CON^SCIOUSNESS IN EVOLUTION. 403 



greater warrant than in the constitution of protoplasm. Modern 

 chemistry refers compound substances to four classes, each of which 

 is characterized by a special formula of combination. These are 

 called the hydrochloric-acid type, the water-gas type, the ammonia 

 type, and the marsh-gas type. These series are defined by the 

 volumetric relations of their component simple substances : thus, in 

 the first, a single volume unites with an equal volume of hydrogen ; 

 in the second, two volumes of hydrogen unite with a single volume of 

 another element ; in the third, three, and in the fourth, four vol- 

 umes of hydrogen unite with the single A^olume of other elements. 

 Hence the composition of these compounds is expressed by the fol- 

 lowing formulas — chlorine, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon being 

 selected as typical of their respective classes : HCl, HjO, HsN, and 

 H4C. Now it is an interesting fact that protoplasm is composed 

 of definite proportions of four simple substances, each one repre- 

 senting one of the classes above named, or, in other words, the ca- 

 pacity for proportional molecular combination which characterizes 

 them. The formula C24N8OH17 expresses the constitution of this 

 remarkable substance. Now, although the significance of these 

 combining numbers is unknown, there is a conceivable connection 

 between the characteristic peculiarities of protoplasm and the na- 

 ture of the substances which compose it. It is probable that these, 

 when in combination with each other, exert a mutually antago- 

 nistic control over each other's especial and powerful tendencies to 

 form stable, and hence dead, compounds. It is therefore reason- 

 able that the terms " unspecialized " or ''undecided" should be 

 applicable to the molecular condition of protoplasm, and in so far 

 it is a suitable nidus for higher molecular organization, and a ca- 

 pacity for higher forms of force-conversion than any other known 

 substance. If also in inorganic types, as in the organic, the gen- 

 eralized have preceded the specialized in the order of evolution, we 

 are directed to a primitive condition of matter which presented 

 the essentially unspecialized condition of protoplasm, without 

 some of its physical features. We are not necessarily bound to 

 the hypothesis that protoplasm is the only substance capable of 

 supporting consciousness, but to the opposite view, that the proba- 

 bilities are in favor of other and unspecialized, at present un- 

 known, forms of matter possessing this capacity. 



Consciousness constitutes then the only apparently initial point 

 of motion with which we are acquainted. If so, we are at liberty 

 to search for the origin of the physical forces in consciousness, as 



