ould have no tendency to shut us up, more than before, to the
adoption of the theory of Materialism. It is the part of wisdom, then,
to leave ample scope and verge for the progress of Physiological
research in this as in every other department, and to rest in the
confident persuasion that whatever discoveries may yet be made in regard
to the _connection_ between mind and body, they can have no effect in
disproving a _radical distinction_ between the two. And this we deem a
much safer ground than that which Professor Gregory has adopted, when he
first of all denies the possibility of defining either matter or spirit,
and then leaves the existence of "a thinking principle or soul distinct
from the body" to rest merely on "our instinctive consciousness."[158]
We think it, in every point of view, a safer course to meet all
objections by saying, that the admission of the _odylic_ or any other
influence of a similar kind, would not in the least affect the grounds
of our belief in the existence of an immaterial mind.

We are disposed to pursue the same line of argument a step further, and
to apply it to the case of "Hypnotism" or "Clairvoyance." It had always
been known that the mind, in its present state of connection with the
body, is liable to be affected by _sleep_ and by _dreams_; and the
phenomena of natural sleep and of ordinary dreams were never supposed to
be incompatible with the distinction between mind and body. But the
Hypnotist or the Clairvoyant appears, and announces a state of _magnetic
sleep_, with a new set of phenomena dependent on it, resembling the
dreams and visions of the night. The facts are strange and startling;
but, after recovering from our first surprise, we may calmly ask, what
effect these facts, if established, should have in modifying our
convictions respecting the essential nature of mind and matter; and we
shall find that they afford no sufficient reason for relinquishing the
doctrine of an "immaterial spirit," but that, on the contrary, these
very facts, were they sufficiently verified, would open up a new view of
the powers and activities of "spirit," such as might well fill us with
wonder and awe. "I have heard, times innumerable," says Professor
Gregory, "religious persons declare, on seeing these phenomena, that
nothing could more clearly demonstrate the immateriality, and
consequently the immortality of the soul. 'In _clairvoyance_,' say these
persons, 'we observe the mind acting separa