mian's nature-Sacraments-The object for which they are designed- Purificatory sacraments-Baptisms-Sprinklings with water and blood -Baptisms of fire-Confession-Communion-by sexual union-by dreams-by partaking of a sacrifice-Omophagic rites-Soma rites- OF UNIVERS POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM CHAPTER I THE SEAT OF THE RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT The doctrine of the Correlation of Force-The planes of existence-The individual spontaneous force lifts from one to the other-Mode of cellular growth-Functions of the spontaneous force-Differentiation of cellular action—Nervous apparatus-Reflex, consensual, and intelligent action-Nervous structure in man—The homologues in lower organisms -The functions of the cerebral ganglia-Mental action a resolution of force-Ideas are formed by force becoming latent-Instinct-The seat of the emotions-The seat of the intelligence-The importance of the feelings-The feelings are the social organ, the intellect is the individual organ-The co-ordination of intellect and feelings is the province of religion. ORCE is that which produces or resists motion.1 FORCE It is indestructible. When it has ceased to exhibit itself in one form, it has not ceased to be, but it has assumed expression in some other form. A force cannot originate otherwise than by devolution from some pre-existing force or forces. 1 Grove Correlation of Physical Forces; London, 1842. Tyndall: Heat considered as a Mode of Motion; London, 1868. Mayer: Die organische Bewegung in ihrer Zusammenhang m. d. Stoffwechsel, 1845. Bray On Force and its Mental Correlates; London, n.d. Cranbrook : Doctrine of Correlation of Forces; Edinburgh, 1867. In physics, light, colour, heat, electricity, chemical affinity, attraction and repulsion, are modes of force. Matter is the vehicle through which force acts, is propagated, and alters its direction. Motion is the mode of alteration of force, and the transfer of it in greater or less intensity from one point to another. Light, heat, electricity, &c. are correlatives; and the degree, intensity, or quantity of the one taking the place of, or superinduced by another, always bears an exactly definite proportion to the degree, intensity, or quantity of that other whose place it takes, or by which it is superinduced. The quantity, intensity, or degree of motion of one kind superinduced in a body by motion of another kind is always in exact relation to the quantity, intensity, or degree of that superinducing motion. Thus, when water at 212° is converted into steam, the heat which it receives is no longer manifested as heat, but mechanical force is developed in its stead, and this in a definite ratio. The locomotive force of the railway engine is this mechanical force evolved from coal. When a station is approached a brake is applied, and smoke and sparks fly from the wheel pressed by it. The train is brought to rest by reconversion of the propelling force into heat. Count Rumford boiled water by hammering on iron; in wielding his hammer he expended muscular force. That muscular force he derived from the food he had assimilated, that food had drawn its force from earth and air and water, and into air and water it returned. When chemical decomposition takes place, heat is generated; that is, the cohesive force which combined the molecules in a certain relation, being no longer needed to maintain that relation, is liberated, and takes flight as caloric. The evolution of electricity produces vibrations, which meeting the ear are registered as sounds, and meeting the eye are noted as light, and meeting the touch produce pain. We shall see, presently, that vital and mental and nervous action are also modifications of force. There are four phases of existence known to us, raised, as planes, one above the other. The first and lowest is that of elementary existence. The second is the plane of chemical compounds, or the mineral kingdom. The third is the plane of vegetable existence. The fourth is the plane of animal life. It is the special function of force acting as chemical affinity to raise matter from plane 1 to 2; and all changes which take place on this plane are under the guidance and control of this force. It is obvious that to maintain combination some force must be superadded to the latent forces in the elements themselves. Thus, oxygen and hydrogen are placed in juxtaposition at an ordinary temperature, but they will not combine. A flame must be applied to the mechanical mixture—that is, the force discharged from the match in combustion must be applied-to unite the chemical elements. With this superadded force union is at once effected, and water is the result. It is the special prerogative of vegetative force to lift matter from plane 2 to plane 3. All the changes taking place on this plane, the laws of which constitute vegetable physiology, are under the guidance and control of this force. Here, again, to form organic cellular growth a force must be superadded to the chemical forces. Whence is this obtained? Without denying the possibility of spontaneous generation, in the lowest forms of vegetable life, it may be safely asserted that this co-ordinating, selecting, and con structive force is derived from the parent plant, and is contained in the germ. Finally, the force of animal life, and that alone, enjoys the privilege of lifting matter still higher, into the plane of animal existence. If then it be admitted that this is the relative position of the planes, and that it requires a greater and greater expenditure of force to maintain matter upon each successive plane, then it follows that any amount of matter returning to a lower plane by decomposition must set free or develop a force which may under favourable circumstances raise other matter from a lower to a higher condition.1 Let us consider vegetable matter in decomposition. The act of decomposition liberates the vegetative force. In this matter low cellular organisms appear in great abundance. Now these must be either generated spontaneously or be developed from eggs deposited in the matter. It has been said that belief in spontaneous generation varies directly with our ignorance of the real physiology of the reproduction. Thus, the ancients believed that rats and mice sprang from the earth without parents, and till the time of Redi maggots were supposed to be immediate products of decomposition. And the current of scientific progress has served to shew that every organism, of whatever kind, is the immediate product of previously-existing organisms. Not even infusorial plants and animals are now believed to be spontaneously generated. As a matter of fact no satisfactory evidence has been produced to show that the most rudimentary life can be developed out of matter from which living organisms have been eliminated, and which is kept isolated from them. 1 Philosophical Magazine, 1860, p. 133. |