AXIOMS
\
OF THE
PHYSICAL SCIENCES,
BY
Á^X¿3-
LOÜIS MACKALL, I.D.
WASHINGTON ;
INTELLIGENCER PRINTING HOUSE,
Nos. 375 and 377 D Street.
1866.
AXIOMS
OP THE
PHYSICAL SCIENCES,
1
BY
L
LOÜIS MACKALL, M.D.
«
«
♦
WASHINGTON;
INTELLIGENCER PRINTING HOUSE,
Nos. 375 and 377 D Street,
1866.
Entered tecording to the Act of Coogreu, in the year 1866, by Locif IfioXALL, 11.0,,
in the Cterk'i Office of the District Court of the Onited States for the District of Co-
lusabia.
A.r>VERTISEME"N"T.
On a careful examination of the principles of the received system of Physical Science,
I am convinced that many of these principles are false and irrational ; and that
they may be substituted by others that are true and rational. Indeed, I hold the
opinion that the great leading principle of Physical Science—that on which most of its
other principles are based, the principle that recognizes the occult, active properties
of matter—is utterly false and untenable ; and that it may, with the greatest advan¬
tage to mankind, be banished from Science and have its place supplied by the leading
principle of Religion, that recognizes a Supreme Being of infinite power and wisdom,
who has created all things and who governs the World, or the course of Nature, by
means of His laws that were decreed from the Beginning of the World. The axioms
we shall submit in this Paper will be found, when attentively considered, to prove the
correctness of this opinion.
Before we proceed to enunciate these Axioms of Science, it will not be deemed irrele¬
vant if we first consider the question : What is tjje proper mode of acquiring knowledge f
Or what process does the human mind naturally adopt in its search after Knowledge
and the true principles of Science f
In every age, since the birth of Science, this question has been mooted by the lead¬
ing Scientists, and to its solution a large share of their attention has been devoted.
Plato and Aristotle, among th# ancients, held each a view of his own on this subject.
At the age of Reform in Philosophy, Lord Bacon, Des Cartes, Leibnitz, Lock, and
Kant, each started a theory peculiar to himself, and modern Scientists have embraced
either some one of the theories advanced by those mentioned above, or such parts of
these theories as each one approved. The wrangling and disputes among Scientists
that have proceeded from these different views of the same subject have been inter¬
minable. But these disputes have arisen from a want of attention to all the facts
relating to the subject discussed—each one giving undue attention and importance to
some one or more of such facts to the exclusion of others that were equally essential
to a correct understanding of the subject they desired to elucidate.
The truth is, there is but one mode by which the mind can arrive at human
knowledge, and that is by tfie exercise of the Mental Faculty, called Reason, the legiti¬
mate results of which exercise constitute true Knowledge or Science. To render my.
meaning clearly intelligible as I proceed, I introduce here a succinct account of this
mental process or function.
Reasoning, or the exercise of the Reason, is not a simple, but a compound function,
that is performed by calling into exercise consecutively, and in the order in which
they are mentioned, the four following Mental Faculties, namely—the Observation,
the Imagination, the Judgment, and the Moral Sense.
The first act in Reasoning is the exercise of the Observation. By the means of this
Faculty we apprehend, or take notice of some particular fact, instance, or phenome¬
non, to which our attention has been directed.
The second act in Reasonfhg is the exercise of the Imagination in finding an expla¬
nation of the instance or fact observed. In this exercise we cast about, as it were, or
diligently search for some proposition that may furnish the desired explanation ; and,
having found one, this second act in the process of Reasoning is completed.
The exercise of the Judgment is the third act in reasoning. The first part of this
exercise consists in reflecting on and in considering and amending the proposition
found by the use of the Imagination so as to adapt it as perfectly as possible to the expla¬
nation of the instance under consideration ; and the second part of the exercise of the
Judgment is employed in collecting and in collating a number of facts or instances of
the same character, and in generalizing or in adjusting the proposition to these in-
4
stances, so that it may embrace all the instances and facts of this kind that can be
adduced or collected. This second part in the exercise of the Judgment in collecting,
collating, and comparing a number of facts, is what should be understood by the term
Induction, which is the most important stage in the process of Reasoning, as it is that
on which most study is expended. When the proposition found passes this ordeal, it
is approved by the Judgment, and then the third act in reasoning is completed.
Before, however, the process of reasoning is perfected, the proposition should have
the sanction of the Moral Sense—a Faculty of the Mind—whose special office it is to
distinguish Truth from Error. To the Moral Sense, then, is the final appeal in all cor¬
rect reasoning, and its approval the consummation—the crowning act of the Reason¬
ing Process.
The formula I have here presented, as the natural process of reasoning, differs mate¬
rially, it will be observed, from the Baconian or inductive method that is adopted in
Modern or Experimental Philosophy, The error committed in the latter method con¬
sists in the transposition of the proper steps or stages of the process. The collection
of facts or instances' is insisted on as the first act ; t^hereas it properly belongs, as I
have stated, to the second part of the third act or stage of the reasoning process. A
single instance always suggests, or gives occasion to the exercise of Reason, and this
single instance, when properly observed and well considered, is sufficient to lead to the
apprehension of a scientific principle.
I have no doubt toat, if every scientific principle we have, could be traced back to
its origin, each would be found to have been suggested by, or to have originated in,
some one particular fact or phenomenon. A single fact is the suggestive impression
that calls into exercise the Reason, as a single suggestive impression may call into
exercise, or suggest obedience to the instinct that prompts to the performance of any of
the functions of animals ; and, when this impression is received, the mind instinctively
proceeds to reason from this single fact. But if it is inhibited in this natural pioceed-
ing, and is diverted into another and a very different pursuit—that of collecting facts
similar in some respects to the one just observed—then the Miud ceases to Reason, and
is led off into this latter pursuit or employment. Modern Philosophers need to be con¬
stantly reminded that the collecting of*facts is not reasoning, but is very commonly a
means of checking the mind and of destroying its saliency, or its natural disposition
to enter upon this process. In the induction in the third stage of reasoning, the col¬
lection of facts is important, as furnishing the means of confirming the approval of
the proposition by the judgment, and of amending it, if defective, before it is offered
as a scientific principle.
The Experiments that are made in physical researches, that are commonly, though
erroneously, supposed to furnish the proof or disproof of the truth of the proposi¬
tions in science, are nothing more than a part of this induction ; and they serve
merely to multiply the instances on which the Judgment may act in arriving at its de¬
cisions. This induction the mind makes instinctively, or, without forming a fixed de¬
sign to do so.
A confirmation of the justness of the above objections to the Baconian method of
reasoning may be found in the fact that has been frequently remarked : that Lord
Bacon, the founder of this method, never arrived at any scientific principle, and never
even suggested one ; neither have any of the advocates ^f this method—so long as
they have strictly conformed to the rules laid down by Lord Bacon.
In illustration of the view of the formula of the reasoning process presented above,
we offer an example of reasoning that is familiar to Scientists : a
When reclining in his orchard. Sir Isaac Newton, it is said, saw an apple fall from a
tree. This phenomenon attracted his attention and suggested the exercise of his
Reason. He oh erved the apple when detached from the tree falling towards the surface
of the ground. This was the first act of his reasoning, in whicn he exercised his Ob¬
servation. , The question then occurred to him, " Why did the apple fall in this par¬
ticular direction, raiher than in any other ?" To explain this fact he called into exer¬
cise 1 is liuagiuation, as the ^econd act in his reasoning. By the use of this faculty hé
finally arrived at the proposition that it was attracted towards the earth by the inherent
occult property of the earth, called its attraction. When this proposition was found the
Imagination was dismissed, and in its place the Judgment was called into exercise.
By the aid of his Judgment, on due refiection, he was at first enabled to amend the
proposition found by the imagination, so as to make it express the fact that the apple
Jell in the direction towards the centre of the earth ; afterwards he applied this proposition
to other boilie.s, and then generalized it, or made the pioposition general, by extending
first to all ponderable bodies on the earth's surface, then to the moon ; then vary¬
ing the centre he applied it to the planets, or the solar system ; and, finally, again
5 ■
changing the centre, he extended It to all the celestial bodies, making the proposition
universal by this Induction. This was the proposition that Sir Isaac Newton arrived
at when reasoning on this subject, that is improperly called the Law of Universal
Gravitation. This reasoning has led to vast improvements in many of the Arts—as
the Astronomical Art, the Art of Navigation, (Sc. ; and for the aid afforded to Human
Invention, by the several'propositions established, these propositions are properly re¬
garded as Scientific principles, and are fairly entitled to a place in Science until more
rational propositions are substituted.
It will be observed that, in the above Instance of reasoning, an important part, that
is, the last and crowning act of this process, was omitted. Sir Isaac Newton did not
gain for his propo.sition the approval of his Moral Sense.
His reasoning was fallacious in assuming the occult properties of attraction and re¬
pulsion as an axiom in science, and his induction was erroneous in bringing under the
law of gravitation the phenomena presented in the motion of the bodies of space in
their orbits and on their axes. The final cause of the law of gravitation, or the end to
be attained by the enactment of this law, was clearly to preserve the integrity of these
bodies, that, without such a law, would soon be annihilated by masses of their matter
flying off into space ; but their motions to which we have referred could not with any
show of reason be attributed to the operation of this law. The splendid and most use¬
ful inferences that have been deduced from the law of universal gravitation could be
drawn as well and much more rationally from another law of nature, by means of
which the motions of the bodies of space are readily explained. The law of nature to
which I allude, I have elsewhere designated as the Law of Interchange of Life.
The above is, I believe, a correct account- of the process of reasoning, and of the ■
whole process as it is appointed in Nature ; and if the several acts we have mentioned
are properly performed, the results or propositions arrived at may be regarded as
truths. All merely human knowledge is attained only by reasoning ; and this division
of the process into its several acts or stages will be found highly useful in enabling us
to detect errors in our own reasoning, or, as in the instance jnst presented, in the rea¬
soning of others, by examinipg it carefully in each separate stage.
Experience—in the sense of the term here use(W-is tacit or unconscious Reasoning,
It is very surprising, to one who considers this subject for the first time, that a person
should unconsciously give his attention to some particular fact that has come unde^his
notice, and in order to account for or to explain this fact should find a proposition by
the exercise of his Imagination—should then go through with long and laborious pro¬
cesses of reflection and of induction to gain the approval of his .Judgment, and, finally,
that he should obtain for the proposition he has been considering the sanction of his
Moral Sense.
That all these several difSiCult acts should be performed without consciousness is in¬
deed astonishing and almost incrediole ; but yet this is the only rational explanation
that can be suggested of phenomena constantly presented to our observation. tVe find
a knowledge of principles clearly implied in the acts of individuals in every profession,
in every art, and, indeed, in every condition of life ; and the only mode that can be
conceived in which they could arrive at this knowledge is by this tacit reasoning, or
by this process of the mind, that we have called Experience. As a corroboration of
the correctness of this explanation, we find these principles or propo itions applied to
the attainment of ends in the same way as scientific principles are applied.
And this application, too, is made unconsciously ; for the individual making it is
unable to state the proposition he is thus using in words ; and if so stated to him, he
would in all probability reject it on account of its novelty ; such instances are of com¬
mon occurrence among members of the medical profession.
The process which we have been speaking of is, like scientific reasoning, liable to
erroneous conclusions, and, as might be supposed, is frequently elliptic and very im¬
perfectly performed.
If the general proposition I have above suggested be admitted to be true, namely,
that there is but one process 4hat the mind adopts in physical researches—but a soli¬
tary course that it pursues in its search after knowledge, and that course or process is
the act of Reasoning, such as I have defined it—then we can readily reconcile all the
disputes on this subject among the several Scientists we have named, both ancient
and modern ; and it can be satisfactorily shown that all their several tenets were right
in some respects and wrong in others.
Plato deceived himself, or was in error, in regarding all knowledge as remembrance,
or as having been stored up in the mind at the time of its creation—in overlooking the
fact that it had at first arrived at the axioms proposed, by means of Experience, or by
a process of reasoning secretly or unconsciously conducted ; so Aristotle was in error
r
6
in overlooking this secret act of the mind and supposing that its first act in seeking
knowledge was divining and seizing upon at first the axioms or propositions which it had
undoubtedly before reasoned out.
He was right, however, in attaching the importance he did to these axioms of
science, and, in his opinion, that in books or treatises on science these axioms or prin¬
ciples should be first recorded ; and that instances or physical phenomena should be
explained by means of these. Books on Science are written or teachings conveyed
with a view to instruction, and it will always be found that this object is best attained
by laying down at the beginning the results of the reasoning of the initiated ; for it
is much easier for the uninitiated to follow from generals to particulars than to rise
from particular instances to general propositions.
I'he gl eat difficulty in doing this in all scientific works arises from the many imper¬
fections, defects, and errors that may be found in the axioms or principles of the physi¬
cal .sciences, these principles being founded, as we have said, on the false principle re¬
lating to the occult properties of matter. Aristotle did not properly distinguish the
eeveral occasions that called for the difl'erent processes of the mind—instruction or
learning requiring one process—while investigation or physical research requires
another and a very different process of the mind.
Lord Bacon was in error in decrying the exercise of the Imagination as a part of the .
reasoning process, and in exalting the importance of the exercise of the Observation ;
in this way misleading his followers from the legitimate process of reasoning into a
mere collection of facts or instances, which is abortive reasoning. Locke introduced
great confusion into philosophy by the use of the term idea, confounding by this means
the in-tances or facts on which the mind acts, with the axioms or principles that are the
results of this action. Des Cartes committed an error in making his final appeal to
consciousness, a vague and ill-defined term, instead of to the Moral Beuse, that is clearly
a menial faculty. Leibnitz was in error in giving too free a rein to his imagination in
conjuring up monads, in order to explain physical phenomena ; as did also Eant in
imagining separate and distinct processes of reasoning where there is, as I have at¬
tempted to show, but one. Modern Scientists, in the confusion arising from the select¬
ing their views from a variety of systems, have missed altogether the true or legitimate
objects of reasoning or of science. #
•The laws of relation that are regarded as the laws of nature in Experimental Philoso¬
phy are vain and illusory. The relation observed between the objects or phenomena in
nature arises from the operation of some one of the true laws of nature. Ponderable
bodies,'for example, are related to each other in the circumstance that they all tend
to move to wards the centre of the earth ; but they do tend to move or are compelled to
move in this direction by virtue of the true law of nature—the law of gravitation—
when regarded in the sense 1 have suggested, that was decreed by the Author of Nature
at the Begining of the World.
1 have endeavored to avoid all these errors by recalling and carefully reflecting on
what passed in my own mind in tracing out a true principle of science, by thus copying,
as it were, faithfully from the Book of Nature, the process of the mind in its search
after knowledge.
1 have called the following Propositions axioms, (axioç, worthy, or axioo, 1 deem wor¬
thy,^ because 1 think them worthy of a place in Science. The word is not used here,
however, iu its strictly technical sense. Whenever other propositions differing from
these are reasoned out that are thought to be more worthy or better deserving of this
position, 1 shall be very willing that these should yield their place ; but, until then, I
think those 1 have offered will be found useful in rendering the Physical Sciences more
rational, and in promoting the precision and efficiency of the Arts and Professions that
are based on these sciences.
In submitting these propositions to the public, my appeal is to the Moral Sense of such
of my readers as are disposed to judge them fairly, and who, on finding them unobjec¬
tionable, are capable of divesting themselves of prejudices and pre-couceived errors,
and of holding on to the truth that is in them.
Gkoroetown Hbiohts, D. C., September, lij66.
AXIOMS
OF THE
/
PHYSICAL SCIENCES.
GENERAL AXIOMS.
AXIOM I.
The Creation of the Universe, together with the working of the
same, or the course of Nature, is the result of a plan or design formed by
the Will of the Author of Nature—" ten thousand thousand instances
of design cannot but prove a Designer "—and the same instances serve
to point out a Design.
AXIOM II.
The Author of Nature has placed himself in relation with the created
Universe solely through the medium of His laws, that should alone be
called the Laws of Nature.
AXIOM m.
The Laws of Nature are veritable ordinances or decrees, and in this
sense only, are íAe laws that were enacted or decreed by their Author
at the Beginning of the World for the government of the course of
Nature.
AXIOM IV.
The Author of Nature, being in relation with the Universe solely
through the Laws of Nature, has created all things by means of these
laws.
AXIOM V.
All the poweçj^ force or energy exhibited in the course of Nature
or in physical phenomena has its origin or source in the Author of
Nature, that is to say, in God.
AXIOM VI.
To give the laws of Nature efiBciency. the Great Law-Giver has im¬
parted to them, or placed in connection with them, a portion of the
Power or Force of which He is the prime source.
8
AXIOM VIL
Force or Power, or what is called physical force or motive power, is
only exhibited in Nature when a Law of Nature is in operation.
AXIOM VIII. «
The force connected with a law of Nature, when in operation, is
always proportionate to the quantity of matter that is influenced by
such law, and is also proportionate to ti/e favorable conditions under
which the law is operating.
A trip-hammer of fifty pounds weight, under the influence of the
law of Gravitation, falls a given distance with more force than does one
of twenty pounds weight; and the same hammer, in falling a distance
of twenty feet, falls with more force than if it fell only five feet.
i AXIOM IX. . '
The objects of the Creation are separable into two grand divisions
or subjects of thought, that is, into Mind and Matter, or into spiritual
existences and material forms or bodies.
AXIOM X.
The Laws of Nature may be separated into two codes that should
be designated as the Instincts and the Natural Laws ; the former being
designed to govern, the conduct of Spiritual Existences, while thè
latter are intended to govern the motions and changes of forms of
matter of material bodies.
AXIOM XI.
Thé whole idea of secondary causation or causality in natural
phenomena should have reference to the laws of Nature ; for these are
the true and the only secondary or proximate causes in such .pheno¬
mena.
AXIOMS EELATING TO MATTER.
AXIOM XII.
Matter has but one element or most simple form, which mav be con¬
ceived of as a mos: subtile fluid, that may be called Life, which, by
its combinations and recombinations, is used in Nature to give ri. e to
all the various fofms of matter that àre to be found in the Universe.
AXIOM XIII.
/
Matter, in whatever form it is met with, or under whatever circum¬
stances it may be placed, is in itself absolutely inert or devoid of all
active properties. '
AXIOM XIV.
The forms of matter or material bodies are divisible into two great
classes, that is, into animate and inanimate bodies, or into bodies that
are in connection with a Spiritual Existence and bodies that are not so
connected.
9
AXIOMS RELATING TO THE LAWS OF NATURE THAT
ARE DESIGNED TO GOVERN THE MOTIONS AND
CHANGES OF FORM OF MATTER—THE NATURAL LAWS.
AXIOM XV.
Matter is governed or regulated in all its motions and changes of
form by the Natural Laws which are referred to in the ensuing im¬
perfect list or enumeration.
AXIOM XVI.
The Law of Interchange of Life governs the motions and changes
that take place among the Bodies of Space, and is also made to exert
an influence on the minor parts or material forms of such bodies.
AXIOM XVIL
Thé Law of Gravitation is confined in its operation to what are
called Ponderable Bodies ; or that class of material bodies that are
compelled by means of this law to move towards the centre of the
earth, and probably of the other Bodies of Space.
AXIOM XVIII.
The Law of Diffusion is designed to govern the motion and changes
that occur in Imponderable Bodies, embracing the phenomena of
Steam, of Explosives—as gunpowder, &c.
f
AXIOM XIX.
The Law of Cohesion, by virtue of which the integrity of material
bodies is preserved.
AXIOM XX.
The Law of Adhesion, by means of which certain forms of matter
are made to adhere or stick to each other.
AXIOM XXI.
The Law of Elasticity, that is intended to govern the phenomena
presented by elastic bodies.*
AXIOM XXII.
The Law of Muscular Action is made to govern all the movements
that take place in living or animate bodies. By virtue of this law,
when the nerve-fluid is determined to a muscle, its fibres become
actively elongated' and erected, and when this fluid is withdrawn from
a muscle its fibres are thrown into their state of contraction.!
*
AXIOM XXIII.
' The Law of the Water-level, by means of which the flow of liquids
on the water-level is efiected4
*See my Essay on Physical Force, p. 15.
t See my Essay on the Law of Muscular Action,
t See Essay on P. F., p. 22.
10
AXIOM XXIV.
The Law of Equilibrium of the atmosphere, of heat, &c.*
AXIOM XXV.
The Law of the Life-Current that governs the phenomena of electri¬
cal and other currents.!
AXIOM XXVI.
The Law of Elementary Combinations that causes the recombina¬
tions of the Element of Matter into light, heat, sound, àc.J
AXIOM XXVII.
The Law of Chemical Combination^ that regulates the motions and
changes that take place in chemical phenomena.
. AXIOM XXVIII.
The Law of Assimilation or of Vital Combinations that governs vital
phenomena or the compositions and decompositions that take place in
living bodies.
AXIOM XXIX.
The authority of the Natural Laws is absolute, that is to say, when
the conditions are favorable, the operation of a Natural law is uncon¬
trollable except by that of another Natural law that is attended with
more or a greater force.
AXIOM XXX.
Man is graciously endowed by his Creator with the high privilege
of bringing into operation the Natural Laws merely by arranging the
physical conditions that are necessary for this purpose. He can then
command the power or force that is connected with such operation ;
can graduate this force by increasing or reducing the quantity of
matter influenced by the law, or by rendering the accompanying con¬
ditions more or less favorable, and can readily make use of the force
thus commanded for the accomplishment of his own purposes and
designs.
AXIOMS EELATING TO MIND OR TO THE SPIRITUAL
EXISTENCE OF LIVING BEINGS.
AXIOM XXXI. *
Mind, having no substratum of matter, cannot be properly conceived
of in connection with matter ; but as material bodies are best examined
and understood by being divided into parts or sections, so the Mind,
when abstracted from matter, is best conceived of by being separated
into its several parts called the Mental Faculties. These Faculties
or capabilities of performing- certain functions are imperfectly enu¬
merated in the following axioms :
AXIOM XXXII.
The Faculties of the Five Senses that serve to perceive the impres¬
sions conveyed to the Mind from exterior objects—each Faculty per-
* Loc. Cit. f Löc. Cit., p. 5. Í Loe. Cit., p. 13.
Il
ceiving impressions peculiar to itself—that are made through the
organ that is appropriated to each of these senses.
AXIOM XXXIII.
The Observation is that Faculty by means of which the Mind takes
cognizance of the subjects of its contemplation . that are presented
through the Senses, through the Memory, or through the Imagina¬
tion.
AXIOM XXXIV.
By mëans of the Imagination, the Mind selects from the objects that
have been presented through the senses, &c.. and prepares a picture
or tableau ; but its most import.ant office is that of finding proposi¬
tions as one of the initiatory steps in reasoning.
AXIOM XXXV.
The Judgment is employed in regulating the conduct that proceeds
from the promptings of the Instincts ; but its principal use is in its
exercise in the reasoning process.
AXIOM XXXVI.
The Moral Sense is a Faculty that is thought to be peculiar to the
human Mind, and to connect, as it were, this highest order of created
Minds with that of the Deity ; for it teaches Man what is proper in
conduct and what is true in Km wledge. Its exercise, therefore, as I '
have elsewhere represented, is the crowning act in the process of rea¬
soning.
AXIOM XXXVII.
With the Memory the Mind recalls the impressions that have been
received from the Senses, and also the results of the performance of
function by all the other faculties.
AXIOM XXXVIII.
The Will is the Faculty by which designs are formed. I do
not find that the Will is possessed of any power of its own. The
movements of the muscles, that are commonly attributed to the power
of the Will, is clearly referable to the force or power connected with
the operation of the Law of Nature, called the Law of Muscular
Action.
AXIOM XXXIX.
Reason is a Mental Faculty or Function of which we have already
given a detailed account. The results of the exercise of Reason, or
of the performance this Function, constitute Science.
AXIOM XL.
By the use of the Inventive Faculty the Mind is enabled to adapt
means to the attainment of ends or to the accomplishment of purposes.
The exercise of this Faculty, however, is dependent on, or must be
preceded by, the exercise of the Will, that" forms designs, and by that
of the Reason, by which a knowledge of the Laws of Nature is ac-
1'^
quired. The practice of the Arts and of the Professions consists
mainly in the exercise of this Faculty.
AXIOM XLI.
The Affections, Emotions, Sentiments, and Passiiyis, are not parts
or faculties of the Mind, neither are they inherent in the Mind ; but
are simply impulses derived from the operation of the Instincts, or the
Laws of Nature, that are made to govern all Mental acts. All of
them may be roused or excited by means of the tableaux formed
by the Imagination.
AXIOMS EELATING TO THE LAWS OF NATÜEE THAT
AEE DIEECTEDTO MINDS OB SPIEITHAL EXISTENCES,
AND AEE INTENDED TO GOVEEN OE EEGULATE THE
CONDUCT OF LIVING BEINGS—THE INSTINCTS.
AXIOM XLII.
The most general Law of Nature that belongs to the Code of the
Instincts is that which prompts Living Beings to the exercise of all
the faculties with which they are endowed, and which urges them to the
performance of all the functions of which they are capable. The whole
idea of duty, so much dwelt on by Socialists, may be resolved into
the operations of this Law of Nature.
The motives, or the motive force, that actuates human conduct, as
well as the acts of all other beings, may be traced to the influence of
this law, which we shall, therefore, call the Instinct of Duty, because
by it are promoted the services that are dad to the Creator in order to
carry out His designs.
AXIOM XLIII.
The Instinct of Self-preservation, that prompts living beings gene¬
rally to preserve their temporal existence. The same Instinct prompts
mankind to preserve also, by means of religious observances, their
eternal existence. ■.
AXIOM XLIV.
The Instinct of Propogation of Species, that prompts to venereal
indulgences.
AXIOM XLV.
The Instinct of Parental Affection, that prompts to the promotion of
the well-being of offspring.
. ' AXIOM XLVI.
The Instinct of Filial Affection, that prompts to the promotion of the
well-being of paretits.
AXIOM XLVII.
The Instinct of Benevoletice, that prompts Beings to promote the
Welfare of others.
13
AXIOM XLVIII.
The Instinct of Pity, that prompts Beings to sympathise with the
sufterings of others.
AXIOM XLIX.
' The Instinct of Intelligence, that prompts human Beings to acquire
knowledge.
AXIOM L.
The Instinct of Teaching, that prompts human Beings to commu¬
nicate to others the knowledge they have acquired.
AXIOM LI.
All the pleasures or pleasurable sensations enjoyed by living Beings
proceed from a due or proper observance of the Instincts ; while pain
or suftering as constantly attend the non-observance or the improper
observance of these laws of N ature. So that we find that, in the,
economy of Nature, temporal happiness or pleasure is proposed as the
reward for, or as the incentive to, a proper obedience to these laws of
Nature, and temporal suffering or pain, as a warning against the
neglect of this duty. The analogy, then, between this part of the
economy of Nature that is really and plainly observed here, and that
part of this economy, extending to a future state, that is revealed, is
full and perfect.
AXIOM LII.
Every living Being, whether vegetable br animal, is possessed of a
Mind, Soul, or Spiritual Existence, in which alone is its personal
identity, and on which is the responsibility for the acts of the Being ;
for to this Mind are addréssed the Instincts or laws that are designed
to direct the acts of each individual, including that of constructing
its own material body.
The mental endowments or faculties vary considerably in every
. class, order, and species of living Beings ; as do also the sum of the
Instincts that are directed to each of these classes, orders, and species.
These faculties and instincts would furnish to the Naturalist a true
and solid basis of classification.
AXIOMS RELATING TO THE IMPRESSIONS RECEIVED
BY LIVING BEINGS FROM EXTERIOR OBJECTS, THAT
SUGGEST TO THEM OBEDIENCE TO PARTICULAR IN¬
STINCTS—THE ¿UGGESTIVE IMPRESSIONS.
AXIOM LIII.
Exterior objects, or what have been regarded as stimulants to the
living organism, are not the causes of vital acts—are not to be con¬
sidered as causes in vital phenomena; they merely serve to 'suggest to
the Vital Principle—that is, to the Spiritual Existence of living Be¬
ings—obedience to their Instincts, or a compliance with the behests
14
or mandates of these laws. The impressions from such objects are
mere suggestions, and hence we propose to- call them suggestive im-
pbessions.
axiom liv. ^
Every Instinct has its appropriate Suggestive Impression, and as
every act of living Beings is derived from, or is dependent on, an in¬
stinct, every such act has its proper impression or stimulant—in or¬
dinary language, its appropriate stimulus.
axiom lv.
The general Instinct, that I have called the Instinct of Duty, that
prompts to the exercise of all the Faculties and to the performance of
all the functions of living Beings, may be separated into a number of
minor yet distinct instincts—just as the general function of nutrition
may be separated into a number of minor functions, as Mastication,
the Peristaltic Action of the alimentary tube, the Circulation of the
Blood, Kespiration, &c. These Minor Instincts have each a Sugges¬
tive Impression that is peculiarly its own, or that suggests the exer¬
cise of the Faculty or the performance of the function to which it is
appropriated, thus: an unusual phenomenon suggests to the Scientist
the exercise of his reason ; light suggests the exercise of the Faculty
of seeing, odors, that of smelling, &c. ; the formation of a design to
move, suggests the determination of the nerve fluid to and from the
muscles of locomotion ; the impression from the blood on the lining mem¬
brane of the heart and blood-vessels suggests the acts concerned in the
circulation of this fluid, &c., &c. In all these instances, let it be ob¬
served, the acts are performed by the Spiritual Existence or Soul, that is
prompted to obey the Instincts that command these acts ; the prompt¬
ings are derived from the Suggestive Impressions we have named.