®irting with the notion that intimations of spirituality and immortality
are processed by the brain’s phrenological “faculties,” Whitman risked
falling into a trap like that of Réné Descartes, who, in attempting to in-
tegrate material and spiritual elements, had located the soul in the brain’s
pineal gland. Of course, Whitman may have included these bizarre terms
in an effort to placate Fowler and Wells, the covert publishers of the sec-
ond edition, or because he liked their “scienti¤c” ring. In any case, he had
second thoughts about these aberrant lines, eliminating them altogether
in 1871.^46 His later poems keep the body-soul connection deliberately
vague, essentially by ignoring the role of the body. But in evaluating
“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” this loveliest of lyrical fantasies about per-
sonal immortality, it would be capricious to insist on physiological accu-
racy or ideological consistency.
“The Progress of Souls” / 125