CONSCIOUSNESS OF TIME. 



309 



which the multitude ignores or ridicules. But 

 the directing power, Mr. Hutton has conclusive- 

 ly shown, by which political leaders effect great 

 changes, the leaders themselves can only obtain 

 from the masses. 



" Why the higher classes are so much less 

 sensitive when the right chords of sympathy are 

 struck," asks Mr. Hutton, "I do not know. But 

 I am quiet sure that so it is." A good deal of light, 

 I venture to hope, has been thrown by Mr. Grant 

 Duff, Mr. Greg, and Mr. Gladstone, on this most 

 difficult part of our problem. 



With respect to the second part of the prob- 

 lem, I have a sufficiently good opinion of human 

 nature to believe that men usually wish to take the 

 more liberal and generous side, when it has been 

 made dear to them, and that the pleasure in evil for 

 its own sake is an exception with mankind. Diffi- 

 culties in the pursuit of justice commence when 

 personal sacrifices have to be made. The people 

 gathered in meetings and voting resolutions have 

 this advantage, which greatly facilitates their 

 task, that they usually order others to be just and 

 generous without themselves being conscious of 

 any sacrifice. Trades-unions do not admit the 

 advantages of free trade to the community, when 

 their own interests are concerned. 



There can be no doubt that, in the great war 

 against the corn laws, the fact that the enemy 

 pursued were landlords gave additional zest and 

 excitement to the campaign, and that, if the ene- 



my had been cotton-spinners, the whole history 

 and conditions of the League would have been 

 different. 



The reason why questions of religious tolera- 

 tion form an exception is that to the uncultured 

 mind religious toleration seems to be indifference 

 to religious truth. Only a man of highly-trained 

 intellect can manage to respect the religious con 

 victions of others without detriment to his owu, 

 and can admit that others may be as sincere as 

 himself. At present most intelligent theologians 

 consider heresy to be only another point of view 

 from which the same truth is seen; but it should 

 not be forgotten that the opinion now general- 

 ly admitted, that error in dogmatic theology is not 

 necessariliy a proof of moral obliquity, is a very 

 recent conquest of the critical school. 



The Tichborne case has been several times re- 

 ferred to in the course of the debate as an examr 

 pie of recent popular delusion. Mr. Frederic Har- 

 rison says : " It has been vigorously opposed by 

 almost all the working-class leaders, and it was 

 promoted by peers and members of Parliament." 1 

 This opinion does not appear to me quite in ac- 

 cordance with the facts, as far as my observation 

 of them goes ; but Mr. Greg has so thoroughly 

 replied to this point in Mr. Harrison's paper that 

 I need not dwell on it any further. These, as far 

 as I am aware, are the principal points which 

 required being briefly noticed in closing this de- 

 bate. — Nineteenth Century. 



CONSCIOUSNESS OF TIME. 



By GEOEGE J. EOMANES. 



IT is indisputable that our consciousness of the 

 passage of time is determined by our con- 

 sciousness of the sequence of events. We have 

 only to reflect on the oblivion to time which is 

 one characteristic of profound sleep, or on the 

 total unconsciousness of its passage that occurs 

 during coma, to perceive that our appreciation 

 of time is nothing more than a mental abstrac- 

 tion of the sequence-relations among the events 

 which have been presented to consciousness dur- 

 ing the interval contemplated. Indeed, this truth 

 is so obvious that it has hitherto prevented psy- 

 chologists from making any further analysis of 

 our time-consciousness. Having explained its 

 essential character, there seems at first sight no 



reason for further inquiry, and therefore, so far 

 as I am aware, no one has ever waited to ascer- 

 tain whether this explanation is complete, in the 

 sense of leaving nothing further to be explained. 

 But I think that a few moments' reflection will 

 show that we are far from having explained all 

 the facts of our time-consciousness when we re- 

 fer them to the general principle above stated. 

 For, granting that our time-consciousness is a men- 

 tal abstraction of the sequence-relations among 

 events, the question immediately arises, Are the 

 events which by their sequence determine our 

 time-consciousness all of equivalent value in so 

 doing ? In other words, is it only the quality of 

 1 See Supplement No. XIV., p. 110. 



