374 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



coherent picture of the physical processes — the stirring 

 of the brain, the thrilling of the nerves, the discharging of 

 the muscles, and all the subsequent mechanical motions 

 of the organism. But we can present to our minds no 

 picture of the process whereby consciousness emerges, 

 either as a necessary link or as an accidental by-product 

 of this series of actions. Yet it certainly does emerge — ■ 

 the prick of a pin suffices to prove that molecular motion 

 can produce consciousness. The reverse process of the 

 production of motion by consciousness is equally unpre- 

 sentable to the mind. We are here, in fact, upon the 

 boundary line of the intellect, where the ordinary canons 

 of science fail to extricate us from our difficulties. If we 

 are true to these canons, we must deny to subjective phe- 

 nomena all influence on physical processes. Observation 

 proves that they interact, but in passing from one to the 

 other, we meet a blank which mechanical deduction is un- 

 able to fill. Frankly stated, we have here to deal with 

 facts almost as difficult to seize mentally as the idea of a 

 soul. And if you are content to make your *'sour* a po- 

 etic rendering of a phenomenon which refuses the yoke of 

 ordinary physical laws, I, for one, would not object to this 

 exercise of ideality. Amid all our speculative uncer- 

 tainty, however, there is one practical point as clear as 

 the day; namely, that the brightness and the usefulness 

 of life, as well as its darkness and disaster, depend to a 

 great extent upon our own use or abuse of this miraculous 

 organ. 



Accustomed as I am to harsh language, I am quite 

 prepared to hear my ** poetic rendering'* branded as a 

 **falsehood" and a *'fib." The vituperation is unmerited, 

 for poetry or ideality, and untruth are assuredly very dif- 



