ON AROn^STHETISM. 419 



it adheres to solid substances, and transports and locates them as 

 part of its external and internal supports. But it is not incon- 

 ceivable that under other conditions of temperature, etc., the 

 gaseous condition of matter might answer the same purpose. It 

 must be borne in mind, however, that this is a subordinate ques- 

 tion, and that the real characteristic of the "phj^sical basis of life " 

 is to be found rather in its generalized dynamic condition. 



We must then believe that wherever this generalized condition 

 ' exists, consciousness will be present. As soon as mechanical or 

 chemical force appears in the molecules of the sustaining sub- 

 stance, consciousness disappears. The organism has taken the first 

 step toward death, but is not dead, but is ancBsthetized. Constant 

 nutrition is essential to the performance of all life functions, in- 

 cluding consciousness, and it is evident that this is necessary to 

 the maintenance of the unspecialized condition in which the latter 

 appears. 



Is the appearance of sensibility on the development of its sus- 

 taining condition, evidence that the latter stands to the former in 

 the relation of cause and effect ? If the view of the pre-existence 

 of consciousness be true, there is no more relation of cause and 

 effect than in the case of the opening of a door which admits a 

 wind. The force expended in opening the door is not converted 

 into the energy exerted by the wind as it enters the room. It 

 simply releases it, or admits it to a new field. It is, however, true, 

 that consciousness having once entered, a larger conversion of force 

 is necessary to its persistence than is expended during its absence. 

 Like combustion, which is only communicable under suitable con- 

 ditions, consciousness having once been transmitted to a new cestlie- 

 topliore* lives on it, and requires constant supplies of material for 

 its sustenance. 



The hypothesis of the primitive and creative function of con- 

 sciousness may be called ArclicBsthetism. 



IV. PAN^STHETISM. 



It has been the custom of men from the dawn of thought to 

 attempt to construct for themselves cosmogonies and theologies. 

 Science is yet far from supplying the facts necessary to the con- 

 struction of a true system of the universe, and philosophy can only 

 stretch out a little further into the unknown by the use of neces- 



* ^sthetophore, a substance which sustains consciousness. 



