ix LIMITS OF NATURAL SELECTION IN MAN 209 



molecular combinations, subject to definite changes under the 

 stimuli of heat, moisture, light, electricity, and probably some 

 unknown forces. But this greater and greater complexity, 

 even if carried to an infinite extent, cannot, of itself, have the 

 slightest tendency to originate consciousness in such molecules 

 or groups of molecules. If a material element, or a combina- 

 tion of a thousand material elements in a molecule, are alike 

 unconscious, it is impossible for us to believe that the mere 

 addition of one, two, or a thousand other material elements to 

 form a more complex molecule, could in any way tend to 

 produce a self-conscious existence. The things are radically 

 unlike, exclusive, and incommensurable. To say that mind is a 

 product or function of protoplasm, or of its molecular changes, 

 is to use words to which we can attach no clear conception ; 

 and those who argue thus should put forth a precise definition 

 of matter with clearly enunciated properties, and show that 

 the necessary result of a certain complex arrangement of the 

 elements or atoms of that matter will be the production of self- 

 consciousness. There is no escape from this dilemma, either 

 all matter is conscious, or consciousness is, or pertains to, some- 

 thing distinct from matter, and in the latter case its presence 

 in material forms is a proof of the existence of conscious beings, 

 outside of, and independent of, what we term matter. 1 



1 A friend has suggested that I have not here explained myself sufficiently, 

 and objects that life does not exist in matter any more than consciousness, 

 and if the one can be produced by the laws of matter, why may not the other ? 

 I reply that there is a radical difference between the two. Organic or 

 vegetative life consists essentially in chemical transformations and molecular 

 motions, occurring under certain conditions and in a certain order. The 

 matter and the forces which act upon it are for the most part known ; and 

 if there are any forces engaged in the manifestation of vegetative life yet 

 undiscovered (which is a moot question), we can conceive them as analogous 

 to such forces as heat, electricity, or chemical affinity, with which we are 

 already acquainted. We can thus clearly conceive of the transition from dead 

 matter to living matter. A complex mass which suffers decomposition or 

 decay is dead, but if this mass has the power of attracting to itself from the 

 surrounding medium, matter like that of which it is composed, we have the 

 lirst rudiment of vegetative life. If the mass can do this for a considerable 

 time, and if its absorption of new matter more than replaces that lost by 

 decomposition, and if it is of such a nature as to resist the mechanical 01 

 chemical forces to which it is usually exposed, and to retain a tolerably 

 constant form, we term it a living organism. We can conceive an organism t< 

 be so constituted, and we can further conceive that any fragments, which may 

 be accidentally broken from it, or which may fall away when its bulk hs 

 become too great for the cohesion of all its parts, may begin to increase anew 

 P 



