222 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



turns on the question : Do states of consciousness entei 

 as links into the chain of antecedence and sequence, 

 which give rise to bodily 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 conscious- 

 ness, interposed between the molecules of the brain, 

 and influencing the transference of motion among the 

 molecules. The thought ' eludes all mental presenta- 

 tion ; ' and hence the logic seems of iron strength which 

 claims for the braiu 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, 

 however, reject neither, and thus stand in the pre- 

 sence of two Incomprehensibles, instead of one In- 

 comprehensible. While accepting fearlessly the facts 

 of materialism 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 ultimately 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 



