Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-03-01

NEW YORK, Feb. 26-To the Editor OF
The Bee: The interview with Thomas A.
Edison on immortality is stiIi awakening
much interest, even In PARKWAY countries
No sour; death ends all: "the brain a
piece Of meat mechanism" that prod ices
thought as the liver secretes bile having
an individuality only as has New York
city with hs 100000 Of human brains. each
brain a combination Of millions Of cells
when New York City dislntegrates its in
dividuality is gone; when our brain dies
that ends us.
Mr.. Edison is right in this-none OF cur
five senses, nor all combined. can reveal
Immortality, much less demonstrate t.
The ear can not see. the eye can not hear
Magnify light a million times. vet the ear
could not hear It. Every sense Is shut lp
absolutely in its own realm but he Is a
bold scientist who would say that there
are no realms other than those covered by
these five senses. There may be 10000
other groups OF five or more senses each
Why not? Does Mr.. Edison say I am
guessing in this? I might reply with equal
reason that he is guessing when he denies
IT, and we're these two guesses precisely
equal, Is IL not more natural, II not more
scientific, to choose the optimistic one?
But they are not equal
There are channels Of knowledge other
than these five senses. Beethoven. stone
dear, heard magnificent music which he
wrote down in great oratorios that have
stood the test Of time. There is a whole
range Of spiritual senses each OF which
takes in knowledge up TO the level Of its
development. There is a beauty which the
eve can not see; a music which the ear
can not hear. Would Mr. Edison deny this?
The brutal son can have no conception OF q
mothers love although his five senses are
perfect. lie has eyes and ears but sees and
hears not what many other men see and
hear clearly. Conceptions Of right and
wrong are absolutely real. but real only TO
conscience. The pure in heart see God.
and others can not When Bishop Brooke
spoke of God to deaf and blind Helen Keller
she was not surprised. She said that she
long knew there must be some one BY
some channel other than the five senses
this thought had got into her mind. That
was a profound utterance Of Jesus. that
If man do right he would know. To 10
is to exercise, and to exercise is to grow.
The exercise OF faculty develops that
faculty, and then up TO its level It Will
know truth
Mr.. Edison Is sure the brain IA not an
organ of thought as the piano IL an organ
OF the music 1t conveys to our ears from
| theSoul Of Hoffman; but Edison says the
brain Is a machine that creates thought.
hnd the brain machine, he tells us, and
you end the man; some bias. he admits IL
given by heredity for In some way in the
catacombs Of the brain cells our ancestors
lie entombed. But what Of the countless
millions OF thoughts that control the uni
Nerse-thoughts that are other than mans?
Whence come these thoughts? Where is the
\ brain box" OF the universe? Herbert
Spencer the chiefest thinker of modern
times, closes his system OF philosophy With
the thought that there is In the universe
power other than man that makes for
| Righteousness
II there can be no thought without
brain machine. where is the brain machine
or this power other than mans? Where Is
the brain power that Ia in control Of the
universe? II, on the other hand. there can
be thought without brain. what becomes Of
Mr.. Edison's argument that the destruction
OF the brain ends man? Is not his con-
clusion the baseless fabric OF an unscien-
tiho theory? He has wandered all too far
from the "watchfires Of the tribes"
But the pity OF II is. his words do not nit
upon rock but upon palpitatins heart and
brain There are LOO, OOO, 900 people on earth
today, every one OF whom is under the ZEN
tence of death. and can be lifted above the
slime and briar and rock OF the valley and
shadow only upon the wings OF faith and
hope viii not the pitiful man. II he is
wise. seek I'm every way TO strengthen
those wings and In no way break one Of
the least OF them, unless impelled by abso-
lutte certainty?
Lightning is logic; yes. but at times there
are other far more effective ways Of reach,
ing truth than by pure logic.
l. X. FUNK.
! A MAssACHUsETTs IDEA.