The San Francisco call., 1896-05-03
SHE question as to whether the
lower animals have immortal
souls has no interest for those
who do not believe in the immor-

-: souls has no interest for those
N. who do not believe in the immor-
tality of the human soul. But for
those who do admit the existence and
immortality of souls in men the: question
as it refers to the inferior animals becomes
one of the most: complex and bewlldering
that it is possible for conservative thinker
to conceive, involving ethical considera-
tions. of the .profoundest Importance.
Some Oriental religionists are yegetarians
because they believe that animals have
souls. and that to kill them. for food is to
check: that. acknowledgment which an
EN- bodied existence assures. But how can
the: lower animals be admitted to have
souls; with the necessary corollary that
their souls are inferior in organization or
development to: ours, without pursuing
the proposition to its logical conclusion
and assuming that organic life inferior to
that of the lower animals is itself similarly
eudowied2 And, if this reasoning be ac-
.cepted; wherein is. it. a smaller sin to eat
vegetables than meat?
This is only the beginning of the in
.duiry.. Inorganic life is Enthusiastically
.inyested. with wonderful and incompre-
hensible forces. What is more marvellous
or more indicative of superior: inherent
.intelIitence than the phenomenon of
:crystalliZation?: Read Ruskin's Ethics
of the Dust and discover how the dry
facts of science III the matter of crystal
hzation are illuminated with the brilliant
touch of a speculative genius. Turn then
to Flammarion's "Flowers of the Sky"
aud find IA similar light thrown on the
. raarve1s;of the heavens. At the extreme
opposite end OF. the scale dig into the
dazzling revelations made by that great
Jesuit priest; Father Bayma, in his 'Ele-
ments of MOLECULAR Mechanics" and find
therefrom the surging. intelligent and in
cessant activities animating the conduct OF
a molecule.
For that matter the air, food and water
which sustain our lives are swarming
with minute: living creatures, each pro,
ducing its kind with strict integrity, and
:. these. lives are. sacrificed in countless
millions every hour to our voracitv. Tc
bring the subject nearer home, we can
not think or move the smallest muscle
without destroying the lives of many ot
:, the living cells, each with its own
order of Intelligence, constituting our or
:.ganism. The argument leads us into a
bottomIess. norass.
.-It.was for the purpose of presenting the
opinions of some able thinkers ,hereabout
.7on this subject that THE CALL secured the
differ as widely as the divergent training
and temperanents of the contributor:
could permit, and they are all the more
interesting for that. In papers so short {
full presentation of Individual views wa.
impossible, but running through them al
is fine reverence that ennobles the treat
meht, 1t is. a. pity that the theosophica
contributor gould not expand the enticine
theory of bis cult and show that all indi
vidual manifestations of life or force ar
but fragments of one grand omprehensiv,
soul which we may conveniently call God
these working through evolution to per
lection and final re-entry to the paren
spirit. 1t is delicious to see Mr.. Harrison
digging up Wesley's forestalling of Oar
winism and, presenting the ripe con
clusions of LON brosG, the great alienist
on. conscience in the lower animals. Al
the other contributors have things o
: special interestto say; but they can speaI
: for themselves.
" One contributor, Professor George Fl
-.Howison, presents the most advanced posi-
ton taken by those able modern thinker
who. are deeply learned in materiali4n
: and who employ its discoveries to illumi
nate the unknowable.' Hence his pape
has a unique Interest. His logic is barde
than that of the theosophists, though tn,
two methods touch at visible points-par
ticu;arly that in which the mind or sou
or life principle is regarded as controlling
force instead of an incident of life.
: The subject.1s by no means one for idl,
speculation. alone, for an intelligent re
spect for it reaches to the development O
human character itself. Just as a concep
tion of an immortal spirit within us ha.
wholesome effect in teaching us righ
conduct toward ourselves and to all those
whom Jesus defined as our neighbors, sc
the recognition of a similar principle in
the organization of inferior creatures serv.
ing us or existing at our mercy produces
both direct and reactlng effects which
make US finer and better. Here science
and metaphysics join hands and teach u!
the blood and spiritual relationship of all
living things: The direct kin ship be
tween us and the lower animals which
Darwin failed. to discover. though half
believing it to exist, was not a NOR,
worthy conception than that of the hu
name German, Henry Berg, who founded
in America the great movement for tn
prevention of: cruelty to animals. Th,
cultivation of pity and mercy for the veal
/. of all kinds, whether human or brute, is q
refining and building up of character oil
the part of those who cherish the senti
ment. In a desire to turn attention into I
wholesome channel this symposium il
presented.
A LAYMAN'S OPINION,