On the principles and method of a practical science of mind : a reply to a criticism / by Thomas Laycock.

  • Thomas Laycock
Date:
1862
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the principles and method of a practical science of mind : a reply to a criticism / by Thomas Laycock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the anima of StaliPs system; yet I have no where in my work discussed, the soul or its nature, but on the contrary, expressly re- jiudiated any such procedure as unscientific. I always speak of the man; and my sole object is man, as he exists on earth. Mind in the abstract, is not considered to be a personal entity, such as it renders man, but an ordering force as universal as the force of gravity. And just as the latter is the immediate cause of planetary motions, so this directive force is the immediate cause of all those ad- justments of the operation of the motor forces of the universe, which strike us so forcibly, whether they be mechanical, mechauico-chemical, (heat, light, electricity, &c.,) chemical, or vital forces. As an illus- tration of my doctrine, let me take the formation of the blubber or layer of fatty matter found in the whale, and other hot-blooded animals of the Arctic Ocean. The metaphysical or speculative tele- ologist would explain the deposit by the doctrine of final causes, and would argue that the fat is deposited in virtue of the will of the Creator, whose object is that these hot-blooded animals shall be able to exist in these cold regions, and who has to that end pro\aded that their bodies shall be protected by a warm or non-conducting material. If, however, he be a Stahlian, he will substitute the anima for the Creator as the immediate or proximate cause of the deposit. In either case, the theory will be strengthened by the fact that do\vny and woolly coverings are supplied to Arctic land animals, under analogous circumstances; while in hot countries on the con- trary, the body is bare, or the wool changes to thin hair. Now while I recognise the end, I say that like all other ends in living things, it is attained by the nmtual operation to certain results, of physical and vital forces. The vital forces upon which the subcutaneous deposit of fat depends, are so modified by the low temperature of the air or water, in which they are placed that carbonaceous products result from their action in the form of oil, hair, and feathers; and whenever from any other cause, the vital forces are modified in the same way (as in disease,) the same result will take place. In like manner, a lower temperature not only predis])oses to fat deposit, but to torpor of the nervous system in certain animals, or hybernation. Perhaps one of the most striking examples of this self-adjusting operation of the teleological force, is in the supply of food to London. No personal direction of a public officer or board of officials could undertake the production and sup})ly to its 3,000,000 inhabitants of their daily food, and whatever is necessary to their comfort and happiness, without the greatest risk of failure and at incalculable labour; yet so admirable are the self-adjustments of that great social mass in virtue of those social forces, which (ac- cording to my system), are the derivatives of the teleological force, that all goes on as regularly as the movements of the planetary system, or the functions of uidividual organisms. But the planetary