The soul: its origin and relation to the body; the the world; and to immortality

Front matter

V \ V t^ c^ nV c

0^

-5^

Introduction

I GLADLY write an introduction to Dr. Collinses volume for four reasons:

First. I found the manuscript of the volume intensely interesting. I began reading it one afternoon, and continued reading long into the night, finishing it the next day. It is impossihle to test a volume by the interest which it awakens in one person, as it may not awaken a similar interest in other minds. Indeed, a book may not awaken the sam-e interest in the same mind if read at different stages of one's experience. I can not, however, think that my interest in the great problems of the relation of the soul to the body, of immortality, etc., is a personal one. Surely thousands of ministers and students and thoughtful laymen are pondering the problems of the spirit in the new light which modem science is throwing upon them. They are wondering how far evolution affects our belief in the reality of spirit and in the doctrine of immortality. This interest is shown by such books as Newman Smythe's "Place of Death in Evolution" and John Fiske's "Destiny of Man." My first reason, therefore, for believing that Dr. Collins's volume will do good is my conviction that it will prove interesting and be read by a, large number of persons.

14 Introduction.

Second. The book impresses me as organic. It is a living wih'ole. Not a chapter can be cut out without taking away a part of the argument. The book contains some repetitions, but these are necessiary on account of the presentation of the subject in a novel light. The various positions of the author must be repeated with sufficient frequency to make a clear and definite impression upon the reader's mind. But the volume as a whole is not bulky, and it possesses that unity which comes from long thought by an author upon the materials of his volume. Milton says, in substance, that every great poem is the life-blood of a noble soul. This book seems to me to be a living product of a thoughtful mind.

Third. The volume impresses mie as a scientific contribution to a spiritual subject. It is said that Darwin carried on experiments for twenty years before writing his volume upon Earth Worms. Dr. Collins has pondered upon the problems discussed for a generation. The book has been in his mind, and he has been making observations and gathering materials for it during all these years. This is a volume by a layman. Dr. Collins has been a successful practicing physician for half a century, and in some cases has ministered to four succeeding generations in a single family. During all these years he has studied the great problems of psychology and of religion from the standpoint of a practicing physician. Instead of becoming a skeptic through his observations of the intimate rela-

Introduction. 15

tions between mind and body, his experiments and meditations have confirmed him in the Biblical view of the reality and independence of the spirit. I am still further confirmed in my estimate of the interest of this volume by the testimony of one of the ablest professors of philosophy in this country, who has also read the manuscript and tells me that it makes a real contribution to the subject of psychology and its relation to modern science. Surely if one does not agree with all his arguments, he will respect the convictions of a man who has experimented and meditated for a generation before pronouncing judgment upon the questions of deepest interest to our modem world.

Fourth. The volume furnishes a new and striking argument for the doctrine of immortality. Personally, I confess that I have found great difficulty in presenting an argument for immortality outside of the Bible which would be convincing to a skeptic. While not personally doubting the doctrine, I have often been unable to give reasons for the faith that is within me. Hence I hail this volume as a fresh contribution to one of the oldest subjects with which the 'human mind has grappled. Life is short at the longest. Human ambitions are out of all proportion to the earthly platform on which we play our parts. Any possible light which may be thrown upon the problem of our future life, any strengthening of old convictions, any presentation of fresh arguments, will be weloomied eagerly by earnest searchers for the truth.

16 Introduction.

I deem it an honor, therefore, to present Dr. Collins to his readers with this brief introdnctiooi. May his volnmje help thousands to walk in the path of Christian faith in which he has walked for so many years, and to reach at last the great home toward which he is eagerly looking forward!

J. W. BASHFORD.

Delaware^ 0., February ^ 1901,

OOI^rTEl^TS.

part I. THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL--ITS CONNECTION AND RELATION TO THE BODY

PAGE.

Every Animal Organism may be Traced Back to an Ultimate Point, or Beginning, in a Fecundated Ovum or Germ-Cell 21

On the Nature op Fecundation, and its Relation

TO Life and Mind 55

Part II*

THE RELATION OF THE SOUL TO THE WORLD, AND TO IMMORTALITY.

CHAPTER L

CHAPTER V. The Reign of Law in the World of the Soul

Apocalyptic Vision 287

CHAPTER Vl.

On the Resurrection of the Dead ; and AVhat is

the Part Raised? 308

PART I.

THE OEIGIX OF THE SOUL, ITS COXXEC- TIOX AXD EELATIOX TO THE BODY.

EVERY ANIMAL ORGANISM MAY BE TRACED BACK TO AN ULTIMATE POINT OR BE- GINNING IN A FECUNDATED OVUM OR GERM-CELL.

Section 1. — The Soul transmitted from Parentage at Fecundation.

Section 2. — Fecundation indispensable to the Perpetuation of the Vegetable Kingdom.

THE opinion has been very generally maintained that Man is a compound being, consisting of Matter and Spirit — body and mind; or, to make use of another form of expression: Man is a personal, spiritiTal being, with a physical body annexed. The personal form of the body and soul may be traced, in the first place, to a beginning, or common origin, and connection in the germ-cell. The union and development of both may be followed in the course of their procedure into a personal form: the body formed to serve as a tenement and instrumentality for the use of the soul during life. But before entering upon the subject of the personal form of the soul, we must first consider it in reference to its origin and connection with the vitalized molecules that compose the germ-cell, in which both the body and the soul unfold together

from the impersonal to a personal form of existence.

22 Origiis" of the Soul.

The soul constructs the body cell by cell, beginning with the germ-cell at the period of fecundation.

In what does the process of fecundation consist? Fecundation consists in the paternal germ-cell imparting a reproductive influence or causal agent to the maternal ovule. This process can take place only between germ-cells of the opposite sex belonging to the same species. The exception to the last-named rule is exceedingly rare; and in such instances where fecundation does take place between the opposite sex of a different species from each other, it almost invariably results in hibridity of the progeny. Among all the numerous tribes of the animal kingdom the development of each animal may be traced back to a mere point in the ovum, or egg. Each egg contains within its structure a minute cell, called the germ-cell. Within the latter there is a small particle of opaque substance, known as the nucleus, which contains a smaller one, called the nucleolus, or germinal dot. The germ-cell, like all other cells of which the different tissues of the body are composed, consists of an enveloping membrane or cell-wall, inclosing a nucleus, in which is a small granule, or nucleolus. The nucleolus, however, is not always present in the cells composing the tissues. Besides the different parts of the cell to which we have here alluded, all recent cells (whether ovule-cells or whether they be cells that compose the tissues of the body) contain a small particle of fluid, transparent germinal matter called Bioplasm. All the different tissues of the body are composed of miniite cells, which do not present any very marked difference from the initial germ-cell, from which most of the cells of the body proceed by a course of continuous succession through certain modes of cell-multiplication, as by division, germination, etc. These different modes of cellformation, however, will be referred to from time to time as we proceed.

Although there is no very marked physical difference to be observed between the germ-cells and the cells of the tissues, yet there is evidently a very important difference existing between these two classes of cells in reference to the office they fulfill in the animal economy. The difference to which we here refer consists mainly in the fact that the germ-cell contains within it an active causal principle necessary to the formation or production of the animal, a principle which is capable of varying the form and structure of each animal so as to make it conform to the genera and species to which its parents belonged in the animal scale. There is in each animal, not only a conformity of structure suited to the genera and species of each, but likewise a conformity in regard to the intellectual endowments which characterize its parentage and species. Every animal bears unmistakable marks of intelligence, which are suited to its own proper sphere of existence. The intelligence manifested by the different races of animals may be said to be one of degree rather than of kind. Accordingly there

24 Origih of the Soul.

is but one principle of intelligence pervading the entire animal kingdom; and that one is generally designated by the well-known appellation of Mind. As runs the paraphrase on the lines of Epicharmus:

^'What sees is mind, what hears is mind; All beside is deaf and blind."

We can not assume the existence of two or more separate and distinct principles or entities for the performance of the office of seeing or hearing without violating one of the fundamental rules of logic; viz., that of supposing the existence of two separate and independent entities to perform the same action, which, one of the principles embraced in the supposition, is known to be capable of performing to the exclusion of the other. For instance, there are not two distinct and entirely separate entities for the office of seeing and hearing, one for man and one for the lower animals. Wherever the office of seeing and hearing is found to exist, either in man or in the lower animals, there is a sentient or intellectual principle which sees and hears. It is not necessary, therefore, to suppose the existence of two entirely different entities to perform the same office that one of these is known to be capable of performing without the aid or substitution of the other. We are not, therefore, justified in the conclusion that because there is a gradation of intelligence pervading the entire animal scale, that in one instance it is Instinct that sees and hears, while in tlie other it is Intellect that sees and hears. But if there is only one principle of intelligence pervading the animal kingdom, whence is this principle derived which is capable of manifesting these different degrees of intelligence suited to the numerous animal tribes?

As every animal is known to proceed from a germ-cell, so all the powers concerned in the manifestation of intelligence pertaining to each must exist in the germ from which the animal is derived. But this statement does not hold good until after the act of fecundation has taken place, except by a union of the paternal and maternal germ-cells. There is contained within each of these cells a particle of highly-vitalized germinal matter, called Bioplasm, which contains, respectively, the true fecundating principle of the egg, or germ-cell. The maternal cell, when not fecundated, invariably perishes, without ever manifesting the slightest indications of passing beyond the simple cell-state; but after fecundation has taken place, we see within the germ-cell the commencement of the work of organizing a new and independent being, closely resembling in structure the form of the parents which, were immediately concerned in the fecundation of the ovum. Hence we are led to conclude that by this process both parents have, in some measure, contributed to the formation of the new being. In what, then, does the process of fecundation consist? What is it that is added to the maternal ovule which produces such a remarkable change in regard to its subsequent destiny,

26 Origii^ of the Soul.

and which not only prevents it from perishing almost as soon as formed, but directly sets up the process of organizing a new being, endowed with a sentient principle capable of manifesting psychical powers in all respects like those of the genera and species to which its parents belonged?

Prior to the act of fecundation the maternal ovule-cell is passive. It manifests no perceptible movement whatever towards the formation of an organism, while the spermatozoid cell furnished by the male exhibits a remarkable degree of activity. Whenever, therefore, those cells are brought into proximity and contact with each other, the spermatozoid cell inserts itself completely into the ver\^ central part of the structure of the maternal ovule, and fecundation is the result of this union. Everj^thing necessary to the formation of the new animal is by this means added to the newlyfecundated germ. After fecundation has taken place, the respective conditions of the two cells undergo remarkable change. The spermatozoid cell, so active the moment before this occurrence, now loses its identity, while the ovule cell puts on remarkable signs of activity. Prior to this union neither of the cells is capable of setting up the work of organizing a new being. Each cell contains only a part, but a very necessary part, of the principle required in the formation of a living animal. Hence, mthout a direct union of the germ-cells of the opposite sex, there could be no organization, sensation, nor intelligence; in short.

neither body nor soul. Inasmuch, then, as the process of fecundation enables the maternal ovule to set up an independent and spontaneous work of organizing a new creature resembling in all respects the particular form and character of the parents from which it has been derived, and by whose combined agency the germ-cell was fecundated, there must be a something added by this operation to the maternal germ capable of setting up a new and independent work, which the cell itself was wholly incapable of performing prior to this act.

What, then, is the principle imparted by this contact of the paternal cell with the maternal ovule, by which the identitv of the former is lost, while the latter develops into a being resembling in a very marked degree the physical form and mental character of the parents? There are three separate and distinct principles that belong to every animal which may be taken into consideration in the answer to this question; viz., the material, the vital, and the psychical. All others — as the electric, the magnetic, and the calorific — ^may be left entirely out of the account. In the first enumeration, the corporeal enters into the composition of the body; the vital is generalh^ supposed to be concerned in the formation of the bod}^ and in its vital processes; while the 'psychical principle, especially in man, is supposed to be engaged in thought, feeling, emotion, will, etc. The existence of these principles is so generally admitted that the introduction of proof may be deemed quite "unnecessary in this place. Indeed, the arguments that may be introduced to set aside the existence of matter are as conclusive as any that might be brought to bear against the existence of either of the others. The existence of matter can be known only by its phenomenal manifestations; and so of the others. It is not the material atoms simply that are added to the maternal ovule by the process of fecundation; for the ovule-cell already contained these as a necessary ingredient of its own structure. It can not be the calorific principle that is imparted; for this is imparted from one body to another, whether animate or inanimate, and is lost again by means of irradiation or the changes of temperature. It is not by imparting the electric or magnetic agents that fecundation is accomplished; for the germ-cells show no signs of magnetic or electric disturbance, neither before nor after their contact with each other. Nor is it the vital principle that is here added; for the principle of life already existed in the maternal ovule prior to the fecundating act. This is conclusive from the fact that an unvitalized or dead cell can not be fecundated. That the vital principle is capable of existing in cells when separated from the body is evident from its existence in the blood after being drawn from the veins, and also from its separate existence in the ivhite-dlood corpuscles before they are taken up hj the co-ordinating agency into the different tissues of the body. The only remaining agent to be considered, then, is the sentient or psychical principle.

This principle we find existing in every animal tliat feels and sees and hears. As in the lines already referred to, —

"What sees is mind, what hears is mind.*'

Nothing sees and hears but mind. The term "mind" we use in this connection simply as another name for the psychical principle. And of all the different principles just referred to, the psychical principle is the only one that truly bears the marks of hereditary transmission. That this principle is not derived exclusively from one parent is evident from the fact that in very many instances the mental endowments of the offspring manifest in a very striking manner the mental characteristics of one parent, while in other members of the same family we see the mental traits of the opposite parent as strongly portrayed. Thus in some families the offspring will in one or more instances manifest the peculiar mental tendencies belonging to the paternal side, while other members of the same family will exhibit strong and very striking resemblance to the mental peculiarities of the maternal side. That the forces which build the body are transmitted from both parents is evident from the fact that in the cross between the European race and the African Negro the skin fades and the wool changes to hair just in proportion to the amount of Caucasian blood circulating in the veins of the offspring; and where one of the parents, or both, are found to be idiotic, the transmission of the

30 Oeigin or the Soul.

mental deficiency is fearfully manifested in one or more, or in all tlieir progeny, as the case may be, in regard to the mental deficiency existing in one or both of the parents. These facts, with numerous others that might be cited, show that the psychical or sentient principle is transmitted by the laws of hereditary descent; and that both parents contribute to its production. In the case of domestic animals, such as the horse, we may obtain almost any disposition ^^ithin the range of the species by giving proper attention to the cross. This law holds good everywhere throughout the animal kingdom. We see every pair of each species transmitting to its progeny the mental character of its own species, and never in any instance transmitting the mental character belonging to a different species. Thus we never see the lion transmitting to its progeny the mild and timid disposition of either the hare or the lamb, nor vice versa. In accordance with this law, we always find each species in the animal kingdom steadily preserving its own peculiar mental character and disposition from age to age.

The vital principle alone nowhere shows such evidence of hereditary transmission and differentiation as is observed in reference to the psychical agent. The vital principle is the same in every moving blood-corpuscle found among the different species of animals; while the psychical principle, as we have said, is found to present very striking differences of mental disposition and traits of character in regard to every class, genus, and species found upon the earth. Each species has its own pecuHar mental characteristics, which as distinctly mark it as a species as does its bodily conformation. The psychical manifestations, however slight in their appearance among individuals low down in the animal scale, bear a most striking resemblance to those of its own genus or species, as well as to its own immediate progenitors. But in man more especially, in whom the mental powers are most manifest and observed, we see the mental peculiarities (often amounting to eccentricities of character) of one or both parents well marked, in different members of the offspring. These striking exemplifications of character in the progeny (sometimes inclining to one parent, and sometimes to the other) could not be expected to take place with such frequency, if indeed at all, unless both parents contributed to its production. And this contribution by the parents to the production of the inherent powers of the psychical agent, as exhibited in the progeny, could not take place except through the laws of hereditary descent; and these laws are established and set in operation only by the conjugal process of fecundation.

That the soul begins its career with the body is evident from its "unfolding powers, beginning, as it were, at zero, and unfolding its operations as the bod]^ unfolds — appearing in the first place entirely destitute of all manifestations of sensibility, and finally, in man, ending by a gradual process of development into complete rationality. As the hody is the living tenement of the sentient, personal soul, so the sexual or reproductive cells are the repositories of the impersonal, psychical agents, which unite together in the act of fecundation to form a personal heing. But the personal soul thus formed does not arise into conscious personality until it has formed suitable organs to aid in the development of its conscious powers. Starting, then, with the paternal cell in the form of the spermatozoid, with its living protoplasm, it penetrates by means of its motile force to the central part of the maternal ovule, where the two cells blend their protoplasmic contents together; and by this means the impersonal, psychical agents of both sexes are brought together, and by thus forming an indissoluble union in the living protoplasm of these sexual cells the personal soul is formed. Microscopic observations show that as the spermatozoid enters the walls of the maternal germ-cell, the vitalized liquid contents of the latter may be seen to rise by an amoeboid movement toward the entering spermatozoid, thus showing a direct affinity between the germinal psychical contents of the uniting cells; and although the fecundated cell may continue to be surrounded by numerous other spermatozoa like the one that penetrated it, there is no further tendency manifested between the remaining spermatozoid cells to unite with the fecundated ovules.

This is, doubtless, owing to a complete neutralization of its psychical cell-contents having already taken place. The paternal cell that imparts its impersonal psychical principle (which is its true germinal principle) to the oYule-cell is dissolved in the liquid contents of the latter, and thus completely loses its identity as a distinct cell, while the fecundated ovule, which now contains all that is necessary to the formation of the future animal, develops into an organized being, resembling, both physically and mentally, the combined characteristics of the parents. It is mostly in consequence of the impersonal, psychical entity contained in the germ-cells of the parents that these cells are characterized as cells of reproduction; for without this agent as a causal energy they would not differ very essentially from the other cells that compose the organism. Both the paternal and maternal germ-cells are in possession of vitality before fecundation takes place; but neither of them possesses the slightest capability of multiplying into other cells, so as to form tissue, until after the psychical union above referred to has taken place. The fecundated cell, having both a vital and a psychical agent indissolubly united together, is now ready to build up an organism suited to all requirements and wants of the personal psychical principle that occupies it. Let us now devote a few moments' attention to the operation of these agents in the building of the organic structure.

When the maternal ovule-cell is once ensouled by

the blending of the psychical agents of the two cells,

it immediately shows signs of great activity by the

changes which then take place in its plasmic cell-con-

34 Oeigin^ of the Sottl.

tents. It is now prepared to begin the work of organizing a new being, a work which it could not have performed prior to the fecundating act; for the fecundated cell now contains, for the first time in its history, all that is necessary for the perfecting of the future animal. Where everything is favorable — such as heat, moisture, etc. — it immediately commences forming a structure; first, by the imbibition of nutrient material through the cell-wall; and second, by elongating the nucleus of the germ-cell. The elongated nucleus divides in the middle into two daughter-cells, and these again divide into four, and the four into eight, and so on, by similar ratio of segmentation of the yolk, cells are multiplied almost innumerably as the work of organization goes on. As cells multiply, they are co-ordinated and woven into tissue in accordance with a definite plan of development suited to the forthcoming organization, which, in all cases, must correspond with the requirements and wants of the personal, psychical agent that occupies it, and for whose use the living structure is being built up.

But in order to understand the forces concerned in the operations of life, we must first take into consideration certain powers of the psychical agent itself.

It is a well-established principle, which has been long maintained by a very large majority of the philosophers that between matter and spirit (as between the non-extended soul and the body) there can be no direct ^ or immediate relation existing, such as the relation of direct contact — action or reaction — arising between these diverse entities. Seeing that matter and spirit are essentially different entities, it is claimed by many that there can be no direct relation, no properties in common; hence no mutual intercourse can be carried on between the body and the soul. The teaching of the philosophers in this respect is undoubtedly correct, as between the soul and lifeless matter, as hetween the soul and the body, when the latter is dead. It may be asked, then. How can there be a relation existing between the psychical principle and the maternal particles of which the ovule-cell is composed, assuming that the psychical principle is the true fecundating agent? We answer that in fecundation the psychical principle does not unite directly with the material particles of the cell, but forms a direct, indissoluble union with the vital principle existing in the cell; for, as already stated, a dead or lifeless cell can not be fecundated. In fecundation the psychical elements of each cell combine together, and at the same time enter into complete union with the vital principle of the germ-cell; and thus the psychical agent re-enforces the vital principle with a new class of powers, which, prior to this union, the latter did not possess.

The vital principle alone may form a cell de novo, as in the case of white-blood corpuscles; but it has no power to form cells by any of the other modes of cell-multiplication, and hence it is without power to form tissue. In like manner, the psychical principle, without the aid of the vital, can form neither cells nor tissue; for the formation of cells must precede the formation of tissue. But when these two agents are united together, as when fecundation takes place, then, and not till then, can the germ-cell divide and subdivide so as to form cells, without which no tissue can be formed, and without the formation of tissue no organism could be formed. The power, then, which forms cells and co-ordinates them into the formation of the organism is not the work of either a vital force or of a psychical force alone, but is the work of a psycho-vital energy. The vital principle forms the connecting link, not only between the soul and the ovule, or first cell, but likewise between it and every other cell of which the body is composed. Of these two agents, therefore, the vital principle alone forms a direct or immediate relation with the molecules of the cells, while the psychical agent has an immediate relation only with the vital principle with which it completely affiliates and hence re-enforces with a new class of powers. There is, therefore, only a temporary and indirect relation existing between the soul and the cells of the body, thus holding its frail tenure with the body through the vital link alone.

In the formation of cells from the germ-cell the latter divides in the center into two, and by a similar process the two divide into four, and the four into eight, and so on, by continuous cell-multiplication, until the whole body is formed. The same psychical principle that was imparted to the germ-cell by the process of fecundation

The Soul Tkansmitted. 3?

extends from cell to cell, as cells are formed by means of the division of the vitalized contents of the germplasm; and so on from cell to cell during the formation of the entire body. Thns, if the paternal and the maternal fecundating principles which formed a union in the germ-cell did not continue their connection from one cell to another, the division and formation of cells would immediately cease, and the organizing process would abruptly come to an end, and so the formation of both soul and body would fail to take place. There was a time in reference to every man when neither the soul nor the body existed in personal form. Both the soul and the body are connected together throughout solely by means of the myriads of cells that form the organism. Every cell of which the body is composed is, in a certain sense, ensouled. Accordingly we may say, in the language of Emerson, that "the whole soul is embodied, and the whole body is ensouled." The soul constructs the body for its own use as a tenement, which it occupies during life. Thus the soul, as well as the body, exists in personal form. That the soul is in the form of the body we expect to show to the ocular demonstration of every man that thinks and reasons; but of this in its proper place. We have said that every cell of which the body is composed is, in a certain sense, ensouled. To this rule there is but one well-marked exception, whidh pertains solely to the ovarian cells. These cells, having lost the paternal counterpart, contain only the maternal principles which render this class of cells susceptible of the fecundating process, resulting in a new and independent being similar to that of its parentage.