The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

260 SCIENCE AND RELIGION.From this passage it will be seen that ascertainedfacts are given in harmony withprevious descriptions; but that while namingsome as sensory, others as motor, there is nodistinct evidence for classifying certain cellsas " mind-cells." Along with the admissionof our comparative ignorance of the minutestructure of the cell, is the assertion that thiscell " possesses the capacity to feel, to will,to think." This latter statement is advancedwithout any trace of scientific evidence, andhas no better substratum on which to restthan the admission that man not only feels,but also thinks and wills. Further, when werecall the singular variety of situation inwhich these cells are found, as they lie withinthe spinal canal, subordinate centres, and thebrain, the insufficiency of the whole theoryof " mind-cells " is apparent. Still more conspicuousdoes this become when we turn toHaeckel's illustrative diagram, and read underneathit this description,-" A large branchednerve-cell, or L mind-cell ' from the brain of anelectric fish." The investigator who makes inthe directest manner statements as to thinkingand willing, wlliclz he has not verified andcan not verify; and who with undisturbed