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animals , but they arc the properties or . characteristics of things that do not belong to the animal , kingdom , ami therefore wo do not call them perception ami feeling . In the lpwcr orders of sentient being , perceijtion and feeling may iho restricted to little if anything else than the cognition and desire of food . But to say that any creature , however humble , that is capable of seeking , and discerning its food , and eating when hungry , and declininpr to eat when full , does not possess feeling and perception , does not cognise and desire , is simply an abuse of terms . Doubtless the particular sensation -with ' which the hungry turtle contemplates its food : is connected with verv different associations from that with which an alderman contemplates the Turtle himself . 13 ut that the terms perception and feelihs ? are as much applicable in the one case as in the . other cannot ' he denied by any one who understands the meaning of words ; just as applicable . as the word seeing is to the _ wolf that bays at ¦ the moon , and to the astronomer who , with , his artificial eves , examines objects on its surface no bigger' than St . Paul ' s .
' What ' are called the intellectual faculties tire simply the ways ni which the capacity of perceiving manifests itself as applied to : m over extending- number of ''' things , ' * i . e ., external objects , internal states , and relations between external objects , relations between internal states , relations between external objects and internal states , and relations of relations , &c . Por ey . am . plo , the " tiling's " within oiir knowledge now , in the lr . ost civilised European States , iu-e far "Tenter than ' they are among savages ; which is only saying-, in other words * that intelligence , intellectual developement , is ' far higher . AH the so-called faculties of comparison . , judgment , casuali ty , eventuality , reasoning , &c ., of which . we find such a . jargon in the old systems so ludicrously dignified with the title of ¦ . " . Philosophies , '' and which are treated sis if thev were distinct ingredients of the
mind , and could be taken out of if . one by one , and the rest left , just as we could draw sticks put of a . -fn ^ ot ; or pick plums out of a pudding ; . ' all these protended . distinct faculties ai \> simply tin ? different ways in which the ¦ capacity of perceiving aetsr- ^ dijlbreni phases or nianifestations of the same chai * actcristiv ^ The difference between these two ways of viewing" the . matter is as great as that between regarding the / individual Cresar or Napoleon in the twofold capacity of ' generaland legislator . on the one hand , nnd oivthe other , insisting' that there wci c two Napoleoris rolled up into a single indir vidual , one of whom ' attended to military matters , the othqr to political . We have hitherto employed the ordinary and familiar forms of expression as best suited for introducing i ; he more scientific treats inent of the present subject ! The Rev : I > r . YVatts ,. aiithor of tlie
Hymns which g-o nuder his name ; Treatises on Logic , and on the Mind , &c , remarks in one of his works , that when ve think we nrc " ¦ ' censcious of setting something ' to work inside the skull . Indeed the convicti on that we think and feel with our brains seems to have been intuitively and instinctively known from a very early age . The popular vocabulary of all lang'nag'es teems with such phrases a * clear liead , " a thick head , '' " a sound head , " " st blockhead , " and the French way of expressing the loss of presence of mind is by saying a man has " lost his . / head . " "" No brains , " is evei'yvvhere equivalent to " fool ;" . antd ages upon ages before it "\ v »» found that the races of most highly developed intelligence have considerably mere brain than the . lower , types / the possession of "brains , " arid : the possession of intellectual power ,-wero convertible terms ; In proportion as you injure . 1 he-brain You interfere with the mind . In short no intelligent
wellinformed person in those days has any inore doubt that we think an d j ' eel with our brain , s , than that \ vo "breathe with oip lungs and circulate our blood with the heart . We use the word brain for brevity tind convenience ; strictly speaking * it is tho brain and nerves that form the great psychical appuratus in . which all psychical phenomna liave their source . If we take the extremes of the psychical world , vre'find at one end imuj ;¦ ¦ with his enbriripxjsly developed and eornyliiiHciitod cerebral andnervous system ; at the other , a humble creature , with ti fiortfif knitted cord for its lirain and nerves . If wo trace ttie inteymediato links of tho vast chain of , being . that stretches between , wo shalj find , as we ascend , this ¦ ¦ si mple cord bdpoining mpi ! O apd inore complex aiul developed , tho still rudimentary brajri s * radunily .. expanding and projecting' j'taolt * upwards and forwards ,. ! till
jjoth . culminate in the rat ifications of tho human licrvosand tlia ianixxense expmision of i ; hQ luunan fovdlvead . Aiul it is curious to observe 'how us tho brain increases in size , and tho intelligonee in power and degree , the structure q" tho physical organism becomes inqro and moyo fitted for rendering the external world subsorviont to its pm'poses , till wo roach the human form , tho host suited for thnt fiurpos © that exists , This is one of tho caf ^ s of tho law of udaptabiif-. y" which runs through tho whole material and psychical univorpe . wo pan pvi't man in tnq laboratory and rosolvo Inui into his con-« titxjont elements of oxygoi ) , hydrogev * , nilvogon , phosphorus , carbon , and linie . Sil ^ ppKO that ' ¦ through' » o . mo a . cciclcht ( L ? ., tin unclis-( ft > vevcd pasp of causation ) tho combination Of thoso elemdntH' in tlio finbryo is $ \\ q \\ that tho qxiulUy or quantity ( or both ) of tho brain in of a naturo to ovolvo oxtvaordinarv inontal powers direotlv this
hvtdn comof ) into ( ho wovld t \ nd begi ns to act , it ' will , under tho solicitation of external oimirnKt'nviceB , bocin to invent , discover , coin-Wno , contvive , and display nil those ' qualities which wo cull clovornoflH , ivWJiity , & $ ., l' « r tho piivpoao ol' vondorinjy thq oxtornal wovld " wb-(•¦ erviont to its pnrposeH , " aad ^ rntilJk'Jhfyuhat j-eoms toJ ^ ohithertol . lio strpngest 6 f all tho dcHires-r-i lint which wo mny ' enll MoU ' 'ndvamienuiut , in selt-bottormout . ' If tJiis brain wovo cpupJocl wi \]\ t ' ha form of a iiiih or >' ti horse , inytond of . with tho Iiuimui ovgnnisp , it would be ovipplod awclntvophjlecl , ho to n » paU . 'J'he flohoitalion cif oxtcvtuil ( jlL'q ^ JXistnpeOB eoiild i'ot ot'b upon it to tho siuuo extent , neither wttuldit Uayo'tho ovgdviH fox ? ciirryijjjy . oiit its dosivos pnr . Vintentions , ) J \| ( ti . l , po 3 § 0 BS ) ing luunttn HnibH , tlip oxeoutjivq livqcomcB it fa ¦ •«\ blq to perform : by unoJjinw of thaw pv ^ nn ' s , ro- « ct upon «»() Awthor dovolopo
the brain and intelligence , by the acquisition of experience and skill . This illustration , and one is as good as a miiliou , forms the key , for all who are capable of g-cneralisiiig , to the cnig-tna of natural selection and variability of . species , which are simply cases of that uniyeral law which , to uHo a familiar and intelligible word * we call the law of adaptabiliiy . Those facts bring-us to t-liq" division oflabour" question as applied to the brain and nerves . That' there is speciality of . function awd or ^ -an in the -human being 1 is a truth , without which physiology and anatomy would be words void of meaning ' . What , then , is . if that primarily distinguishes man irom the quadrupeds ? Unquestionabl y it is the de ? . T'oe of his intellig'enee , that is in his capacity for per--ceiv ' mp : relations . That the inferior animals cari remember , and in their rudimentary way reason , judge , distinguish , acquire a . limited
experience , no one who is acquainted with them doubts . Their passions . afTi-ecum * , what arc culled instincts , are us powerful as man s :. The difference , psychically considered , is ' in . the dt'g-ree of intelligence ; in other words , in the number ol * rel-aLions cog-nised . "What part c . ' -f the brain , then , is it in which man surpasses the brute ? Clearly in'the ' 'forehead . The brain of the jmlvrior types , as wei > roc \ ' X ' d iipwardy in f ht _ - . scale , |^ 6 es on expanding and advancing 1 for-Avarils till it reaches the frontal developments of'the KuropeaiK The conclusion is , that the forepart of the brain is that wiilvwhidi the intellectual pi * ot . ' essps , the . pereeptioais of relations , aiv perfonued ; with which we thiiik , reason , judge , compare , trace out causes , calculate future events , Sec . So far we may be tolerably surq of cer bral 11 " division of labour . " Beyond this the "' inappinjy out " of
the brain in the ordinary plireno lo ^ ical charts cannot be received as established . AVe have ' not room here for an . analysis of all the various psychical pov . crs . / We inay , however , instance one or two difficult ¦ euWs . ¦ Take what is callwl the moral sense , for example . We perceive that a certain action is productive of harm ; our general beliett ¦ either systematically taug'hfc us , or acquired througli the teachinjrs of experience , ' . is . that liarhaful thing's should not be done ; we desire ( at least when impartial and when there are no strong adverse consid-C'rsition ' s-prodiicin . iti us an an opposite desire ) to see that , and that only done , which we believe oug-ht to be done ; thus , when we see one inan cheating and robbing- ancther , it is said to " ' slfock diir moral sense ; " that is , the conduct in question is repugnant to us bv reason of a' ee . rta . in combination of conviction
and desire existent in pur mind . Explained , as above ,, the " moral sense " is intellig-ible enough ; but in the . vulgar signification which treats it as a distinct simple faculty , like the sense of sig-ht , only infinitely more infallible , it is sheer nonsense . Eenevolence is simply the d ' esire of . others' good ; it may in its genesis have arisen throug-h the fact , that to witness suffering in others puts us in nlind of suffering oiirselvcs , whicli being' paiiiiul to us , we \ v-ould relieve them ., to get rid of the disagreeable feeling" thus produced ; and in this way benevolence may have . '' grown qvit of what is considered its exact opposite—namely , selfishness ; or it may gradually have been evolved by the intellectual conviction that happiness is good , and that we ought to promote it , or by bath \ combined ; but let it be what it ma ^ in its inception , either in the infant ' s miiid at
the present day , or in the infancy of the human uund thousan ( ls of years ago , it is neither moro nor less in its mature dovelopment than d desire for the i ^ ood of others . There ixw doubt , however , that the hitensi / y of' this chai'acterisiie of liumctniiy will be in-¦ finUehf inovcciS'Hi in the future . Amour / the elite of the race ereti now ih . fi ^ O 7 isci' > uniic . fif ( if other a misery is intolerable suffering . It inuHt neyer be lp-it sight of , that Avhere bancyolehoe would be most gTatiiied , there . sel . f-love would be most gTatified ; because overvono v / oidd bo enjoying the greatest possible happiness himself , while " . ho \ yould hsvve ' the cpnsciousi ^ ess . thnt everybody elsa was of { iuvlly happy ; so that enlightened sclf-lovo and benevoleiica bo th ¦¦' ooin'binb- to bring about a " social . ' system in which tho gydatest ¦ ? onscionco
possible happiness of all will bo secured . Take ' c " as another iHustvatibn : conscience , in " . ntolligiblo lanyua ^ o , means or \ v holiof '•" yeg'avdjng what we ought to do and avoid doing i a belief ¦ gradually formed by our experiences , or systemjiticalty- imparted entire by tho toachora , of our youth . It is as }\ inm tho ' conaoiouco of tho Tlmg which tells him to istwinglo everyboily he can qatoH " of a different faith , as it \ vi \ s that of Simon Stylites which mado lain take up his abode on tho top of a pillar , dud load therq a life of ponanco expose ^ to all weathers . Conscbntiousness lxiemis the dojfrco oi' otriofcnosd or scrupulosity with whicjji that , particular kind oi' bolief wo cull the conscionco in } actod up to , As to the naturo of belief iboir , which has oocnijpied so much attontibn with nsvcholoojists , it is onlv reciuisite to explain hero thnt it is morolr a
purticijlur way in which the capacity of poropivin ^ manifests itself . And ho with rpgvird to memory ; rouiemboring isyimply a particular inodo oi ' pcri'civing in tho onjavejod » ouso of that word , defined above ; belief and memory avo ptu'tioular atutos of consciousness , in otlior words , pnvticuhiv kinds , ' ho to speak , of tho capacity of perceiving 1 pavticuliu'modoH in which , that oapaeity acts . This is tho hwt unulyniu to which the phenomena in ( mention aro resolvable . Tho will luuuuH the capacity ofboing doteinninod to do . a thinjy by eo » - Hidovatiowrt which , wo cull motives , All , inqtivos may , ii ^ tho lust nnalvsfo , bo resolved into desires ; ovon whero convictions nro apparently the ( lutcnnining motive it will bo Ibuiul tipon investigation tljiiit Llip ut'tual motive was thp dosiro of acting up to tho conviction in imetf . tion . We shall ooncludo thiw brief outline With a ntiUt'inout of Home ' of ( ha great prftcticul laws of the mind . These « wo j tbut we ouanot nvtiko that appear true winch aipponrs false ; or that iiinwu" i ' ulifo which appoivvtt tvuo . ; ov to employ tho vul ^ tu
t ' . \ proi »» iou so cxtromoly iuaocuu'nt ' o , wo cannot ultov ouv bolioi' l ) y ouv will } tho logical tendency pf (> knowledge of thisi groat laft i * to < lo . av- ay wi |) J » till jVprflOflUtion fov o ^ nions , siv ) so , as it allows thju Ji ' iolloi'iH tm involnutH ' ry ' Ntuttf of minil . We kiu \ f if we oUpoao , or vviU
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§ g 4 The Saturday Analyst and Leader : [ Oct . 13 , I 860
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 13, 1860, page 864, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2369/page/8/
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