442 METAPHYSICAL EVOLUTION. 



ties, but not of qualities. The cause of the difference between 

 conscious and unconscious force must be secondarily due to differ- 

 ent conditions of matter as to its atomic constitution ; conscious- 

 ness being only possible, so far as we can ascertain, to matter 

 which has not fallen into fixed and automatic relations of its 

 atoms. The condition appears to be one of tension, in which 

 the automatic (crystalline) tendencies antagonize each other, the 

 material being all the while in the metastatic condition of nutri- 

 tion. This idea is parallel to that of Heraclitus, who held that 

 the essence of all things lay in perpetual modification, a universal 

 becoming, an eternal emergence and disappearance. 



In accordance with the preceding views, the relations between 

 consciousness and matter are thus depicted as of a mutually ne- 

 cessary character, the movements of conscious force involving con- 

 sequences to itself from which the properties of matter necessarily 

 preclude its escape. 



If we trace the consciousness of animals to such an origin, it 

 may be asked, Why have not such beings the powers and perfec- 

 tions of their source, in quality if not in quantity ? The answer to 

 this query, in view of the fact that they have not such qualities, 

 is only to be found in an investigation of the nature of memory. 

 The absence of memory of the past would be equivalent to igno- 

 rance ; while a new material vehicle might render memory possi- 

 ble for the future, and thus education, under new surroundings, 

 create diverse beings from a primal common source. 



We must include in our estimation of the distributions of con- 

 sciousness and forces not our planet alone, nor our system only, 

 but the universe. Hence Sir William Thompson's idea, that con- 

 sciousness (''life") was originally exotic to our earth, is an alto- 

 gether permissible hypothesis. 



If there be such a state of consciousness as will, it must have 

 ajipeared in course of the evolution of animals, at some point in 

 the series of the stages of progress through which their mind has 

 passed. Yet it is maintained by some thinkers that the doctrine 

 of evolution necessarily excludes the idea of freedom from the 

 nature of the minds thus produced. The case is, however, in- 

 volved in that of consciousness, and the investigation of it must 

 proceed in the same manner. If it has been shown that will does 

 exist in connection with evolution, we must proceed to discover, 

 if possible, the relation between the two facts. 



The proof of the existence of a freedom, power of choice, or 



