828 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



similation or of disintegration, without an admixture of feeling and 

 sensitiveness in a physiological sense. But, to continue the illustra- 

 tion, the mere question whether decomposition through light is less 

 felt by the bromide of silver of a photographic plate than by the pro- 

 toplasm in the leaves of a tree which derive their green color from 

 that light — this question is embarrassing to those who assign to ani- 

 mals alone the sense of feeling, for, since the highly excitable proto- 

 plasm of nerveless animals is likewise sensitive to light, and not to be 

 distinguished from that of many plants, they must decide whether 

 the former specifically differs from the latter, or whether both are 

 equally incapable of feeling. In the former case they are called upon 

 to point out the specific difference, which they can not do ; in the 

 other they must state where, proceeding from the lower to the higher 

 organisms in the chain of animal creation, the inability of feeling ceases 

 and the sense of feeling begins, which is equally impossible. 



Thus, it is in accordance with facts to assume that there is no well- 

 developed dividing line between beings capable and incapable of feel- 

 ing, but that all matter is endowed with a certain sense of feeling, 

 which, however, only with a definite and an extremely complex ar- 

 rangement and vibration of the molecules will develop into feeling. 

 The simple bodies, the dead elements, therefore, although partly very 

 easily changed through slight influences, are, in spite of their dim 

 sense of feeling, not able to feel perceptibly, but as soon as they 

 become part of the ganglionic cell of the brain, or only of the living 

 protoplasm (through assimilation of food), they, combined with others, 

 will by indescribably complex vibrations cause feeling to arise like 

 lightning whenever an impression is made on them. 



Every physiological explanation must, above all, be in perfect accord 

 with morphological, mechanical, and chemical facts ; on that all physi- 

 ologists lay the greatest stress, but I do not understand why, regard- 

 less of physiological facts, morphologists, physicists, and chemists 

 should be allowed to declare their explanations and principles to be 

 the only true ones, or even the only possible ones. It has been demon- 

 strated that matter must have other fundamental properties besides 

 those ascribed to it by physicists and chemists. The axiom of me- 

 chanics, " Matter is dead ! " will soon become obsolete, since a sense 

 of feeling is inherent in all matter. This supposition does not make 

 the least alteration in the imposing structure of the physical and 

 chemical sciences, because in their formulas the new factor is merely 

 an infinitesimal quantity in proportion to the rest ; but the impercepti- 

 ble is not the less real than the perceptible, because of its impcrcepti- 

 bility. 



No one can hear a single leaflet tremble in the wind, but during a 

 storm the roaring of the forest, caused by many leaves rustling to- 

 gether, may reach awe-inspiring power. Similarly, each molecule of 

 matter may feel imperceptibly little when vibrating by itself, while, 



