Carus, The Scat of Consciousness. 191 



of vision. There seems to be a complete psychical image in 

 each hemisphere, so that the pictures of both eyes are twice 

 projected. 



The unity of consciousness may be conceived as produced 

 by the predominance of the left striate body over the right one, 

 but it need not be conditioned by the concentration of feelings in 

 a single organ. The unity of consciousness is rather a unity of 

 aim imposed upon the soul, as a product of the concentration 

 of many feelings in one direction. We need not, therefore, as 

 did Descartes, seek for the seat of consciousness in some organ 

 of the body that is single. This method is too materialistic, 

 treating consciousness as a substance, while it is not a substance 

 but an attitude. It may have its main seat in one, or it may 

 be present in both striate bodies, as the pictures of the eye are 

 present in both hemispheres. The unity of the picture we see 

 may be due to the predominance of one hemisphere over the 

 other ; it may be produced by an habitual adaptation of the 

 focus of the weaker image to the focus of the stronger image ; 

 or the coincidence of the two focuses may in itself be sufficient 

 to create the apperception of their identity, so that the con- 

 gruence of the two main parts of the two pictures is taken as 

 sameness. Whatever be the cause of the unity of vision, the 

 unity of consciousness consists, in some such way as the unity 

 of the picture we see with two eyes, in the convergence of all 

 psychical activity in one aim and in the co-operation of many 

 feelings toward one purpose ; and it will obtain so long as a com- 

 mon direction attracts the attention and gives direction to the 

 various thoughts that are aroused. Consciousness depends as 

 little upon the uniqueness of an organ as the direction of a car- 

 riage demands the presence of only one horse. A carriage may 

 be drawn by two or more horses, for the unity of its motion is 

 constituted by the unity of its aim, not by the uniqueness of 

 those powers which move, it onwards ; and a distraction of at- 

 tention is as much possible as that a cart may be pulled by two 

 horses in different directions. So long as the two activities of 

 the striate bodies receive the same psychical material and per- 

 form their functions in a concerted parallelism, they may either 



