Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-03-09
PRELATE ANSWERS EDISON'S
DENIAL OF IMMORTALITY
Cardinal Gibbons and Other
Divines Give Proofs of
Future Life of the
Soul.
From the Columbian Magazine.

lTONcTSN Is very wen hIiOMn, ~ was
reluctantly. in view of the wide pub
Lefty given to Mir. Edison opinions on
the soul, on God and other matters
touching religion. that he consented to
receive us and upon the ut
terances of the great inventor.
w zen we We're ushered into his study
we found the venerable prelate busy
at his desk. Active. alert. vigorous, ne
shows few traces of age; yet he is now
completing 80 years of ministry, OF
hard, u%nceasing labor n great
achievement, u period to be fittingly
marked this year by the celebration, of
the Golden Jubilee OF his priesthood.
He greeted us with a kindly courtesy
that made us feel Immediately at
home.
Your ine mas e Mr.. Edi-
sons interview" we suggested.
carefully, very carefully" he re-
piled, with deliberation. And ] regret
exceedingly that he has given such
views to the public; for 1 admire Mr..
Edison'S genius. some bellttle him as
IL mere mechanic. l nave no patience
with such a view. for no man could
achieve what Mr.. Edison has without
extraordinary mental powers He is
the representative of American invent
i've genius and has brought glory upon
our country in the whole world; he is
truly a marvel, and as we'll. a great
UeUcIdCIOT VI IIc IdSS. ~ io' DSSAA
intensely devoted to his pursuits; and
he has paid the penalty, just as Oar
win did. just as so many OF our great
men do. Darwin benloaned at the end
of his life, you know. that his intense
devotion to scientific investigation had
atrophied his sense of poetry. OF mu-
sue, and | know not what; l would add,
his sense of religion, for the religious
spirit, III not cultivated, will die, too.
So has it been with Mr.. Edison: he
has MANNED his own mind, just as OAR
win did, by q too One-sided exercise
of its powers. Fe talks with great
freedom. and, l may say, with not a
little contempt of theology; but one
suspects that he has been too occu-
pied, and perhaps too contemptuous of
theology, to devote much time to Its
study. One suspects that his acquaint-
ance with 1t Is almost limited to frag-
mentary "reminiscences If
heard in boyhood days.
Your Eminence, then, finds him very
skeptical?'
"Skeptical?" the cardinal smiled.
Mot In the least. In fact. he is as
t%onishingly dogmatic. Sec" he said
az he took the January Columbian and
pointed to several marked passages,
Assertion, assertion everywhere. Free
ly given to the public. h proofs? He
does not offer any. Such q procedure
Ia not expected of an eminent scientist.
1t Is expected, indeed, of a pope. for 1t
is u pOpe's office to decide and define.
while he leaves it to theologians to
discuss and prove Even the pope does
not dogmatize until the question has
been discussed for centuries and set
tied by the voice of experts. But here
is a scientist h proclaims dogmas to
the public; and he seems to ask us to
believ them-because he believes them.
II he spoke as the head of q school,
NJ F~,@erhk vofor M tn thoir q ror,rnopfS.
but / do not know for whom he speaks.
No for the materialists, because he
believes matter cannot explain all, not
for the idealists, for he believes in mat
ter: not for the monists, evidently: not
for the agnostics, for he acknowledges
q supreme intelligence; not for the
P~anthelsts, so far. at least, as he re-
veals his mind. In fact, l cannot place
Mr.. Edison. ] do not know any school
that would claim him. All 1 can be
sure of is that he dogmatizes on his
own account"
Your Eminence will kindly point
out some instances of this dogma
tism?'
Certainly. with pleasure. The most
striking is his fundamental assertion
that cells have Intelligence. Mr.. Edi-
son does not prove this: he does not try
to prove 1t; he asserts It, over and over
again, and perhaps some simple people
SAl0V ~ 40 StuC. IIOOl, QTOOls
he says. That is what 1 have always
beer after And he claims to accept
nc scientific fact without the final
proof Now, who ever proved the ex
istences OF an intelligent cell? There is
not q scintilla Of proof, not the begin
Assumption. more baselcss assump-
tion," the cardinal said, with wave OF
the hand.
II will read you another of his asser-
lions: "A mans intelligence is the ag-
gregate intelligence of the innumera-
BILE cells which form him-just as the
Intelligence OF q community ID the az
kregate Intelligence of the men and
w0men who inhabit It. II you cut your
hand. 1t bleeds. Then you lose cells.
and that is quite as if q city lost In
habitants through some tremendous
The cardinal paused. rs it true
that Mr.. Edison assumed the responsi-
bility for this interview 2" He was as
sured this was SO. He seemed very pux-
xled.
"OfAcourse. MI. Edison does not mean
what he says. That would be impossi-
BILE. re my hand bleeds. then. according
llgence. II I lose my hand. then I lose
intelligence! and ~ one OF my
@ friends put II, an appalling loss 81
mind would 50 With the loss OF q leR
OF when q stout man reduces his flesh.'s
s.Ahd Mrs Edts0n's real view?"
MT. Edison's = real View seems to be
that g mans Intelligence IL composed Of
the combined Intelligence OF mis- brain
cell1. He expresses this. practically
later In his Interview; and this save
him ffOjn some OF the consequences 81
his former loose expressions. But how
As6oeeSf 3 MdlB0tls know thAt = man's In
sAte1llAence = Mlade up sOf the combined
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