Essays on the use and limit of the imagination in scienceTyndall, John
Science
Essays on the use and limit of the imagination in science
Tyndall, John
Science
The tendency of the above remarks is to show that the most subtle
phases of ‘expression’ have at least a proximate mechanical origin.
The splendours of the ‘imperial Eleänore’--the ‘languors of her love
deep eyes’--are all reducible to the same cause; and not only so, but
they actually exist for a time in space, isolated alike from her and
her worshipper. Every gleam of those eyes, every flush of her brows,
every motion of her lips requires the ether for its transmission, and
a certain calculable time to pass from her to him. During this time,
the expression which is to stir the soul, to kindle love or quench it,
exists in space as a purely mechanical affection of matter; and, for
aught we know, a slight steepness in the front of an ethereal billow, a
slight curl of its crest, or some other accident of form, may determine
whether the recipient of its shock is to be elated with joy or steeped
in misery.
The philosophy of the future will assuredly take more account than
that of the past of the relation of thought and feeling to physical
processes; and it may be that the qualities of the mind will be studied
through the organism as we now study the character of a force through
the affections of ordinary matter. We believe that every thought and
every feeling has its definite mechanical correlative--that it is
accompanied by a certain separation and remarshalling of the atoms
of the brain. This latter process is purely physical; and were the
faculties we now possess sufficiently strengthened, without the
creation of any new faculty, it would doubtless be within the range of
our augmented powers to infer from the molecular state of the brain
the character of the thought acting on it, and conversely to infer
from the thought the exact molecular condition of the brain. We do not
say--and this, as will be seen, is all-important--that the inference
here referred to would be an _à priori_ one. But by observing,
with the faculties we assume, the state of the brain and the associated
mental affections, both might be so tabulated side by side that, if
one were given, a mere reference to the table would declare the other.
Our present powers, it is true, shrivel into nothingness when brought
to bear on such a problem, but it is because of its complexity and our
limits that this is the case. The _quality_ of the problem and the
_quality_ of our powers are, we believe, so related, that a mere
expansion of the latter would enable them to cope with the former. Why,
then, in scientific speculation should we turn our eyes exclusively to
the humble past? May it not be that a time is coming--ages no doubt
distant, but still advancing--when the dwellers upon earth, starting
from the gross human brain of to-day as a rudiment, may be able to
apply to these mighty questions faculties of commensurate extent? Given
the requisite expansibility to the present senses and intelligence of
man--given also the time necessary for their expansion--and this high
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account