Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-14
MYSTERY OF MIND,
Another Stride in the Theory
of Evolution.
John Ahles Presents Clearly
Some Fresh Thoughts Of
Scientific Interest.

AnleB lecture, ano the clOsest atsen-
ton was given him from the very
start.
As all know here, where Mr.. Ahles
has lived so long, he lays claims TO no
high.sounding titles, and makes no
parade as q scientist, and yet-ss i,
also we'll known-he Is q close stu.
dent, and does 10y claim to being 3
conscientious thinker and candid
speaker. He labors under the diff
Guilty of having to present his
thoughts In Engliah, instead Ct bis
mother language--German--and al.
though this Is q great diff ,ulty, es-
pscially In handling scientific sub.
jects, where fine shadings and accu.
racies of speech are 80 necessary, yet
he overcame this obstacle nobly in his
lecture yesterday. He presented
ms, y facts and thoughts which we're
new to those who listened, and which
sho we'd that he had not fallen behind
the latest writers and investigators In
that part of the scientific field In
which he has for several years been so
enthusiastically interested.
1t Is next to impossible to give q sat-
i.fsctory and just synopais Of a scien.
tifc lecture of this sort. Stateme ats
Of theories having been closely stud
led and ooncisely framed, illustrations
we'll chosen, and links In the chain Ct
reasoning closely riveted, 1t Ia difficult
to give q Just Idea In any brief man.
ner. The lecture needs be heard In
full.
An outline may, however, not be
entirely amiss. The speaker opened
his lecture with a bird's.eye view CT
evolution and Its growth, and how the
school had divided on the question a.
to whether the MUD Of man had been
slowly evolved from the lower types
Of mental life, or whether It stands
apart from all other types. The speak.
er held to the former idea, and made
. strong argument In Its favor. He
believed that the mans mind differed
froW that Of the lower animals In do.
gree rather than In kind. He believed
that while perhaps not every fact Of
= animal intelligence could not now be
explained fully on this theory, yet,
the exceptions were 30 few,
and the probability Of their
speedy explanation with further study
!, wal so apparent, that the theory
should be accepted, He held that
, most animal instincts could be ex-
planned on tho ground Of natural
growth, rather than the belief that
they were implanted by the creator.
The migratory instinct, the home In.
Q stinct, and one or two others needed
8 little further scientific II quiry, but
q there were countless cases of animal
instincts which could be explained by
two hypothesis. One, that they arise
from the effects of habit In successiv,
generations, actor which we're origin
ally intelligent, and became stereo
10 typed Into permanent instincts. In
II stincts might arise from intelligen'
observation and ad justment gradually
o growing into q non.intelllgent or In
stlnctive adjustment.
y The other way in which animal In
o stinots might arise was from the sur,
% vival of the %fittest, which the speaker
70 illustrated by facts in incubation
y the protection of eggs being tn,
primary motive Of the mother
and the effect Of the warmth
being secondary. He also illustrated
by the sucking instinct as shown In
form of q jolly fish, very close to the
n vegetable form of life. He held thai
'. Ia most cases of animal Instincts, In,
d t~elligence and natural selection hsv,
gone hand In hand In producing tn,
Is results, natural selection always secur
X Ing and rendering permanent any ad
10 vances which intelligence may hav,
1t mode. In closing this part of hi
subject he called attention to the fac
at that instincts are plastic and no
10 rigidly fixed.
le The other great difficulty In accept
or Ing tho theory was the enormous dit
10 ference between human and anims
intelligence. We were not prepare
~ to suspect the possibility OF man
30 mind being developed from animal In
telligence, until convinced that hi
body was a product of natural evolr
ton. Yet 1t was a question Of degree
ri not of kind.
to To show the similarity the speake
nd illustrated how the emotions OF f,sr
IL, affection, passion, p~ugnscity, Jealousy
nd sympathy, pride, reverence, emull
ton, shame, hate, curiosity, revenge
cruelty, the sense of the iudlcrous an
that of the beautiful, were found 4
animals, as well az In man, difsrin
eli only In degree.
The speaker carefully defn cd Il
stinotive and rational acts, the dife,
,At ence being that the former we're &C
Of so often repeated as to need no co
= scious effort of thought, while the RI
70 tional act required a conscious effor
by Men acted often instinctlvely In cor
Of mon with animals. Was 1t too niue
T. to believe that animals acted often r
tionally In common with mani
~ There was q great chasm betwes
~ the reason shown by ms
Al, and the gem of reason In the brut
all but II was a difference not
kind, but of degree. One of h
Ter causes of this difference was the ia
ms that nan possessed the power
speech. MI. Ahles Illustrated no,
he without the help of signs or words,
nd was impossible to read more than Il
IN. lowest degree of abstract thought.
n order to make speech possible the,
'ur was required a peculiar mental al
vocal organization. When this W
lar developed the ru~dimentary speech b
eel. gan, and speech In turn advance
ich thought, and thus they reciprocal
IL halnad dRvalnna aacb otbar Tat. Al