THE RELATIVITY OF ALL KNOWLEDGE. 97 



If every consciousness of existence is a consciousness of ex- 

 istence as conditioned* then how, after the negation of con- 

 ditions, can there be any residuum?. Though not directly 

 withdrawn by the withdrawal of its conditions, must not the 

 raw material of consciousness be withdrawn by implication ?. 

 Must it not vanish when the conditions of its existence van- 

 ish? That there must be a solution of this difficulty 

 is manifest; since even those who would put it, do, as al- 

 ready shown, admit that we have some such consciousness; 

 and the solution appears to be that above shadowed forth. 

 Such consciousness is not, and cannot be, constituted by any 

 single mental act; but is the product of many mental acts. 

 In each concept there is an element which persists. It is 

 alike impossible for this element to be absent from con- 

 sciousness, and for it to be present in consciousness alone: 

 either alternative involves unconsciousness — the one from 

 the want of the substance; the other from the want of the 

 form. But the persistence of this element under successive 

 conditions, necessitates a sense of it as distinguished from 

 the conditions, and independent of them. The sense of a 

 something that is conditioned in every thought, cannot be 

 got rid of, because the something cannot be got rid of. 

 How then must the sense of this something be constituted? 

 Evidently by combining successive concepts deprived of 

 their limits and conditions. We form this indefinite 

 thought, as we form many of our definite thoughts, by 

 the coalescence of a series of thoughts. Let me illustrate 

 this. A large complex object, having attributes too 

 numerous to be represented at once, is yet tolerably well 

 conceived by the union of several representations, each 

 standing for part of its attributes. On thinking of a 

 piano, there first rises in imagination its visual appearance, 

 to which are instantly added (though by separate mental 

 acts) the ideas of its remote side and of its solid substance. 

 A complete conception, however, involves the strings, the 

 hammers, the dampers, the pedals; and while successively 



