The Evolution of Mind. 197 



ABSTRACT OF THE DISCUSSION. 



DiJ. Lewis G. Janes : — 



By its careful attention tliis audience lias manifested deep inter- 

 est in Dr. Eccles' essay. As a treatment of the psychological as- 

 pects of the subject the paper seems to me to be one of an exceed- 

 ingly high order, manifesting careful and accurate study and able 

 and independent thought. I confess, however, to a certain meas- 

 ure of disappointment in that the lecturer has devoted so much 

 time to clearing the way, and has not indicated in greater detail 

 the successive steps in mental evolution, from monera to man. 

 There were times during the delivery of the essay when it ap- 

 I^eared to me that the Doctor's science and his metaphysics were 

 engaged in a "struggle for existence," the outcome of which 

 seemed a little dubious. I find myself wholly in agreement, how- 

 ever, with what I conceive to be his fundamental position. Mat- 

 ter and Mind are, as Goethe affirmed, "eternal double-ingredients 

 of the universe," The Keality manifested in all phenomena must 

 be regarded as a double-faced unity, revealing itself as matter to 

 the senses, as mind in the operations of thought. I cannot quite 

 accept the speaker's technical terminology, which appeared to me 

 to confoiuid consciousness with mind. I regard it, however, as 

 only a ])h(tse or co)idltion of mind, in which it is directly related 

 to a somewhat external to itself. Consciousness, Dr. Eccles as- 

 sumes, is not absent in coma, diverted attention, or profound 

 sleep : it is merely concentrated upon a single dominant thought. 

 I do not think that he will find the weight of scientific authority 

 to support this view. How will he account for the conditiou fre- 

 quently resulting from fracture of the skull, wlien consciousness 

 is apparently extinguished by the pressure of the bone upcm tlie 

 brain ? A person in tliis state could not be aroused by repeated 

 calling, as in the instances the speaker has adduced. Only one 

 thing could restore consciousness — a surgical operation relieving 

 the pressure. In such cases consciousness appears to "pick up 

 its ravelled threads" at the exact point where it was interrupted 

 by the injury. No one supposes, however, that the mind has been 

 destroyed and re-created. Mill has defined matter as " the perma- 

 nent possibility of sensation." In like manner I would define 

 Mind as ^'' iliQ x>erinanent possibility of consciousness." Every act 



