222 FKAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



turns on the question: Do states of consciousness enter 

 as links into the chain of antecedence and sequence, 

 which give rise to hodily actions, and to other states 

 of consciousness; or are they merely by-products which 

 are not essential to the physical processes going on in 

 the brain? Speaking for myself, it is certain that I 

 have no power of imagining states of consciousness, in- 

 terposed between the molecules of the brain, and in- 

 fluencing the transference of motion among the mole- 

 cules. The thought ' eludes all mental presentation; ' 

 and hence the logic seems of iron strength which 

 claims for the brain an automatic action, uninfluenced 

 by states of consciousness. But it is, I believe, ad- 

 mitted by those who hold the automaton-theory, that 

 states of consciousness are produced by the marshalling 

 of the molecules of the brain: and this production of 

 consciousness by molecular motion is to me quite as 

 inconceivable on mechanical principles as the produc- 

 tion of molecular motion by consciousness. If, there- 

 fore, I reject one result, I must reject both. I, how- 

 ever, reject neither, and thus stand in the presence of 

 two Incomprehensibles, instead of one Incomprehen- 

 sible. While accepting fearlessly the facts of material- 

 ism dwelt upon in these pages, I bow my head in the 

 dust before that mystery of mind, which has hitherto 

 defied its own penetrative power, and which may ulti- 

 mately resolve itself into a demonstrable impossibility 

 of self-penetration. 



But the secret is an open one the practical moni- 

 tions are plain enough, which declare that on our deal- 

 ings with matter depend our weal and woe, physical 

 and moral. The state of mind which rebels against 

 the recognition of the claims of ' materialism ' is not 

 unknown to me. I can remember a time when I re- 

 garded my body as a weed, so much more highly did I 



