194 THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN REASON 



essential nature of the psychical faculty in man and 

 brute. Yet when he comes at last to apply himself 

 to this fundamental question, he lays down his arms 

 and proclaims his utter inability to attack it. "I am 

 as far as any one can be/' he tells us, * " from throwing 

 light upon the intrinsic nature of that the probable 

 genesis of which I am endeavouring to trace " ! 



But if he can throw no light on "the intrinsic 

 nature" of the "mind of man," how can he pretend 

 to decide whether or not it is " essentially the same " 

 as what he calls " the mind of the lower animals " ? 



If, as he affirms,! " the problem of self-consciousness " 

 is one which, however profoundly reflected on, " does not 

 admit of solution," by what right does he venture to 

 affirm that " self-consciousness " is nothing more than the 

 further developed sensitivity of an ape or of an amoeba ? 



He seeks to protect himself from the consequences 

 of this confession of inability to attack the one only 

 question of real importance for his cause, as we noted 

 before,! by a profession of Idealism. With respect to 

 such a profession we have a few words to say, and 

 they are not at all intended to apply to Mr. Romanes 

 himself, for we are firmly persuaded that he is honest 

 and sincere. We are, however, no less persuaded that 

 there are others who are not so, but who disingenuously 

 seek to hide their really crass materialism behind a 

 carefully painted Idealistic mask. A solemn profession 

 of Idealism, made with the tongue in the cheek, enables 

 its professors to throw dust in the eyes of anyone who 

 may approach to inspect their proceedings too closely. 



* p. 195. t p. 194. % See above, p. yj. 



