3-071-034 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Mind and Matter" by W. Weekes, 1881. "'What is mind?' - 'No matter.' 'What is matter?' 'Never mind,' " said that illustrious authority Mr. Punch. And yet the great problem with the metaphysicians and scientists of all ages as to the nature of either; as to whether they are indeed separable, and not varied manifestations of the conditions and forces of a Something, or Entity, which we call Nature - is still unsettled! They all end no nearer than when they started to the real goal of their ingenious inquiries. The old gentleman in the picture we have engraved is, we take it, absorbed in the folio of some older speculator on the nature of "mind" or "matter," or both - and what study so fascinating? His absorption is so complete that he forgets the meal he has commenced, neglecting even the potato which the cat has left him after purloining his meat. And have we not all become similarly oblivious when poring over the marvels of science, the mysteries of metaphysics, or even a fresh novel? The artist is, however, we fear, a little epicurean in the moral that it seems he would have us draw. Are we to shut up the book and eat and drink, for tomorrow we die? Would not this be, as it were, exchanging our birthright for a mess of pottage?'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.