_Mortal_. { Etheric Double.
{ Dense Body.

Some Christian writers have adopted a classification similar to this,
declaring Spirit to be inherently immortal, as being Divine; Soul to
be conditionally immortal, _i.e._, capable of winning immortality by
uniting itself with Spirit; Body to be inherently mortal. The majority
of uninstructed Christians chop man into two, the Body that perishes
at Death, and the something--called indifferently Soul or
Spirit--that survives Death. This last classification--if
classification it may be called--is entirely inadequate, if we are to
seek any rational explanation, or even lucid statement, of the
phenomena of post-mortem existence. The tripartite view of man's
nature gives a more reasonable representation of his constitution, but
is inadequate to explain many phenomena. The septenary division alone
gives a reasonable theory consistent with the facts we have to deal
with, and therefore, though it may seem elaborate, the student will do
wisely to make himself familiar with it. If he were studying only the
body, and desired to understand its activities, he would have to
classify its tissues at far greater length and with far more
minuteness than I am using here. He would have to learn the
differences between muscular, nervous, glandular, bony, cartilaginous,
epithelial, connective, tissues, and all their varieties; and if he
rebelled, in his ignorance, against such an elaborate division, it
would be explained to him that only by such an analysis of the
different components of the body can the varied and complicated
phenomena of life-activity be understood. One kind of tissue is wanted
for support, another for movement, another for secretion, another for
absorption, and so on; and if each kind does not have its own
distinctive name, dire confusion and misunderstanding must result, and