Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-02-23

over again, and perhaps some simple
| people will believe it is true. Proof.
proof he says. That is what / have
always been after And he claims to
| accept no scientific fact without the
final proof Now, who ever proved the
existence Of an intelligent cell? There
/ is not a scintiua of proof, not the be
ginning of proof for such an asser-
ton. Assumption, mere baseless as
sumption" the cardinal said, with d
wave of the hand.
81 will read you another Of his as
sertions: a mans intelligence is the
aggregate intelligence Of the innumer-
ab!s cells which form him-just as the
| intelIigence of a community is the ag-
rregare intelligence OF the men and
women who inhabit it. If you cut your
hand. it bleeds. Then you lose cells,
and that is quite as If city lost inhab-
itants through some tremendous acci-
dent"
The Cardinal paused as it true
that Mr. Edison assumed the respon-
sibiIity for this Interview He was
assured this was so. He seemed very
puzzled.
"Of course, Mr.. Edison does not
mean what he says. That would be
impossible If my hand bleeds, then,
according to his theory, l lose part
of my intelligence. If l lose my hand,
then lose more intelligence! and, as
one of my friends put it, an appalling
loss of mind would go with the loss OF
leg or when a stout man reduces
in flesh
"Ar these remarkable consequences
are strictly involved in Mr.. Edison's
expression OF his views Assuredly,
he rejects them; but that only proves
the striking Iooseness of his language
We theologians are used to precision
OF terms and strictness of reasoning.
One or two more interviews like this.
and the world would have new idea
of scientific accuracy"
And Mr.. EdisOn's real view?"
Mr.. EdisOns real view seems to be
that a mans intelligence is composed
Of the combined intelligence of his
brain cells. He expresses this, prac-
tically, later in his interview; and this
saves him from some Of the cOnsC-
quences Of his former loose expires,
sions. But how does Mr.. Edison know
that mans intelligence is made ~
Of the combined intelligence of his
brain cells? He claims to have
reached his conclusions through the
study Of hard fact; We wish he, in
scientific fashion. had given his facts
tc the world before his conclusion.
The facts are these-at least until
Mr.. Edison produces new facts as yet
unknown to the scientific world; no
one knows anything about the exis-
tence of An intelligent cell. No proof,
not the slightest, has ever been ad-
vanced 10 show intelligence in a cell.
So far as science knows, there is no
more proof Of the existence Of intel
igence in a brain cell than there IS IN
the cells Of a potato. or IN the mole
cules Of matter that make up this
paper We do know there is q connec-
ton between the brain and the mind.
that the mind thinks through the aid
of the brain, as it sees through aid
OF the nerves OF the eye: but that does
not prove the brain thinks any more
than II proves the nerves Of the eye
see. No more even than It would
prove that the strings of a violin Ell
Joy their own music If We do not
know that the cells have intelligence,
how can we know that any combina.
ton OF cells will produce intelligence?
Yet. FIR. Edison believes il. Assump-
ton again; the merest assumption"