of fdecept,on that's
perhaps the most interesting. The pre-
dominance Of one idea to the disorder,
not only ofthe higher faculties, but even
OF the sensible powers, suggests those
phenomena which one meets with, in
one case in mental pathology and IN the
other IN the newer developments ofeere-
bral psychology. Ifthe mind Of the spec
tator is ruled by the idea OF q lost friend
50 as to affect his senses in seeing and
hearing, II brings Us to the question of
the effect Of mind on body, and vice
versa. II he sees the face OF friend
when the friend is not really there,
there is sensible effect arising from a
mental cause, or conversely the percep-
tion OF something not impaired by SEN
sation alone, but having as additional
cause the mental state, which is the re-
suit Of dominant idea" This ap-
plies, OF course, only to those cases Of
spiritualistic manifestation where the
victim of the delusion is deceived with
out participating in the action which
deccives him.
This bears a most curious resem-
blance, and yet stands in striking con-
trast, TO what is known generally as
monomanla in the pathology Of the mind.
In both cases the prominence Of a sim
gle idea in the mind disorders certain
mental functions. 1t may be in a mon
omaniac as in the victim of spiritual;s-
tic manifestation. disorder in the func-
tions of the senses. In the former there
are often the hallucinations Of the SEN
sible organs, or rather Of the sensible
powers OF the mind. The monomaniac
hears voices calling him, sees fantastic
figures, smells abnormal odors, expe-
riences sensations of touch which may
be classed as hypochondriasm. There
may be (and this happens more often)
predominance Of unnatural forms Of i'm
agination, Perversions of judgment and
incapacities of reason, all Of which dis
order the action of the mind according
to some special form. The mentally
diseased man who imagines he has COM
mitted murder, and sees the murdcrer's
face from time to time before him, re-
sembles in many ways, for example, the
man who sees and hears a deceased
friend amid the juggleries OF the medi-
um. The great point Of contrast is this:
In the one case the predisposing cause
is purely physical; in the other mainly
psychical. There is deep mystery in
both cases which man has not yet solved
and may never solve. There is Of course
in one case diseased body: in the 9TH
cr only temporarily disordered mind.
The one cannot be Sc: aside by mere
mental treatment; the other NAV be Of
ten dispelled BY calm logic and candid
reasoning. Professor Meynert, Of vi
emma. and Professor Maudesley, of Lon
don, have completed the work of trans
ferring the pathology OF the mind to an
objective standpoint. They can trace
by chain OF physical causes the origin
of the malady which appears in mental
derange may be hereditary or
the result of drunkenness, Of physical
injuries, Of epilepsy and Others Of the
thousand natural shocks. These NAV
all 60 to show n certain identity Of mind
and body, although prudent thinkers
might easily ask whether there is more
shown than an intimate connection.
When We look at the other case, how
ever, where man with a sound mind
is mentally affected, as DR.. Carpenter
has shown BY causes which are prima-
rily and in their workings psychical, We
must abjure conclusions which consid::
er all so-called mental phenomena the
result of what is physical. 1t is true
that in making this distinction we NAV
be accused of a pefifio principii in
classifying the causes for the ''domi-
nant idea" as psychical. II the idea be
an emotion, or a state of expectancy
that Is, If il be merely mental in its
manifestation, il must then be shown 10
make a materiali>tic standpoint possi-
Die that this idea is the result of mate.
raj causes. Science cannot vet do this.
The modern school of psychology in
England might make .he analysis on the
principle OF the association of ideas; the
matera'i>t starting from this point might
reduce the phenomena to the world of
matter on the hypothesis of psychical
power IN the fibreS OF the association in
the cerebrum. No one can arrest the
iattes deduction without opposing the
psychology from which the deduction
Is made. and We come ultimately to the
issue between the psychology Of sensa-
honalasm and that Of nativism. The
question OF spirisualistic manifestations
then s ah-imporsant not only directlv,
but indirectly, to the issues of modern
psychology. Researches like these of
Dr. Carpenter are revealing more dis.
nnetiv the iorce Of spisit-power. act of