The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-11-21


orthe Mind Compared.
G. W. Atkinson, PHI. D., delivered his
third lecture on Psychology at tho
Fourth Street ". L. church last even
ing before tho Epwor,h League train
ing school and large audience OF at
tentiye hearers. lie has succeeded in
!neasurbiy simplifying this dark sub
ice. in such . way as that any one OF
ordinary intelligence could under
stand it,
He started out by stating that psy-
choIogy had three main roots-the orr
yin OF knowledge, the modes oil Gomnu..
nIcating with the external world, and
consciousness; but, in" his judgment,
the tap root is consciousness. His sec
ond lecture was devoted to conscious
ness, and in this lecture he ptonoaed to
consider the varied forms of conscious
ress. He took up what he termed the
unity Of consciousness" showing that
it undnrlios all those psychical mani
iestn,ions which are classified rs facuI-
ties, and claiming that they are but
modes Of conscious mental activity,
whether they relate 10 knowledge, feel
ing or yollon; that the unity oil con-
sciousness remains the same amid all
the manifold and varied changes OF its
conscious states. He illustrated by
showing that in a swOon. or in sound
sleep, or from some sudden shock,
there may be an apparent suspun.
sion OF consciousness, and vet
the mind and body continue to live Hs
vital forces. There is therefore close
interaction and interdependence OF
body and mind. While this is true,
they are nevertheless separate, aud 1t
mas never been explained how they are
connected with the phenomena oil con-
sciousness. Consciousness may be sus-
pended. and stili exist. Dreaming is
possbIe while the memory is sus-
pended, and the mind may be awake
while the senses are asleep, as in SOM
nambullsm. Hence it is only reason
able TO conclude that Unconsciousness
is no proof OF vital iucapaclty either OF
soul or body, and therefore conscious
ness is never absent so long as lie
last4. He,thereiore claimed as absolutely
certain that all OF US rely implicitly upon
consciousness. It is our guide in all
things, aud from it there is no
appeal. We're it to deceive us, the
root OF nature would be false,
and every system OF philosophy
would go down with it. He quoted the
proverb upon which Doscaries based
his great work on mental science, viz,
"Cogito, ergo sum-" Il think, therefore
| AMI as proof OF the correctness OF the
speaker position that consciousness as
slres us first, THAT WE ARE, and second,
it also n.suresus WHAT We ARE, for with
out consciousness | could not know that
could think, nor could | know that l
am theperson thinking Consciousness
is therefore the certainty Of knowledge.
II Is to mind what extension IA TO mat
ter, ior we cannot conceive mind with
out consciousness, nor matter without
extension. We, however, make Il mis-
lake when We confound consciousness
with perception. II is improper to say
liam conscious that the paper on which
Iwrite is before me" see it, l per-
ceive it, but should nOtsay am con-
sc,ous Of it.
The lecturer then considered briefly
mediate, or past knowledge, and imme'
date, or present knowledge, and de-
voted the last half hour OF his discourse
10 Conceptions" The name OF con.
cept is given to any pre'extstine scnsa'
lions that the mind has felt Mt some
former period, and to the ideas we
frame OF absent objects OF perception.
A conception differs from ordinary sem
salions and perceptions in this, that
both the cause and the object that pro-
duces it are absent. When rose is
presented to us and We smell II, the
effect that follows in the mind is termed
a sensation. Sensation is, therefore, a
feeling. When We aflerward think Of
that sensation, without the rose being
present, it then becomes 1t conception.
Sensation precedes perception, and per-
ception precedes conception. When we
perceive a steamboat OF mountain. the
object of our perception Is before
US. But We may at any time, When Tar
away from these objects, form concsp-
tons Of them in our minds. Hence we
understand what is meant when we say
We conceive something in our mind, or
that We perceive something by the
mind. One is an internal product OF
the mind itself. whileth other is a sem
sation upon the mind communicated to
il by ono or more OF the Ave senses.
Conception is from the inside outward,
while perception is from the outside in.
ward. The speaker gave number OF
simple illustrations showing, with great
c!earness, the different classes or kinds
Of concepts, and the varied steps that
lead from the percept OF the Individual
10 the concept oil the class. Concep-
tons, however, are neither true nor
false in Themselves considered. They
become so only by the exercise
oil Judgment or belief. We may
conceive mountain OF diamonds, but
his conception has nothing TO do with
truth or error But when we come TO
revolye the conception in our mint, we
then decide whether our belief is true
or false. Conceptions, therefore, are by
no means always possible. Thinking is
the process by which we form aud apply
general notions or concepte, A con.
cept is not a pcrcept, nor is it mental
image, but 1t is purely relative object
Of knowledge. The speaker closed his
instructive lecture by explaining con-
crete. abstract, simple and complex
conceptions; and gave a sentence deiinn-
jtion Of the word concept to be; ut is
not the knowledge that Il being lie, but
the analytic aud comparative knowl-
edge OF lis relations"
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