The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-08-03
INGERSoLL ANkLYZED.
The Coionels Propositions and Professions
pnnctured
Pah5u rg Chronicle

.... JtttaJuTg LHT06tcte.
The most entertaining reading we have
enjoyed recently comes to us in the shape Of
small pamphlet, received fromJ. Il. Dodge
80 Bro, entitled 'sNOies ON Ingersoll," the
work Of Rev. J.. 4. Lambert, native Of
Washington county, Pennsylvania. These
notes are by all odd, the most crushing re-.
ply that has been made TO Col. lngersoll.
The entire performance, as piece OF logic,
ranks with the productions Of Wheatley and
Pascal. We present extracts which will give
our readers an idea Of the manner in which
Father Lambert annihilates the pretensions
Of the man who poses as profoundly orIgi-
nal and independent thinker:
IyGERsoLL - "To make myself clear
Water always runs down hill"
CoMMENT-How then did IL get up bill?
Or Is there perennial spring up there
Water does not always run down bill. To
run down hill Is an exception 20 the general
mode of the action of water. In the present
condition Of the physical world, the tendency
Of the water is upward and outward. This
will be admitted Of water In the form OF
steam or yapor. The water that falls as
rain has been first taken up by the suns
heat. Water runs up in the capillary tubes
of every vegetable that grows. More water
ascsuds IN the capillaries of the vegetable
world In one day than falls over Niagara In
wear. Water runs up In all rivers that run
toward the equator. The Mississippi river
carries It's waters up an inclined plane per
pendtcular distance of about four miles. The
same In proportion is true of the Nile. This
earth on which we live and play the wise
and the foolish, is not sphere, but spher
old. IL 10 flattened nj the poles. The Iocesi
places on the earth are the regions about the
North aud South poles. The equator al
around The earth Is a mountain thirteen n1ae'
higher than the surface at the poles. The
polar regions are vast sunken valleys. Now
/ ask: If "water always runs down hill
why do not the waters of all the vast oceans
food with impetuosity toward The poles
WHY do not those waters seek their leVe
eouidistant from the center and make thu
earth perfect sphere? Two.third's Of tn
earth's surface consists of water. These
mnltitudinous waters do not run dowi--hil
do not flow down toward the valleys O.
the poles. On the contrary, they remain u
vast slope that rises toward the equator
perpendicular height of thirteen miles. The!
remain there on that inclined plane--on tha
hillside forever. Yon may say this j
caused by the rotation of the earth. do no
care what causes it. The fact of 1t disproye'
your statement that water always runs down
hill. What you wanted to say was this
Water. like matter In all its other forms
Yields to the stronger force. In the presen
case the centrifugal force Is stronger, an
hence the waters Of the earth tend uphill
toward The equator.
You saw somewhere bit Of water run
ming down a hill, and you "gathered tb
ideav that II always does so. Your vie'
was too narrow and local. II wante
breadth and comprehensiveness. You mis-
interpret nature as you misunderstood an
misinterpreted Moses and revealed religion
You have proved yourself an incompeter
interpreter Of nature, and You cannot be r.
lied on when you presume TO interpre
criticise, condemn, or deny that which
above nature. s5
ISaERssLL-" Reason Is the fruit of a
experience
CoMMENT-By this call" you mean,
suppose, the experience Of all mankind
gether with your own. But you have barre
Yourself from the right TO benefit by the O
perience of others, for that experience can
made known to you only by assertions
PROPOSITIONS. Now, you have declared
cathedra that assertions are base and spul
GUS coins, and rejected with contempt y
statements of the dead past by which alol
the experience Of the human race can
known. You have sawed of the limb
which you sal, and deprived yourself Of
experience except your own.
IsorRsoIL--s.It (resson) Is the intelle'
ual capital az The soul. the only light, :
only gulde.n
ComMEST-Reason Is the soul or intelit
itselfin conscious action; hence It cam
be It's own intellectual capital, or ITO on
light aud guide. You seem to forget u
you have said before, namely, that reason
the result OF experience. Now, to say u
reason is the only light and guide Of the 9
and at the same time the result Of experer
Is 10 contradict yourself. What lights o
guides the soul while il = experiencin
Reason? No, for you have told US that =
son Is the result OF that experience. A
suit IL On effect, and m effect cannot be RI
to Ito cause. Itfollows then from Your o