FORMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 261 



Now something not unlike this happens at birth. Before birth the 

 minor physical system, i. e., the embryo, though lightly attached 

 to, is nevertheless part of the physical system of the mother: and the 

 psychic correspondents of its activities form part of a complex conscious- 

 ness which is that of the mother and embryo together; the psychic 

 correspondents of the activities of the mother, as exclusive of those 

 of the embryonic parasite, being of course preeminent in such a com- 

 plex psychic system. 



At birth we have a disruption of the less developed, from the more 

 developed, physical system; and corresponding therewith we have a 

 minor consciousness of low development ' split off ' from the more 

 highly developed preeminent consciousness of the mother which re- 

 mains to all intents and purposes intact. The new ' split off ' minor 

 consciousness then begins its existence as an individual entity, and as 

 time goes on develops into a full formed human individual con- 

 sciousness. 



II. Of Consciousnesses more Complex than Human Consciousness. 



We may now turn to the question whether there are other forms 

 of consciousness still more complex than those forms of human con- 

 sciousness with which we are familiar in our own life of reflection. 



The fact that each human consciousness is a psychic system which 

 is a complex of minor psychic systems, which are themselves highly 

 complex systems of psychic elements, leads us to see that it is by no 

 means impossible that our own complex psychic systems, taken as 

 wholes, i. e., our own consciousnesses, may be joined with other com- 

 plex psychic systems, i. e., other consciousnesses, in the formation of 

 consciousnesses of still higher grades of complexity. 



We are led thus in the first place to consider whether there is any 

 possibility of the formation of such higher systems — of such higher 

 consciousnesses — from the combination of the consciousnesses of hu- 

 man beings aggregated in social masses: whether, in other words, 

 there can be any such thing as a ' social consciousness ' ; and whether 

 coincidently the aggregates of individuals in social bodies may rightly 

 be looked upon as a ' social organism.' 



The first thought which suggests itself to us in this connection 

 seems to argue against such a notion, for we are accustomed to hold 

 that the neural systems with which the consciousnesses of men are cor- 

 related are what we call closed systems, and as such are physically 

 disconnected completely from one another; and if such is the case 

 it would seem impossible to imagine the coincident consciousnesses 

 united into a unified system. 



Upon second thought, however, we are led to ask wherein consists 

 the bond between the minor neural systems, within the great neural 



