打开网易新闻 查看精彩图片

中国人的性格》是美国传教士阿瑟·史密斯(明恩溥)基于1872年赴华传教期间的社会观察撰写的著作,首版英文名《Chinese Characteristics》于19世纪末问世,。作者在华生活逾五十年,书中融合人类学视角与传教士立场,记录了晚清民众的性格特征与文化形态。

全书以27个主题章节剖析中国人行为模式,包含“保全面子”“省吃俭用”等生活哲学,以及“漠视精确”“因循守旧”等社会现象。通过对比西方工业文明,着重探讨东方特有的生存韧性,如环境适应力与疼痛耐受性。书中案例多源自山东乡村生活经历,涉及衣食住行、孝悌观念等主题,部分结论因宗教立场存在视角争议。该著作开创西方研究中国国民性先河,被译成多国文字,成为近代中西文化互鉴的重要文本。

第十章 理性混沌

我们把“理性混沌”说成是中国人的一种性格加以讨论,可我们并不希望让人们产生这样的理解,即只有中国人才有这种情况,或者说,所有中国人都是这样。作为整个中华民族,他们完全有能力自立于世界民族之林,他们的智力当然并不低下,而且没有任何衰退的迹象。与此同时,我们又必须意识到,在中国,教育并不普及,那些没有受过完整教育或根本就没受过教育的人,他们在运用中国语言时,造成了思绪含混,有可能犯了律师所说的“事前从犯”的罪行。它导致了典型的理性混沌,可能会是那些教育程度不高的人犯下罪行。

正如今天不少人已经知道的那样,汉语的名词是没有词形变化的,它们既完全没有“数”,也完全没有“格”。汉语的形容词没有比较级。汉语的动词也不受任何“语态”、“语气”、“时态”、“单复数”和“人称”的限制。在名词、形容词和动词之间没有明显的区别,因为任何一个汉字只要能用的,都可以通用为每一种词类(或者说是非词类),也不会有什么问题。我们并不是抱怨,说中国语言不能用来交流人的思想,也不是要说中国语言很难或不能把人类的各种思想都表达清楚(尽管有时候的确如此),而只是认为,有这样一种结构的语言,正像夏天的酷热自然要引起人昏昏欲睡一样,容易招致“智力含混”。

与一个没受过教育的中国人交谈,最常见的一个感受就是,要弄清楚他所说的是什么意思,那是很困难的。有时,他的话好像全都是谓语,这些谓语以一种复杂方式组合在一起,整个就像是穆罕默德的天棺,悬在半空之中,莫名其妙,不着边际。说话人卡在那里,省却主语并没有多大的关系。他是清楚自己在说什么,但决不会想到,听众根本无法根据直觉去理解他所说的这一大堆内容。主语,这个传达信息的主要部分,究竟是什么。显然,他们已经被培养成很有经验的专业猜测家,多数中国人讲的话,自己能补上所缺少的主语或谓语,就能领悟其核心的意思了。常常还会出现这样的情况,往往整句话中最重要的词丢失了,也找不到任何能引申出这个词的头绪。

在日常的对话中,常常发生这样的情况,说话人的方式,说话人的声调,以及谈话的环境都发生改变了。话题的主语悄悄发生改变时,说话人往往没有在态度、音调以及相关的细节上予以暗示,因此,你会突然发现,他已经不是像刚才那样在说他自己,而是在说道光年间他的祖父。他怎么会说到那里,又怎么再说回来,往往是一个难解的谜,但我们每天都可以看到这种技艺的表演。对中国人来说这没有任何可以诧异的:没有预先的提示,而突然莫名其妙地从一个主题、一个人、一个世纪跳到另一个主题、另一个人、另一个世纪,是再平常不过的事了,就像一个人在看窗上的小虫,与此同时,还不断转移视线,能够看到同一视线上远处山冈上的牛群一样。

汉语动词没有时态,也没有说明时间,地点变化的标记,这些都是事实,并无助于把一个人的理性梳理得清晰,他们的思绪经常处于含混状态。在这种情况下,可怜的外国人若能有兴趣并希望能追得上一连串稍纵即逝的想法,最好的方法就是开始提出一系列问答式的询问,就像一位边远地区的猎人用斧子在无路的森林中砍出“记号”来。“你现在说的这个人是谁?”这个问题搞清楚后,还可以接着问,“你说的这是什么地方?”“什么时候?”“这个人做的是什么?”“他们为什么要这样?”“后来又发生了什么事情呢”每问一个问题,你的中国朋友都会带着一种困惑、或许是一种恳求的眼神望着你,似乎在怀疑你的五官感觉是不是分崩离析了。但是,沿着这样的线索坚持不断地追问下去,就会找到那个引导人们从无望迷宫里走出的阿里阿德涅线团。

对一个没有接受过教育的中国人来说,任何一个想法都会令他惊讶,因为他对任何一个想法都肯定没有心理准备。他之所以搞不懂,因为他也从不想着去搞懂。他需要花上一定的时间来启动一下思维能力,因为他还完全处于惯常的状态中。中国人的头脑就像一门旧滑膛炮,炮身已锈迹斑斑,架在一个不堪重负的腐朽炮架上。在瞄准一个目标之前,需要先调整方向好半天,而最后肯定还是打不响。因此,当你向一个人问他一个简单问题,比如:“你多大年纪了?”他会十分茫然地盯着问话人,并反问道:“您是在问我吗?”你回答:“是的,是问你。”这时,他振作起精神,又问:“是问我多大岁数吗?”“是,是问多大岁数。”他再一次调整他的注意点,问道:“是问我多大岁数了吗?”“是的。”你说道,“是问你多大岁数了。”“五十八岁了啊。”他回答说,这回,他的脑袋才运转正常,炮口对准了目标。

打开网易新闻 查看精彩图片

理性混沌的一个突出事例是,中国人习惯于用事实本身来解释事实的原因。你问一位中国厨师:“你们做馒头时为什么不在里面放些盐?”得到的解释是,“我们就是都不在馒头里放盐。”“你们城里有这么多、这么好的冰,为什么不在冬天储存一些起来呢?”“是的,我们这个城市不在冬天储存冰块。”一位拉丁诗人说过:“能够知道万事之因的人是快乐的。”但如果他生活在中国,他就会把他的格言修改为:“试图找到万事缘由的人是自寻烦恼。”

理性混沌的另一个标志就是,一个普通人无法将别人的一个想法原原本本地转告给另一个人。要A把某事转告于B,再原原本本转告于C,这在中国是最愚蠢的做法。要么因为由于有关的人不了解该事的重要性,而根本就没有把该信息传下去。要么是信息传到C时已是面目全非,C完全不知所云了。要想让这样一台复杂机器中的三个齿轮能互相配合,运转正常,那简直就是异想天开。即使是那些有相当理解力的人,他们也觉得转达一个想法而不有所增减,这是非常困难的。这正如一根直棍插入清水中,折射出来的肯定是像折断了一般。

一个善于观察的外国人随时随地会碰到这样一些奇特的例证。你会针对一些人的某种反常行为问道:“他为什么要这样去做啊?”“是的。”你所得到的回答就是这么简明扼要。在这种含混不清的回答中,一般几个令人恼火的常用词作为附属物。既有表示疑问的“几个”,又有表示肯定的“好几个”。你问:“你在这里住几天了?”回答是:“是的,我在这里已经住了几天了。”

在中国人的言语中,也许最含混不清的词是人称(或非人称)代词——“ta”,这个字既可以表示“他”、“她”,也可以表示“它”。有时,说话人为了表明他所说的人指的是谁,就用拇指含混地朝这个人的家的方向指一指,或者指向这个人目前所处的地点。但是,这单音节词的“ta”无所不能,更经常被看做是一个关系代词、一个指示代词和一个指定形容词。在这些情况下,一个中国人描述一场斗殴,就像英国法庭上的证人作证,他以下列的语句表述道:“他拿着一根棍子,他也拿着一根棍子,他打了他,他也打了他,如果他像他打他那样狠地打他,他就会打死他,而不是他打死他。”

你质问一个玩忽职守的仆人:“叫你,为什么不来?”他坦率地回答道:“不为什么。”这种理性混沌的状态,会导致各种往往令人感到无所适从的举动,使得讲究条理的外国人总要为此而恼怒。厨师例行其事,用完了他手头的某些作料,做下一顿饭时,就把他通常必要放的东西省略掉了。你问他这是怎么搞的?他坦率地回答,“作料用完了。”“那你为什么不及时再弄一些呢?”“我没再要一些。”这就是他的最好解释。你要付一笔钱给某人结账,于是,就很费劲地打开了保险箱,非常细心地点钱给他。付完钱后,他坐在那里侃侃而谈“老半天”,海阔天空的什么都能聊,然后才不紧不慢地提及:“除了这笔账,我还有一笔账在你这里。”“那刚才我开保险箱时,你为什么不告诉我?那样的话,我岂不是可以一次统统付清。”“噢,我只是觉得那笔账与这笔账之间没有任何关系!”再比如,一位病人在诊所看病,已经随意地耗费掉了医生的大量时间,然后走出了诊室。门还没有关上,但是不一会儿,他又回到候诊室。医生告诉他,他的病已经看过了,他则爽快而简要地说:“除了刚才看的那个病,我还有其他的病要看呢!”

在我们看来最愚蠢的例证,就是普通中国人习惯于生了病而不及时治疗。也许是因为当时太忙,或者是因为治病要花钱。他们往往认为,忍受一阵阵的间歇性发热的反复攻击和折磨,要比花十个铜钱——约合一美分——买一剂肯定能治好病的奎宁更便宜。我们看到无数这样的事例,许多病人仅仅因为想省一点钱,使得一些完全可以治好的病恶化到不可救药的地步,而他们原本是可以得到免费治疗的。

有一个人住在离外国人的医院不足半英里路远的地方。他外出时染上了眼病,但回家后,竟然在痛苦中拖了两个多星期才去治疗。在这段时间内,他每天都希望疼痛能够停止,但事与愿违,最终,他的一只眼睛因角膜发炎而完全地失明了。

还有一位病人,他因脖子上的深度溃疡而每天都要来接受治疗。当治疗到十八天时,他说他的腿疼得让他睡不着觉。经检查才发现,他的腿上有一处像茶杯那样大、那样深的溃疡!等到他的脖子治好了之后,他才想起来说他的腿!

中国人日常生活的众多诸如此类的现象,会使我们想起查尔斯·里德的一本小说中的一段话:“人类不是缺乏理智,但是他们的理智有缺点——他们头脑都混沌不清!”

中国的教育根本无法使受教育者能够获得这样的能力,即在理解和实践的意义上掌握一个客体。西方各国有这样一个流传很广的假设,某些布道者可以确切地证实,即使他们的经书上存在着天花病毒,他们的布道也不会染上。而在中国人当中,居然也能看到这类声誉不佳的独特现象。中国的狗追捕狼的时候会显得很仁慈,一般它们自己不会去追捕狼。当看到一只狗在狼的后面,若不是朝相反的方向跑,那么至少是朝相互成直角的方向跑。与此相类似,中国人在谈论某一话题时,总是离话题越来越远,就像这种躲躲闪闪的追捕。他往往嗅到了该话题的气息,时而像是要作彻底的探讨,但最后还是退却了,显得非常疲倦,在说话的过程中还是始终没有接近这个话题。

中国是一个两极分化的国家,富贵者与贫穷者、受高度教育者与愚昧无知者,都比邻地生活在一起。成千上万贫困而又愚昧的人,他们的眼界狭窄,自然理性混沌。他们就像井底之蛙,看到的天空只是黑暗中的一块。有不少这样的人连十英里以外的地方都没去过,除了他们终日所处的日常生活,他们并没有想过要过上比周围的人更好的生活。

在他们身上,甚至连任何人都具有的天生的好奇心似乎已经灭迹了。即使他们知道,离他们家不到一里路的地方住进了一个外国人,他们也从来不打听一下他从何处来,他是谁,他要干什么。他们只知道如何为生存而斗争,此外,就一无所知了。他们不知道是否像今天有些人流行的观点所说的那样,人身上有三个灵魂,还是只有一个,还是一个都没有。他们认为,凡是与粮食价格无关的事,无论如何也看不出其中会有什么重要意义。他们相信来世的生活,相信来世时,坏人会变成狗和虫。他们也淳朴地相信,身体最后会变成泥土。至于灵魂——如果有的话——会飘向天空。

在西方,所有那些造就了“实利者”的力量,同样也造就了他们,他们的生命由两部分组成:肚子和钱袋。这种人也就是真正的实证主义者,因为你无法让他理解他没见过或听过,当然也没有任何概念的事物。生活对于他来说只是一连串事实,而且绝大多数是不称心的事实。至于涉及事实以外的任何东西,他立刻就成了一个无神论者,一个多神论者和不可知论者。偶尔给他一无所知的偶像施舍一些意想不到的敬奉,或者对他不知道是谁的对象施舍一点食物,就足以满足他的依赖本性。但是,这种本能是否能获得这种方式的表达,在很大程度上还取决于他周围人的风俗习惯。

在中国人看来,人的肉体只是独自地生长发育,而与心理的和精神的因素无关。要把这些人从愚昧的状态中解救出来的唯一办法,就是输入一种全新的生活态度,向他们展示古代基督教创始人所讲述的崇高真理的全部含义:“人是有精神的,上帝的感召,就在于赋于人们理解这种精神的能力。”

英文原版:

IN speaking of "intellectual turbidity " as a Chinese characteristic, we do not wish to be understood as affinning it tobe a peculiarity of the Chinese, or that all Chinese possess it.Taken as a whole, the Chinese people seem abundantly able tohold their own with any race now extant, and they certainlyexhibit no weakness of the intellectual powers, nor any tendency to such a weakness. At the same time it must be bornein mind that education in China is restricted to a very narrowcircle, and that those who are but imperfectly educated, orwho are not educated at all, enjoy in the structure of the Chinese language what is called by the lawyers an "accessorybefore the fact " to any most flagrant intellectual turbidity ofwhich they may be disposed to be guilty.

Chinese nouns, as is by this time known to several, appearto be indeclinable. They are quite free from " gender " and"case." Chinese adjectives have no degrees of comparison.Chinese verbs are not hampered by any "voice," "mode,""tense," "number," or "person." There is no recognisabledistinction between nouns, adjectives, and verbs, for any character may be used indiscriminately in either capacity (or incapacity), and no questions asked. We are not about to complain that the Chinese language cannot be made to conveyhuman thought, nor that there are wide ranges of humanthought which it is difficult or impossible to render intelligiblein the Chinese language (though this appears to be a truth),but only to insist that such a language, so constructed, invitesto "intellectual turbidity" as the incandescent heats of summergently woo to afternoon repose.

Nothing is more common in conversation with an uneducated Chinese than to experience extreme difficulty in ascertaining what he is talking about. At times his remarks appearto consist exclusively of predicates, which are woven togetherin an intricate manner, the whole mass seeming, like Mohammed's coffin, to hang in the air, attached to nothing whatever.To the mind of the speaker, the omission of a nominative is apoint of no consequence. Ife knows what he is talking about,and it never occurs to him that this somewhat important itemof information is not conveyed to the mind of his auditor byany kind of intuition. It is remarkable what expert guesserslong practice has made most Chinese, in reading a meaninginto words which do not convey it, by the simple practice ofsupplying subjects or predicates as they happen to be lacking.It is often the most important word in the whole sentencewhich is suppressed, the clue to which may be entirely unknown. There is very frequently nothing in the form of thesentences, the manner of the speaker, his tone of voice, norin any concomitant circumstance, to indicate that the subjecthas changed, and yet one suddenly discovers that the speakeris not now speaking of himself as he was a moment ago, butof his grandfather, who lived in the days of Tao Kuang.How the speaker got there, and also how he got back again,often remains an insoluble mystery, but we see the feat accomplished every day. To a Chinese there is nothing more remarkable in a sudden, invisible leap, without previous notice,from one topic, one person, one century to another, than inthe ability of a man who is watching an insect on the windowpane to observe at the same time and without in the least deflecting his eyes, a herd of cattle situated in the same line ofvision on a distant hill.

The fact that Chinese verbs have no tenses, and that therois nothing to mark transitions of time, or indeed of place, doesnot tend to clarify one's perceptions of the inherently turbid.Under such circumstances the best the poor foreigner can do,who wishes to keep up the appearance at least of following inthe train of the vanished thought, is to begin a series of catechetical inquiries, like a frontier hunter "blazing" his waythrough a pathless forest with a hatchet. "Who was thisperson that you are talking about now?" This being ascertained, it is possible to proceed to inquire, " Where was this? ""When was it?" "What was it that this man did?" "Whatwas it that they did about it?" "What happened then?" Ateach of these questions your Chinese friend gazes at you witha bewildered and perhaps an appealing look, as if in doubtwhether you have not parted with all your five senses. But apersistent piursuit of this silken thread of categorical inquirywill make it the clue of Ariadne in delivering one from manya hopeless labyrinth.

To the uneducated Chinese any idea whatever comes as asurprise, for which it is by no means certain that he will notbe totally unprepared. He does not understand, because hedoes not expect to understand, and it takes him an appreciabletime to get such intellectual forces as he has into a positionto be used at all. His mind is like a rusty old smooth-borecannon mounted on a decrepit carriage, which requires muchhauHng about before it can be pointed at anything, and thenit is sure to miss fire. Thus when a person is asked a simplequestion, such as " How old are you? " he gazes vacantly atthe questioner, and asks in retiim, " I ? " To which you respond, " Yes, you." To this he replies with a summoning upof his mental energies for the shock, " How old ? " " Yes,how old ? " Once more adjusting the focus, he inquires," How old am I ? " "Yes," you say, "how old are you ? "" Fifty-eight," he replies, with accuracy of aim, his piece beingnow in working order.

A prominent example of intellectual turbidity is the prevalent habit of announcing as a reason for a fact, the fact itself." Why do you not put salt into bread-cakes ? " you ask of aChinese cook. " We do not put salt into bread-cakes," is theexplanation. " How is it that with so much and such beautifulice in your city none of it is stored up for winter ? " " No,we do not store up ice for winter in our city." If the Latinpoet who observed, " Happy is he who is able to know thereasons of things," had lived in China, he might have modifiedhis dictum so as to read, " Unhappy is the man who essays tofind out the reasons of things.

Another mark of intellectual torpor is the inability of anordinary mind to entertain an idea, and then pass it on toanother in its original shape. To tell A something which heis to tell B, in order that C may govern his actions thereby, isin China one of the most fatuous of undertakings. Either themessage will never be delivered at all, because the partiesconcerned did not understand that it was of importance, or itreaches C in such a shape that he cannot comprehend it, orin a form totally at variance with its original. To supposethat three cogs in so complicated a piece of machinery arecapable of playing into each other without such friction as tostop the works, is to entertain a very wild hope. Even mindsof considerable intelligence find it hard to take in and thengive out an idea without addition or diminution, just as clearwater is certain to refract the image of a straight stick as if itwere a broken one.

Illustrations of these peculiarities will meet the observantforeigner at every turn. "Why did he do so?" you inquirein regard to some preposterous act. " Yes," is the compendious reply. There is a certain niuneral word in constant use,which is an aggravating accessory to vague replies. It signifies both interrogatively, "How many?" and affirmatively,"Several." "How many days have you been here?" youask. "Yes, I have been here several days," is the reply. Ofall the ambiguous words in the Chinese language, probablythe most ambiguous is the personal (or impersonal) pronoun^'a, which signifies promiscuously " he," "she," or " it." Sometimes the speaker designates the subject of his remarks byvaguely waving his thumb in the direction of the subject'shome, or towards the point where he was last heard of. Butmore frequently the single syllable i'a is considered whollysufficient as a relative, as a demonstrative pronoun, and as aspecifying adjective. Under these circumstances, the talk ofa Chinese will be like the testimony of a witness in an Englishcourt, who described a fight in the following terms : " He'd astick, and he'd a stick, and he w'acked he, and he w'ackedhe, and if he'd a w'acked he as hard as he w'acked he, he'd akilled he, and not he he."

"Why did you not come when you were called? " youvefntiu-e to inquire of a particularly negligent servant. " Noton account of any reason," he answers, with what appears tobe frank precision. The same state of mental confusion leadsto a great variety of acts, often embarrassing, and to a wellordered Occidental intellect always irritating. The cookmakes it a matter of routine practice to use up the last ofwhatever there may be in his charge, and then serves the nextmeal minus some invariable concomitant. When asked whathe means by it, he answers ingenuously that f/iere was no more." Then why did you not ask for more in time? " " I did notask for any more," is his satisfactory explanation. The manto whom you have paid a sum of cash in settlement of hisaccount, going to the trouble of unlocking your safe andmaking change with scrupulous care, sits talking for " an oldhalf-day " on miscellaneous subjects, and then remarks with nonchalance, " I have still another account besides this one."" But why did you not tell me when I had the safe open, sothat I could do it all at once ? " " Oh, I thought that accountand this one had nothing to do with each other!" In thesame way a patient in a dispensary who has taken a Uberalallowance of the time of the physician, retires to the waitingroom, and when the door is next opened advances to re-enter.Upon being told that his case has been disposed of, he observes, with delightful simphcity, "But I have got anotherdifferent disease besides that one!"

An example of what seems to us immeasurable folly, is thecommon Chinese habit of postponing the treatment of diseases because the patient happens to be busy, or because theremedy would cost something. It is often considered cheaperto undergo severe and repeated attacks of intermittent fever,than to pay ten cash—about one cent—for a dose of quinia,morally certain to cure. We have seen countless cases of thegravest diseases sometimes nourished to the point where theybecame fatal simply to save time, when they might have beencured gratuitously.

A man living about half a mile from a foreign hospital,while away from home contracted som^e eye trouble, andwaited in agony for more than two weeks after his retiuTibefore coming for treatment, hoping each day that the painwould stop, instead of which, one eye was totally destroyedby a corneal ulcer.

Another patient, who had been under daily treatment for adeeply ulcerated neck, mentioned on the eighteenth day thathis leg prevented his sleeping. Upon examination he wasfound to have there another ulcer about the size and depthof a teacup! When his neck was well he was intending tospeak about his leg!

Many such phenomena of Chinese hfe may serve to remindone of a remark in one of the novels of Charles Reade, that " Mankind are not lacking in intelligence, but they have oneintellectual defect—they are Muddleheads!"

A Chinese education by no means fits its possessors tograsp a subject in a comprehensive and practical manner. Itis popularly supposed in Western lands that there are certainpreachers of whom it can be truthfully affirmed that if theirtext had the smallpox, the sermon would not catch it. Thesame phenomenon is found among the Chinese in forms ofpeculiar flagrance. Chinese dogs do not as a rule take kindlyto the pursuit of wolves, and when a dog is seen running aftera wolf it is not unlikely that the dog and the wolf will besubject.moving, if not in opposite directions, at least at right anglesto each other. Not without resemblance to this oblique chase,is the pursuit by a Chinese speaker of a perpetually retreatingHe scents it often, and now and then he seems tobe on the point of overtaking it, but he retires at length, muchwearied, without having come across it in any part of hiscourse.

China is the land of sharp contrasts, the very rich and thewretchedly poor, the highly educated and the utterly ignorant,living side by side. Those who are both very poor and veryignorant, as is the fate of millions, have indeed so narrow ahorizon that intellectual turbidity is compulsory. Their existence is merely that of a frog in a well, to which even theheavens appear only as a strip of darkness. Ten miles fromtheir native place many such persons have never been, andthey have no conception of any conditions of life other thanthose by which they have always been surrounded. In manyof them even that instinctive curiosity common to all racesseems dormant or blighted. Many Chinese, who know thata foreigner has come to live within a mile from their homes,never thmk to inquire where he came from, who he is, or whathe wants. They know how to struggle for an existence, andthey know nothing else. They do not know whether they have three souls, as is currently supposed, or one, or none,and so long as the matter has no relation to the price of grain,they do not see that it is of any consequence whatever. Theybelieve in a future hfe in which the bad will be turned intodogs and insects, and they also believe in annihilation pureand simple, in which the body becomes dirt, and the soul—ifthere be one—fades into the air. They are the ultimate outcome of the forces which produce what is in Western landscalled a " practical man," whose hfe consists of two compartments, a stomach and a cash-bag. Such a man is the truepositivist, for he cannot be made to comprehend anythingwhich he does not see or hear, and of causes as such he hasno conception whatever. Life is to him a mere series of facts,mostly disagreeable facts, and as for anything beyond, he isat once an atheist, a polytheist, and an agnostic. An occasional prostration to he knows not what, or perhaps an offering of food to he knows not whom, suffices to satisfy theinstinct of dependence, but whether this instinct finds eventhis expression will depend largely upon what is the customof those about him. In him the physical element of the Hfeof man has alone been nourished, to the utter exclusion of thepsychical and the spiritual. The only method by which suchbeings can be rescued from their torpor is by a transfusion ofa new life, which shall reveal to them the sublime truth utteredby the ancient patriarch, " There is a spirit in man," for onlythus is it that " the inspiration of the Almighty giveth themunderstanding."