32 



BEING- AND FACULTIES OF MAN. 



physical ; and it would hence follow that separation from 

 the body does not necessarily, and of itself, separate us 

 from the sensations of either pleasure or pain ; for, as will 

 be rendered still more apparent in dealing with the 

 Consciousness in connection with the physical faculties, 

 and their structure and operation, in the succeeding 

 chapter, it will be found that Consciousness possesses in 

 itself alone all the attributes, powers, and sensibilities which 

 we usually ascribe to it only in connection with the present 

 physical arrangement of its existence, and that we are 

 thus enabled to prove the separate capability of the 

 existence, though not of the immortality of the Soul, or of 

 conscious Being. 



But though we have said that Consciousness is capable 

 of extension over the sense of touch, to the degree of 

 perceiving a large amount of surface, and also of perceiving 

 simultaneously different surfaces or parts of a surface, this 

 fact does not essentially qualify what is meant when we 

 say that the Consciousness is capable only of successive 

 and not of simultaneous sensations or impressions. The 

 meaning of this last statement is not that the Conscious- 

 ness may not receive a larger or a smaller amount of 

 simultaneous impressions through any one sense not 

 that we may not, for example, see simultaneously both a 

 horse and his rider, or hear both a trumpet tone and the 

 note of a violin, &c., for either of these instances is but the 

 perception of one sense or faculty but that we cannot 

 direct the Consciousness simultaneously to the impressions 

 of two different senses ; that its attention must be suc- 

 cessively applied where more than one sense or faculty is 

 exercised ; that, in fact, there is but one faculty of Con- 

 sciousness, and but one power of attention in that Con- 

 sciousness. 



This power of attention is also another source of diffi- 

 culty, and we have preferred not to use the expression 



