CONSCIOUSNESS AS A VITAL FUNCTION 289 



If the energist be correct In viewing the phenomena of the 

 physical universe as manifestations of various phases of one uni- 

 versal, Indestructible, but convertible energy, and if psychology 

 be correct In asserting that all mental states are acts, and, fur- 

 thermore, if we are not so blinded by prejudice as to shut our 

 eyes to the overwhelming evidence of the interaction of these 

 two sorts of activities (a fact more certain than any other what- 

 ever) then we are driven to conclude that body and mind are 

 phases of one reality — that consciousness Is not unrelated to 

 gravitation, but is a part of the same universe of activity. 



Certain higher organisms present structures in the 

 cerebral hemispheres not present in the lower and 

 presumably ancestral types, and with these structures 

 are associated modes of behavior equally distinctive. 

 The structure of the cerebral cortex and certain other 

 parts of the nervous system subsidiary to it is related 

 to the behavior type of the animal in question in a 

 fashion which is biologically on a par with the rela- 

 tion of wings of birds to flight. This is beyond ques- 

 tion. And the behavior types of mankind (and doubt- 

 less of some other animals) are shot through with 

 conscious processes whose causal relationships with 

 the objective manifestations are indubitable. The ex- 

 clusion of these conscious factors from a total view of 

 the situation as the biologist must study it is scientif- 

 ically inadmissible, and this procedure can be adopted 

 only by an appeal (usually cleverly masked) to 

 metaphysical, theological, mythological, or other un- 

 scientific prejudices, or else as a subtle form of intel- 

 lectual indolence which, confronted by a complex 



