The Catholic World, Vol. 07, April 1868 to September, 1868Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 07, April 1868 to September, 1868
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
the real science of physiology he has not touched, has not
dreamed of; nor have any of his brethren who see in the human
soul only a useless appendage to the body. The soul is the
_forma corporis_, its informing, its vital principle, and
pervades, so to speak, and determines, or modifies, the whole
life and action of the human body, from the first instant of
conception to the very moment of death. The human body does not
exist, even in its embryonic state, first as a vegetable, then as
an animal, and afterward as united to an immaterial soul. It is
body united to soul from the first instant of conception, and man
lives, in any stage of his existence, but one and the same human
life. There is no moment after conception when the wilful
destruction of the foetus is not the murder of a human life.
As we said on a former occasion, or at least implied, man, though
the ancients called him a microcosm, the universe in little, and
contains in himself all the elements of nature, is neither a
mineral nor a vegetable, nor simply an animal, and the analogies
which the physiologist detects between him and the kingdoms below
him, form no scientific basis of human physiology, for like is
not same. There may be no difference that the microscope or the
crucible can detect between the blood of an ox and the blood of a
man; for the microscope and chemical tests are in both cases
applied to the dead subject, not the living, and the human blood
tested is withdrawn from the living action of the soul, an action
that escapes the most powerful microscope, and the most subtile
chemical agent. Comparative physiology may gratify the curiosity,
and, when not pressed beyond its legitimate bounds, it may even
be useful, and help us to a better understanding of our own
bodies; but it can never be the basis of a scientific induction,
because between man and all animals there is the difference of
species.
{157}
Comparative physiology is, therefore, unlike comparative
philology; for, however diverse may be the dialects compared,
there is no difference of species among them, and nothing hinders
philological inductions from possessing, in the secondary order,
a true scientific character. Physiological inductions, resting on
the comparative study of different individuals, or different
races or families of men, may also be truly scientific; for all
these individuals, and all these races or families belong to one
and the same species. But the comparative physiology that
compares men and animals, gives only analogies, not science.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account