THE CEREBRUM, AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 773 



into objective facts, and with those simple teachings of our own consciousness, 

 which must, after all, be recognized as affording the ultimate test of the truth of 

 all Psychological doctrines. The Author is not without hope that some approach 

 to such a solution may be found in the views of which the following is an out- 

 line ; and although far from regarding them as expressing the whole truth, or 

 as solving all the difficulties of the subject, he considers that they express so 

 much more than any scheme he has ever heard of, that he ventures to request 

 for them a thoughtful consideration on the part of those who feel, with him, the 

 importance of attaining some definite conceptions on this head. In the first 

 place, it may be remarked that the whole tendency of Philosophical Investiga- 

 tion at the present day is to show the utter futility of all the controversies which 

 have been carried on with regard to the relation of Mind and Matter. The essential 

 nature of these two entities is such, that no relation whatever can exist between 

 them. Matter possesses extension, or occupies space ; whilst Mind has no such 

 property. On the other hand, we are cognizant of Matter only through its occupa- 

 tion of space, of which we are informed through our senses ; we are cognizant of the 

 existence of Mind by our direct consciousness of feelings and ideas, which are 

 to us the most certain of all realities. But, what is perhaps a more important 

 distinction, the existence of Matter is essentially passive; left to itself, it always 

 impresses our consciousness in one and the same mode ; and any change in its 

 condition is the consequence of external agency. What have been termed the 

 active states of matter, are really the manifestations of forces, of which we can 

 conceive as having an existence independent of matter, and as having no other 

 relation to it than that which consists in their capability of changing its state. 

 Thus Water continues unchanged so long as its temperature remains the same; but 

 the dynamical agency of Heat occasions that mutual repulsion between its par- 

 ticles, which transforms it from a non-elastic liquid into an elastic vapor; and all 

 that heat is given forth from it again, when the aqueous vapor is transformed 

 back to the liquid state. On the other hand, the existence of Mind is essentially 

 active; all its states are states of change, and we know nothing whatever of it 

 save by its changes. Sensations, Perceptions, Ideas, Emotions, Reasoning pro- 

 cesses, &c., in fact every term which expresses a Mental state, is a designation 

 of a phase of mental existence which intervenes between other phases, in the 

 continual succession of which our idea of Mind consists. 



805. But whilst between Matter and Mind it is utterly vain to attempt to 

 establish a relation of identity or analogy, a very close relation may be shown 

 to exist between Mind and Force. For in the first place, Force, like Mind, can 

 be conceived of only as in a state of activity ; and our idea of it essentially con- 

 sists in the succession of different states, under which its manifestations present 

 themselves to our consciousness. But, secondly, our consciousness of Force is 

 almost as direct, as is that of our own mental states ; our notion of it being based 

 upon our internal sense of the exertion which we determinately make to develop 

 one form of Force, which may be taken as the type of all the rest that, namely, 

 which produces or which resists motion. When we attempt to lift a weight, 

 or to put a windlass in motion, or to stop a horse that is running away, we are 

 directly conscious of a Mental exertion, as the immediate and invariable ante- 

 cedent .of the development of motor power through the contraction of our mus- 

 cles; and the connection of the two is further established by that " sense of 

 effort" which we intuitively refer to the muscles themselves, arising as it does 

 from their own condition ( 754) ; and thus we are led to feel that, in this par- 

 ticular case, Force must be regarded as the direct expression or manifestation of 

 that Mental state which we call Will. The analogy becomes stronger, when we 

 trace it into the relations which these two agencies respectively bear to Matter. 

 For in the phenomenon of Voluntary movement, we can scarcely avoid seeing that 

 Mind is one of the dynamical agencies which is capable of acting on Matter ; 



