localised-not

Updated: May 11, 2025

We have two parties; the one asserting that man possesses a spirit superadded to, but not inherent in, the brain added to it, yet having no necessary connection with it producing material changes, yet immaterial destitute of any of the known properties of matter in fact an immaterial something which in one word means nothing, producing all the cerebral functions of man, yet not localised-not susceptible of proof; the other party contending that the belief in spiritualism fetters and ties down physiological investigation that man's intellect is prostrated by the domination of metaphysical speculation that we have no evidence of the existence of an essence, and that organised mutter is all that is requisite to produce the multitudinous manifestations of human and brute cerebration.

Charles Southwell - Superstition Unveiled