THE ETHICS OF KANT. 467 



them to suspect more and more strongly that they are all com- 

 pound. 



Alike to the laborer who digs it out and to the carpenter who 

 uses it in his workshop, a piece of chalk appears a thing than 

 which nothing can be simpler ; and ninety-nine people out of a 

 hundred would agree with them. Yet a piece of chalk is highly 

 complex. A microscope shows it to consist of myriads of shells 

 of Foraminifera ; shows further that it contains more kinds than 

 one; and shows further still that each minute shell, whole or 

 broken, is formed of many chambers, every one of which once 

 contained a living unit. Thus by ordinary inspection, however 

 close, the true nature of chalk can not be known ; and to one who 

 has absolute confidence in his eyes the assertion of its true nature 

 appears absurd. 



Take again a living body of a seemingly uncomplicated kind — 

 say a potato. Cut it through and observe how structureless its 

 substance. But though unaided vision gives this verdict, aided 

 vision gives a widely different one. Aided vision discovers, in 

 the first place, that the mass is everywhere permeated by vessels 

 of complex formation. Further, that it is made up of innumerable 

 units called cells, each of which has walls composed of several 

 layers. Further still, that each cell contains a number of starch- 

 grains. And yet still further, that each of these grains is formed 

 of layer within layer, like the coats of an onion. So that where 

 there seems perfect simplicity there is really complexity within 

 complexity. 



From these examples which the objective world furnishes, let 

 us turn to some examples furnished by the subjective world — 

 some of our states of consciousness. Up to modern times any one 

 who, looking out on the snow, was told that the impression of 

 whiteness it gave him was composed of impressions such as those 

 given by the rainbow, would have regarded his informant as a 

 lunatic ; as would even now the great mass of mankind. But 

 since Newton's day, it has become well known to a relatively 

 small number that this is literal fact. Not only may white light 

 be resolved by a prism into a number of brilliant colors, but by 

 an appropriate arrangement these colors can be re-combined into 

 white light. Those who habitually suppose that things are what 

 they seem, are wi'ong here as in multitudinous other cases. 



Another example is supplied by the sensation of sound. A 

 solitary note struck on the piano, or a blast from a horn, yields 

 through the ear a feeling which appears homogeneous ; and the 

 uninstructed are incredulous if told that it is an intricate combi- 

 nation of noises. In the first place, that which constitutes the 

 more voluminous part of the tone is accompanied by a number of 

 over-tones, producing what is known as its timbre : instead of one 



