SCIENCE OF THE SOUL.

PART FIRST.

THE SOUL INCARNATE.

CHAPTER I.

DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS OF THE PHYSICAL MINDDEFINITIONS OF SOUL-VARIOUS THEORIES REGARDING IT-SOUL PHENOMENA CLASSIFIED.

HE operations of the mind of man, as exhibited

THE

in and through the physical senses and intellect, are apparent, and can be observed and studied by every one, even if they cannot be fully understood. It is a fact perfectly demonstrated that thought and mental effort depend upon the development and operations of the physical brain, nerves and nerve centres; and from the standpoint of purely physical science, the logical conclusion is that all the manifestations of the mind are a physical process. The mind is as weak at birth as the infant's body; it develops with the body, decays with it, and apparently ceases to exist when the body becomes inert matter. The proof seems complete, without attempting any in

vestigation or analysis of mental processes which operate independently of the physical body and brain,— that the mind is an aggregation of the various elements of intelligence, energy and force which pervade the universe, as the body is an aggregation of its material elements. Another logical conclusion is, that as the mind is apparently dependent upon the physical body and brain for its existence, development and operations, it must cease to exist as a conscious entity when the physical body becomes inert. This is the strictly materialistic view.

But the logic of materialism has never satisfied the inward desires and longings of man, even if it has commended itself to his physical intellect. As a result of these longings, we find that among nearly all races and peoples there has prevailed a belief, with or without assumed evidence to sustain it, that there exists in man, independently of his physical body, an intelligence, an ego, an individuality of some kind, which survives physical death. Some peoples and sects also hold the opinion, or claim actual demonstration of the fact, that the soul while still in the body has power to perceive independently of the physical senses, and even to project itself from the body.

Soul is defined by one authority as:

"The spiritual, rational and immortal part of man; that part of man which enables him to think."

The same authority gives as one of the definitions of spirit :

"The intelligent, immaterial, and immortal part of man; the soul, in distinction from the body in which it resides."

Another authority says:

"In its original signification the word soul appears to have stood for the principle of life both in men and animals. The modes of conceiving it were various. It was sometimes regarded as the mere harmony of the bodily functions, and sometimes as a distinct entity of highly ethereal nature, generally supposed to be seated in, or connected with, the blood; but no essential distinction was made between the soul of man and the soul of brutes."

The Scholastics, following Aristotle, held the soul to be the primary principle of life. According to their philosophy, a plant was endowed with a vegetable soul, beasts and man had in addition a sensitive soul, while man alone had a rational and immaterial soul. They based their proof of the immateriality of the distinctively human soul on the power of the human mind to form abstract ideas.

In India philosophies or theories of the soul are held which had their origin thousands of years ago. Information which has reached the Western world regarding these philosophies and theories is not entirely definite, and in some respects is conflicting; while many of the phenomena reported to be produced there, which might prove the existence of the soul and some of its characteristics, are not accepted by science as demonstrated facts. The "Adepts," "Mahatmas" or "Mystic Brotherhood" of India and Tibet make no parade of their philosophy or their powers before the world, and whatever information upon these points becomes public must of necessity be imperfect. It is known, however, that they claim to be able to communicate with each other other by soul projection or telepathy, a distance of thousands of miles being no bar; to transfer material substances by psychic force from one point to another; to sus