ON THE PSYCHO-PHYSICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 529 



phenomenon which lies on the other side of the phe- 

 nomenon, is not only characterised by a peculiar unity or 

 centred connectedness which we look for in vain in the 

 external and physical world ; it has also become external . 



The"objec- 



or objective, it has detached itself from the subjective tlve mind -" 

 and hidden source from which it sprang, and can be 

 studied as such in the great creations of language, litera- 

 ture, society, science, art, and religion. Why not study 

 its nature and its life in these great and undeniable 

 manifestations, and instead of beginning at the hidden 

 source, the unknown and indefinable centre, try to reach 

 this by beginning at the periphery, measuring out the 

 great circle and learning what it contains ? 



Ancient philosophy, which found its consummation in 

 the writings of Aristotle, had already begun this work, 

 and, in establishing the rules of grammar and logic, had 

 furnished the material for many modern speculations. 

 What the ancients had only begun, modern thinkers of 

 the most opposite schools have been induced to continue 

 on more methodical lines, and with the more or less 

 distinct object of learning something definite regarding 

 that mental life and unity which they have, with little 

 success, tried long enough to reach by various direct 

 roads, such as introspection, speculation, physiological 

 and psycho-physical experiment. Accordingly we find 

 springing up almost simultaneously in the three coun- 

 tries, ever since the latter part of the eighteenth century, 

 the study of mankind or of human culture in all its 

 historical forms. Hume and Adam Smith, Montesquieu, 

 and the French physiocrats, studied society and the great 

 fabric of industry and commerce ; Cabanis and the " IdeV 



VOL. n. 2 L 



