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    ought to prov ^ e that his thoughts have power to alter the nature of the subject in question . In < the present instance such an idea is manifestly absurd , and the question itself is so very abstract and difficult , that very few persons are

    fit to give ari opinion about the matter $ and of those who do , their positiveness will be found in a very direct proportion with their degree of ignorance . " I begged him to give me some slight notion of the nature of those

    difficulties , as the question appeared to me simple and easy enough . " This , Madam / ' said he , " is almost impossible in a short conversation , but , however , I may just hint that any one who assumes a right to decide the question , ought to begin with shewing the difference between the nature of

    the attraction of the particles of matter in a case of chemical affinity , a piece of zinc suspended in a solution of acitate of lead for instance , and that attraction which exists between the particles of matter in a seed , and the soil in which it is inserted . If he should

    succeed 111 this , he must proceed to the still more difficult task of tracing the cause of the distinction between the attractions in the former cases , and those exercised in the production of animal existence ; which is so far from having ever been done , that we are

    entirely ignorant of the manner in which these operations of nature are performed . No Materialist is bold enough to say he can trace these various attractions ; but he says a regular analogy may be observed from the most passive and inert matter , up to the most active and complicated ; that

    with the first appearance of any thing like brain and nerves in an object , there is ; a » glimpse of sensation , and that as the organization of these material organs improves , there is an equal rat& of advance in the powers of feeling and intellect , till you arrive at tkeir utrttost teruestriaipferfectioninmani ; that

    whatever is the cause of feeling and inteU&- ' gence i » - man , is ; Exactly the sawa ^ in isature , although differing wl dsegr ^ e witb that . in . ailothteir sentient fefcings 01 * , thifco globe , and that itis nt © more necesmtiy to suptp * Kse the ; addition of another principle ^ than it is to imagine tb # existence of a spirit of elasticity in 1 && springs , oar * a spirit to move the wheels , ofca watch . Now this is adtl qj * ite tante * ? m& tihe briiim a » 4 mxv&&

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    of man may possibly contain within themselves , essentially , the properties of intelligence and sensation , as a piece of steel does of elasticity , but till we know how the cause produces the effect , which is probably beyond the reach of the human faculties , we can

    never be competent to decide positively on the matter . " The Immaterialist , on the other hand , starts with the position , that there is a manifest contrast between mind and matter , and that to talk of a material intellect is as absurd as it woukl

    be to speak of a thought as being square , or an argument as being triangular . That the mind of man , glancing in an instant from pole to pole , from the earliest records of history to the present moment ; darting with a

    rapidity , greater far than that of light , from the sun to the utmost planet , and thence into the regions of infinite space , can never be justly considered as a mere quality of the * dull , heavyclod of earth which , for a moment , it is made to inhabit . That we have even

    a consciousness that we ourselves are something distinct from our bodies , and that when a man ' s limbs are mutilated , his sense of integrity is no more affected than by a change of his clothes . But all this is evidently mere assertion , and assuming as granted the very

    subject of dispute ; and the Immaterialist is just as incapable of proving that the mind of man is something separate from his body , as his adversary is of the reverse . If the Immaterialist denies a soul to brutes , he gets involved in an inextricable maze of

    contradiction , which he in vain attempts to get out of by saying that God is himself to them a soul ; because that is a mere sophism , —words without meaning , — an assumption without the least proof .

    There is still another theory on this subject perhaps riaore p ? rbfmi * id , more logical , and' more corisistfeftt thaw either of the others , vfe . that which stipp ^ ees the non-exifctotte of ih&ttter . The

    Spiritualist £ sks , what fe matter ? Yci * say , every object v ® &afo » e £ wMfch comes within the cognizance of ta ^ senses ; any thing fchaffi ie- hard , soft , rough , smooth , coloured * pfefe , od ^ rt fus ,

    heavy , and so * oi * - * -t 3 ie table , ehadr , picture or statue to this room fot instance . The Sttfi&tltfSfet aaaswera , that you nave only described yowc own sensations , and \ ca& > , in ui ® nature of

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    18 Conversation on the late Medical Dispute .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1820, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2484/page/18/