Page:Philosophical and scriptural proofs that brutes have souls as well as men.pdf/12

 Alters in particles, is fire no more.

But lies metallic dust, or pond’rous ore."

Water is composed of two Gases, Oxygen and Hydrogen, the most inflammable of all the Gases. Oxygen not only supports combustion but the vital principle of life, which corresponds in a remarkable degree with that beautiful passage in the first chapter of Genesis, second verse, "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." This corroborates, in an essential manner, that all matter is the same, only differing in its various modifications. It is now pretty evident therefore, that the Soul is only a modification of those more fine and subtile particles found in the Brain, the Seat of the nervous system,—where they all unite, each acting a part in the government of the Body, by their joint agent, the Mind or Soul; produced, nourished, and upheld by them Now, as all Brutes, &c. have bodies with brains thus organized, it follows that they have minds or souls as well as man—equally extensive in proportion to the Link each holds in Nature’s Chain.

"Hence, when a monarch or a mushroom dies,

Awhile extinct the organic matter lies;

But, as a few short hours or years revolve,

Alchemic powers the changing mass disolve;

Emerging matter from the grave returns,

Feels new desires, with new sensations burrs;