AS APPLIED 10 MAN. 365 



an almost infinite complexity of molecular combinations, 

 subject to definite changes under the stimuli of heat, 

 moisture, light, electricity, and probably some unknown 

 forces. But this greater and greater complexity, even 

 if carried to an infinite extent, cannot, of itself, have 

 the slightest tendency to originate consciousness in such 

 molecules or groups of molecules. If a material ele- r 

 ment* or a combination of a thousand material elements 

 in a molecule, are alike unconscious, it is impossible 

 for us to believe, that the mere addition of one, two, 

 or a thousand other material elements to form a more 

 complex molecule, could in any way tend to produce 

 a self-conscious existence. The things are radically 

 distinct. To say that mind is a product or function 

 of protoplasm, or of its molecular changes, is to use 

 words to which we can attach no clear conception. 

 You cannot have, in the whole, what does not exist 

 in any of the parts ; and those who argue thus should 

 put forth a definite conception of matter, with clearly 

 enunciated properties, and show, that the necessary 

 result of a certain complex arrangement of the ele- 

 ments or atoms of that matter, will be the production 

 of self-consciousness. There is no escape from this 

 dilemma, either all matter is conscious, or conscious- 

 ness is something distinct from matter, and in the 

 latter case, its presence in material forms is a proof 

 of the existence of conscious beings, outside of, and 

 independent of, what we term matter. 



Matter is force. The foregoing considerations lead 

 us to the very important conclusion, that matter is 



