The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-02-25
CARDINAL. CRITIC. zES
VIEWS OF EDISON
Edison Asks the Public to Accept
His Dosmas Without Con-
elusive Proof.
When Face to Face With the Dogmas
of Religion He Demands
Final Proof.
No Genius Can Afford to Neglect
the Patient Labors of Worlds
Great Thinkers.

Great Thinkers.
In an interview published in the
! March number of the Columbian Mag.
azine, Cardinal Gibbons makes the
following comment on Thomas A. Ed,
ison's views on Immortality:
Il regret exceedingly that he has
given such views to the public, for
admire Mr. Edisons genius. Some be.
little him as Il mere mechanic. I have
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 inventive genius and has
brought glory upon our country in the
whole world; he is truly a marvel,
and, as well, a great benefactor Of the
race He has been intensely devoted
to his pursuits, and he has paid the
penalty, just as Darwin did, just as SO
many of our great men do.
| Darwin bemoaned at the end of his
| life, you know, that his intense devo.
! tion to scientific investigation had
atrophied his sense OF poetry, Of mu-
sic, and l know not what; | would
ligious spirit, it not cultivated, will
die, too. ..
$50 has it been With Mr.. Edison:
he has MANNED his own mind, just as
Darwin did, by a too one-sided exer
else of it's powers. He talks with great
| freedom, and say With not a little
contempt, OF theology; but one sus-
poets that he has been too occupied
and perhaps too contemptuous of the
OlOgy to devote much time to it's
study. One suspects that his acquaint.
ance with it is almost limited to frag-
mentary "reminiscences of sermons
heard in boyhood days.
Here is a scientist who proclaims
dogmas to the public, and he seems to
ask lis to believe them because he be-
lieves them. II he spoke as the head
of a school he might refer us to their
arguments; but l do not know for
whom he speaks. Not for the ma
tcrialist, because he believes matter
cannot explain all; nor for the ideal
list, for he believes in matter; not for
the monist, evidently; not for the ag
nostic, for he acknowledges Su-
preme Intelligence; nor for the pam
theist, so far, at least, as he reveals
his mind. In fact, I cannot place Mr.
Edison. ] do not know any school that
would claim him. All can be sure OF
is that he dogmatizes on his own ac-
count.
THE most striking instance of his
dogmatism is his fundamental asser-
ton that cells have intelligence. Mr.
Edison does not prove it; he asserts
it, over and over again, and perhaps
some simple people will believe it is
true.
"'Proof, proof he says, that is
what I have always been AFTER and
he claims to accept no scientific fact
without the final proof Now, who
ever proved the xistence of an INTEL
ligent cell? There is not a scntilla of
proof, not the beginning Of proof for
such an assertion. 1t is assumption,
mere baseless assumption.
"No, if the brain cells have intelli-
gence, no scientist has ever discover
ed the fact. We know nothing, than,
about intelligent cells; but we do
know that man has an intelligent
mind or soul. We do not distinguish
between mind and soui in the way Mr..
Edison does in his unphilosophical
terminology; the mind is the soul in
it's intellectual operations. The mind
is one and knows itself to be one.
Memory proves this. remember
the civil war. The little brain cells
that had these early experiences have
passed away, physiology tells us, but
/ remain the same individual through
all these changing years.
"Mr. Edison speaks of his invest!-
; cations into the soul; he seems to
have looked for it with a microscope.
St. Paul was truer philosopher. tor
| what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man that is
in him?' It is only by searching into