Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1888-09-13
IS MAN A MIcRoCOSm7
And Does the Human Bslax Posses. the
-~nse % Pre-Exf-t~ne~r

Perhaps. after all. II history Is ever 10
be- verified. that verihcatiou may be
found In our own minds. Il has al
ways been favorite speculation Of
poets and neutrality-suspicious. that man l.
a microcosm. containing within himself
the history - the race and Of the uni
verse II only wc had wit 10 read H.
DE Quincy compared the human brain
10 paIimp-est. Now a palimp-s-t
tthe word means twice rubbed. > ! a
roll Of parchment cleansed Of it, man
uscript In order 10 make room for new
manuscript The rude chemistry Of
the aucients could effaco the old suf-
teiently TO leave a field for the new.
yet not sufficiently 20 make the traces
Of the elder manuscript irrecoverable
Tor u. Palimpsists have been found
that yielded many successive layers %
manuscript The traces Of each hand
writing, regularly effaeed. have the in
verse order regularly called hack by
the magic Of modern chemistry, aud as
the chorus 1T the Athenian stage I'M
wove through the anti-struphc every
step that had been mystically woven
through the >trophe, so. by eur mnd-
ern COMPUTATIONS Of science. secrets II
ages remote from each other have
been exercised from the accumulated
shadows Of centuries. What else
than natural and mighty palimpsest.
continues DE Qnincey. lis the human
brain2 Such palimpse,t i ms brain.
such palimpsest. oh reader. is yours.
Everlasting layers Of ideas. images,
feelings. have fallen upon your brain
softly n light Each succession has
seemed to bury all that went before.
And yet. in reality. not one has been
extinguished. The comparison is apt
and fine. Every one has experienced
the strange tricks that memory ocea-
sionally plays. You are engaged i'm
reading. in writing. in serious occupa-
ton which engro>ses your mental
powers. Suddenly there bursts into
your thoughts some recollection OF
childhood. some trivial circumstance
that happened years ago and was for
gotten Immediately afterward. Not
The minutest analogy need exist be-
tween your present thoughts and the
unbidden recollection that starts. COB
Unlike, from the sealed-up vaults Of
the past Does this not indicate that
experience in life. no matter how
frivolous. leaves an indelible print on
TIE mental organism, and that. though
this print may seem 60 fade, il is still
there, like writing in invisible ink. or
the ehaced manuscript on the
palimpsest-only waiting for some ex-
citing cause % bring il out clearly and
Z iegibiys The truth j. enforced by the
experience q death. Those who have
r'eovercd from drowning or hanging
{ say that previous % the advent Of un-
consciousness they have seen a sort OF
I panorama ~ their whole previous ex-
isirnfr, with uot the smallest incident.
ih"ashi or feeling omitted: and IL
= thenrr Inferred that all hu-
maH beings at the moment Of
A.==ss.ai.ou experience this awful resur-
ff.i.sH ~ ihe dead past Again, Il i
anpan thar very aged people are
@ io thrpa hack aud concentrate
ssa #Ehi ~ their memory upon scenes
~ early rhlahooi. recalIlng MANY
Hhaa bad faded. even - themselves.
d a'as1.f a'r whiic they often forgot
sh tae whoie intermediate STAGE
tflr eAlstence. This shows =
sass - @alaeey. that naturally and
saaaat rloleut agencies the human
arain l. hy tendency a palimpsest
BIS osr brains are Inherited from o,,
aHes-iors Why. then. may IL not b.
mat ihe human brain i a palimpsest.
containing more or less faded. yet re-
cofrraaie recoris not only Of our en-
TIRE past life, but 81 the lives Of our
ancestors 10 the remotest periods
A'ierieaH Astss and Qssries,