Dry truth, real knowledge, hard facts, are less interesting, less entertaining, than a plausible fable or a fanciful story. While the latter is listened to, with eagerness and pleasure, the former barely receives ordinary civility and attention. The effort requisite to understand and to think, requires resolution, determination, and fixed attention. The senses are not stimulated, the emotions and feelings not aroused, by mathematical problems or astronomical calculations. The muscular tissues are much more easily trained, disciplined, and educated than the nervous tissues. In the former we see immediate results. There is a pleasure in the pursuit, a palpable satisfaction in watching the muscular action and physical development. The most agreeable part about that kind of exercise, training—or education if you choose—is that it is easily acquired and soon put in practice, and much admired. It has other advantages in addition. The fatigue and exhaustion in consequence of muscular exercise, add no small amount of enjoyment to that already experienced, by having to replenish the spent energies, to fill the demand for new material called for. The gustatory and olfactory nerves are stimulated by odor of the viands provided, and what is still more important, the glandular activity that is set in motion produces an amount of exhilaration, so satisfactory that it is recognized as one of the principal features for every and on all occasions. “A feast is made for laughter and wine maketh merry” (Eccles. x, 19).

Muscular action, however, cannot take place without nervous action. These two tissues are dependent one on the other. Yet the muscular tissue may be considered as subordinate to the nervous tissue. While the muscular tissue may become totally inactive or incapacitated, or even removed, the brain tissue may retain its activity and continue to perform its functions. The very reverse takes place when the brain is either injured or removed. We know by experience, experiments, that injuries or other pathological changes will cause impairment to muscular tissue.

It is hard to conceive, and harder still to understand, that an animal—man included—is nothing more than a vitalized machine, composed in the first place of two distinct working parts—muscular and nervous—while all the other portions have to perform duty in order to sustain them.

The word function is a term applied to all tissues in general, as kidneys, liver, stomach, etc.; each has its function. So have muscles and nerves. The former has for its function contraction, while the latter has for its function to control and regulate that contraction.

The first part of the machinery is governed and checked by the domination of the other. That dominion, that control, is termed Volition, in other words, will power!

1. Will power! What is it? It is a power which every animal possesses, and every animal exercises, in accordance with its particular organization and degree of organic development.

2. Every animal has the power, with the aid of its senses—five senses of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling—to select substances from the vegetable and mineral kingdom, for its immediate want, for the sustenance of life.

3. It has the power of locomotion to go in search for those substances, and to carry them to a place of safety, for present or future use. It has the power to select the kind of food, to choose that which is beneficial and reject that which is injurious. The five senses direct in that selection.

4. The animal has will power to protect and defend his possessions—through his senses the brain directs and the muscles act.

5. The animal has will power, when the organs of procreation are developed, to choose a partner for the production of young. The senses serve in making the selection, as regards beauty, form, size, etc.

6. It has the will power to nourish and protect its young or to destroy it.

7. Animals have the will power to build their habitation, their home, and furnish it in a manner best suited for their comfort.

8. Animals have the power to articulate sound, and have the will to communicate with each other if they so desire, to antagonize or to quarrel.

9. They have the will power to select from the surrounding elements. They choose water, air, sunshine, high or low altitudes; they migrate from warm to cold, and from cold to warm, climates.

10. They have social intercourse among themselves; have a will power to organize as a band or body to protect themselves against the attacks of other organized bodies, to fight and to battle.

11. Animals instruct their young—guide them and protect them, as well as feed them. They have their code of morals. They have all such functions as serenading, love-making, music, jealousy, pleasure, and anger. Animals have judgment; they can compare and reflect on cold and heat, danger and tranquillity, comfort and discomfort. They can reject or accept.

12. They have memory, perception, and understanding. Domestic and wild animals exhibit these peculiarities. They will manifest their likes and dislikes, hate and love, courage and cowardice.

The will power depends on the nervous system—the cerebral hemispheres, the cerebrum or small brain, the thalamus opticus, corpus striata, corpora quadrigemina, the peduncles, medulla oblongata, spinal cord, etc. That is, all the organs that constitute the nervous machinery, that control the muscular tissues in all their acts, and keep a watchful outlook over all other organs of the body.

The will power, then, is the power to act in accordance and in harmony with the things recognized, or the selection made by any of the five senses, discriminating between that which is good for them and that which is injurious, or good and evil.

Animals in selecting grass for food will avoid that which is injurious to them. The olfactory and gustatory nerves guide them. They will seek shelter, and evidently know what to do when a thunderstorm approaches, etc., etc.

Will power is a property, quality, or function belonging to all living creatures in common. The degree of will power depends upon the quality, quantity, and perfection of the nervous organization. Man has will power in a measure greater as the nervous system is developed, educated, and perfected.

Morality—a quality that does not exclusively belong to man. What is morality? It is nothing more than a restraint, or check, on our actions and our feelings. It is the regulating of the actions of life towards ourselves and towards others. It is the obedience to recognized and established laws in a community, socially and politically. It means not to trespass against the laws of nature, against ourselves, or against our neighbors.

Animals restrain themselves and obey.

Morality differs according to the social customs and practices, and the civil laws regulating the same, which were made and adopted for mutual benefit and protection. These are either crude or refined, depending on the condition of society.

To a limited degree animals have morality. Man has it in a higher and more refined degree, according to the progress and culture attained.

Intelligence—Animals possess intelligence, if the meaning of it is, to recognize sounds and figures, be obedient to the voice, understand what is said, perform certain acts, execute the will of a master, know the difference between right and wrong, express gratitude, exercise watchfulness, protect life and property, remember places and objects in general, be capable of some degree of improvement, susceptible of training and modification of conduct, etc., within the limits of the nervous power the animal has.

What is the soul? Is the soul something quite independent of matter? Is it a something entire and complete in itself? A perfect part of a perfect whole? Does the soul possess all the excellences and qualities theologians claim for it? Whence does it come? What does it consist of? Has it an existence separate and apart from the body? If so, where? In what state does it exist previous to entering the body? Does every human being receive a like quality and quantity? Has it consistency? density? elasticity? Is there any connection between the soul principle and matter? Spirit and soul, are they one and the same thing, or do they differ? If so, in what? What is substance soul and substance spirit? Is it self-acting and self-existing? Is the soul susceptible to training and education, and the reception of knowledge? Or is the soul already trained, educated, and possessed of all the knowledge that is now known or likely to be known? Does the will power reside in the soul? And is the nervous system subservient to the soul? Is the soul endowed with passions and emotions? Can the soul deteriorate, be injured or be afflicted? In what degree does the soul differ in the civilized and in uncivilized man?

The theological soul has its origin in the Bible, no doubt (from the word nephesh, breathing; the Greek psyche: Latin animas, chayu, breath of life).

This word gave the impulse to a vast amount of thought and reflection, both theological and psychological. Discussion and literature followed as extensive as there has ever been on any metaphysical topic.

It may be interesting to learn some of the attributes of the soul. Here is a partial list: “Will, passion, love, joy, grief, anger, mirth, sorrow, revenge, contempt, hatred, honor, pride, humility, jealousy, despair, pity, compassion, love of fame, of music, of the marvelous, of notoriety, avarice, guilt, curiosity, astonishment, respect, desire, cheerfulness, melancholy, sense of beauty, sense of the sublime, sense of friendship, feeling of delight, selfishness, generosity, etc.” The author of this concoction had not a very clear notion of what he was writing about, otherwise he would have known that animals have in common with man most of the emotions above recited. The soul is a display of nervous phenomena, exhibited under certain circumstances, differing only in intensity of expression, depending upon the kind and character of animal and man.

It is one of the common tricks of trade—when theologians argue upon the immortality of the soul, they bring and ring in any amount of biblical evidence to sustain them. They prove nothing. They cannot prove anything. It is the standing puzzle. They try to unravel a mysterious something that is not mysterious. Nor is there any need of mystery. What is essential for us to know is the truth, plain natural facts. There is nothing that we need be either ashamed or afraid of. If we have been deluded by errors made several thousand years ago, regarding the dual composition of man, or have been imposed upon and intentionally retarded in the onward progress, it is time to correct the error and remove the imposition. Let us have a clear, intelligent view of things and look at them as they are. This mystery, like other mysteries, can be cleared up by the light of science and modern investigation.

What is the difference between man and animal? Articulate speech and the susceptibility of the brain matter to a high degree of culture.

Mind is a term employed to designate the collective acquirements of a man’s brain. In proportion as the acquirements are greater or less, the mind is greater or smaller.

These acquirements may be simple, complex, or profound. They may be biased, general, or scientific; they may be deep, learned, or superficial. They may be only a slight advance above the general animal instinct; or may have assumed a superior intelligence and may have arisen to a higher plane of intellectual qualities.

The acquirement or evolution of mental power and intellectual capacity depends:

1. On the constitutionally inherited capacity and capability.

2. On the size and general conformation of the brain.

3. On the perfect condition of the organs of special sense.

4. On the quality of the nervous structure.

5. On the general physical constitution of the body.

6. On the evenly balanced equilibrium between the vital organs.

7. On the chemical elementary constituents that enter into the composition of the various tissues, especially the nervous tissue.

8. And lastly on the education, training, or culture.

9. I may add, suggestively, on the relative quantity and quality of the gray and white substance of the brain, etc., and perhaps on the depth of the sulci and the size of the convolutions and the general symmetry of the different lobes of the cerebrum, etc.

The brain of an idiot is not susceptible to culture or education. He has all the senses, but of an inferior and imperfect order; a brain insufficient in quantity and quality to be capable of acquiring anything. No mind can be formed. The idiot has not any intellect. Has he a soul?

Or supposing any portion of the brain is diseased and any one of the special senses ceases to act, as sight, hearing, or any part of the muscular tissue, and the intellect is impaired, either partially or wholly incapacitated, then has the soul suffered any damage, or does the soul remain intact?

Or supposing that a child is born blind, or that some one of the nerve centers controlling certain faculties of the brain is absent, and the education is necessarily limited to the remaining nerve centers, is the soul still complete and perfect?

Or in case of change of structure of the brain substance, as in softening of the brain; or in case of tumors, blood clots (thrombosis), or syphilitic disease, and paralysis either local or general resulting—depending on the seat of the disease—what has the soul to do with it? Or in disease of the meninges (coverings); or in case of insanity, whatever morbid cause might have produced that condition, where is the soul?

Or when, in consequence of morbid changes, the mental and physical expressions, the actions, change, often extravagantly, is the soul affected thereby?

When the body is afflicted with disease, does the soul suffer?

At what period of fetal development is it that the soul enters the body? Or does it enter at birth?

The breath of life is Oxygen. Without that element one could not live. Without it the newly born babe is more helpless than a lower animal. Not a single special sense is fully developed. The brain substance is not fully developed. The babe has no power to will anything. It has no volition—except the act of nursing, and that is not a voluntary act. The organs over which will has no control are the first to act—an infant soils its linen involuntarily. It imbibes nourishment, as a mass of protoplasm imbibes moisture. It has neither will power nor desire. It cannot select. It has neither knowledge nor conscience. Since none of the special senses is able to act, it has no perception of any kind whatsoever. It experiences only two sensations, pain and hunger. Young birds and other young animals do the same.

Is there anything in this newly born babe of a supernatural character, such as a soul, spirit; the knowledge of God, or of good and evil? Does there exist in this mass of organized protoplasm anything that may be called divine? Is there aught innate? No! Certainly not!

There are what may be termed latent powers—not unlike latent heat—capable of being evolved. You may fashion anything out of it—in the religious line, brutal or uncivilized, etc. It will acquire any kind of speech, from the howling of a dog to the most refined language. It will contract any habit, from that of the lowest animal type to that of the most refined lady or gentleman. You may make either a cannibal out of it or the most fantastic gustatorian. It will either crawl, climb, or walk. It will live anywhere and anyhow. It will either parade nude, be painted, or wear a breechcloth, or wear a swell dress coat, or, if it be a female, a long trailing skirt with all sorts of gewgaws. In religion you may make anything out of this babe. You may make it believe the greatest nonsense. It will believe three gods in one or twenty-five gods in one. It will be a Jew, a Christian, a Mohammedan, or the lowest brute on the face of the earth.

This mass of vitalized matter is susceptible to training. The physical part, the muscular part, always develops and is readily trained. In a primitive state it requires but little discipline to acquire muscular strength. The muscular powers are the first to assert themselves. This master tissue, whenever and wherever it excels, receives honor and homage, and prevails among its companions. In barbaric ages this was the controlling force, the ruling spirit, the governing power.

The nervous tissues require teaching. The senses must be trained, educated, cultured, refined. The impressions received through the nerve-centers by the senses are stored up in the cerebrum. Though they are at first simple, crude, and incomprehensible, habit, use, or repetition enables them to familiarize us with the surrounding objects.

If the brain is fully formed, the infantile education begins. By constant repetition of the same acts, the sense of satisfaction from feeding, and the sense of comfort from cleanliness, are slowly established in the experience of the child.

Hunger, cold, heat, and moisture will cause it to manifest its dissatisfaction by crying. It sleeps twenty out of the twenty-four hours, and wakes only to indicate its wants of either hunger or discomfort. The more regularly it is fed, and the more cleanly it is kept, the more peacefully will it rest and the more soundly will it sleep.

When, however, an infant is born, though physically fully developed, with face fully formed, but acephalous, without brain—that is, when an arrest of development has taken place—the babe cannot live, it cannot breathe, because the principal part of the nervous system is wanting—the medulla oblongata, cerebrum and cerebellum, etc.—though the lungs, heart, and all other organs are perfectly developed. This arrest of development may take place at any time. It is thus that congenital malformations are produced. Idiots are thus formed, or any other inferior formation of brain may take place. In proportion as the parts are present or wanting—the brain, or rather the nervous system—latent (better, inherent) qualities for future capabilities exist or do not exist. Supposing the optic nerve is arrested in its development, or any organ with which it is immediately connected, the special sense of sight is wanting. Though the eye itself, the organ of sight, may be perfect, all the training and education will never give it capability or skill in arts and sciences. This can never be acquired by that organ. You cannot educate that organ which you have not. Whatever perfect brain formation exists may be trained, fashioned, educated, in any one of the thousands of directions one pleases. It may be given any bent or bias, good, bad, or indifferent—depending upon the influences that are brought to bear on the young brain while it is in the process of developing.

An infant has no mind, intellect, thought, idea, memory, or any other nerve quality that nerve structure is capable of developing.

Talk of soul or spirit is absurd. It does not exist either in infant or in man any more than it exists in a plant or an animal—unless the term is applied to the collective functions of the great central organs, and in that case it would certainly not be supernatural.

At the time when the books of Moses were written—we need not even go so far back as when the fable of creation was first related—they knew nothing of circulation or of respiration, or of the nervous system. It was not even thought of. I believe you may search the Bible from end to beginning and from beginning to end without finding such a thing. No such word as brain is mentioned. What is known of the nervous system is, comparatively speaking, of recent date.

“What seems most marvelous is, that we, in the nineteenth century, boasting of a high grade of civilization, and, I may say, with all the modern improvements, should accept and still hold fast to an idea that originated in the brain of some barbarian four thousand or more years ago, away down in Mesopotamia (now Turkey) where they are still considered uncivilized. This is certainly very strange.

But ah! that priestcraft!