Professor Draper's Book [pp. 155-174]

Professor Dnzpcr's Books.
place from time to time in physiology
show-i-we say it with all deference to
physiologists-that it has not risen
as yet to the dignity of a science. It
is of no use to speak of progress, for
changes which transform the whole
body of a pretended science are not
progress. We may not have mastered
all the facts of a science; we may be
discovering new facts every day; but
if we have, for instance, the true physiological science, the discovery of
new facts may throw new light on
the science-may enable us to see
clearer its reach, and understand
better its application, but cannot
change or modify its principles. As
long as your pretended science is
liable to be changed in its principles,
it is a theory, an hypothesis, not a
science. Physiologists have accumulated a large stock of physiological facts, to which they are daily
adding new facts. We willingly admit these facts are not useless, and
the time spent in collecting them is
not wasted; on the contrary, we hold
them to be valuable, and appreciate
very highly the labor, the patient research, and the nice observation that
has collected, classified, and described them; but we dare assert,
notwithstanding, that the science of
physiology is yet to be created; and
created it will not be till physiologists have learned and are able to
set forth the dialectic relations of
spirit and matter, soul and body,
God and nature, free-will and necessity. Till then there may be known
facts, but there will be no physiological
science. As far as what is called
the science of human life, or human
physiology, goes, Professor Draper's
work is an able and commendable
work; but he must permit us to say
that 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 thefortoa corforis, its inform ing, its vital principle, and pervades,
so to speak, and determines, or modi fies, 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 ani mal, 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 fcetus 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. Compara
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