It is in vain to require proof of a material connection between the Nose
and the Mind, for it is utterly impossible to demonstrate to sense the
seat of the divine particle. Material organs cannot apprehend immaterial
existence: they even fail to perceive some of the more tenuous
materialisms, air, light, heat, electricity, &c., which are known only
by their effects. It is in vain to deny physiognomy—of which Nasology is
only a department—because we cannot understand by what processes mind
acts on the features; because we cannot see any material organisms which
operate to contract the muscles in laughter or pain, or which impel the
blood to or from the countenance when consciousness or fear affects the
mind. It is in vain to deny the blush or the pallor because we know not
_how_ the pulsations of the heart and the flow of blood are affected by
mental impressions. It is one of the strongest proofs of the
immateriality of the soul, that while its existence cannot be denied, it
cannot be anatomically demonstrated, nor rendered visible to sense. The
mode in which Mind acts on Matter is one of the arcana of Nature, which,
perhaps, human science will never penetrate. It is a secret reserved for
that state in which the mind will act independently of material media.
However numerous and plausible the theories propounded to explain the
mystery, they all terminate like the Indian’s world-supports, and the
chain of connection breaks at the last link. It is, therefore, in vain
to deny physiognomy because we can demonstrate no material connection
between the mind and the features, nor would any sane objector insist on
such demonstration; yet such demonstration has been insisted on, and the
absence of it adduced as a fundamental objection both to physiognomy and
phrenology by critics at a loss for valid objections.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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