being the very antipodes of and incapable of acting
upon the other.

Natural science tells us that the white light of the sun is composed of
the seven colors of the spectrum in combination, which colors may be
readily separated by the refraction of the prism. All objects possess,
in a greater or less degree, the power of decomposing light and
absorbing colors. Now a ray of sunlight falling upon any given object is
in a measure decomposed, a portion of its integral colors is absorbed,
and the remainder or complementary colors thrown off--reflected upon the
eye, producing by their combination what we call the color of the
object. Thus, a ray thrown upon a pure white object is absorbed not at
all, but wholly reflected as it came, and the consequence is the proper
combination upon the retina of all the colors, producing--a white
object. On the contrary, a ray falling upon what we call a _black_
object, is wholly absorbed, and the consequence is a total absence of
light, or blackness. So a red object absorbs all the orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, and violet of the sunlight, reflecting upon the eye
only the red, which is perceived as the color of the object. And so on
through all the combinations of the spectrum. Only material substances
can either absorb or reflect: therefore is spirit again excluded; for
how can it act upon the eye save through those agencies with reference
to which the eye itself was constructed, and which, as we have shown, it
cannot possibly affect? To sum up the whole argument in a single
sentence, the physical senses are dependent, for their perceptions,
entirely upon the action of matter, and hence spirit, which is not
matter, can in no way affect them.

But here we are met by the record of Holy Writ, which declares that in
those former times spirits did often appear to men. Aye! and so there
were miracles in those days. But all these things are done away with.
Moreover did not those spirits find it necessary in every case to clothe
themselves with the image of some _living form_ in order to make
themselves perceptible to human eyes? So that it was really the form
within which the spirit was ensconced that was perceived, and not the
spirit itself. And how shall we know what _gases_ of the physical world
these spirits were permitted, through a special interposition of the
Deity and for the furtherance of His divine ends, to assemble together
into a concrete form for their temporary dwelling and