Scientific Sophisms. 285 



something as a condition of the course of events "/ 

 and that this " can be verified experimentally as 

 often as we like to try." l This machine which 

 is not mechanical ; this automaton with a will 

 of its own ; this creature whose actions are at 

 once automatic and autonomic ; this " automa- 

 ton endowed with free-will," is a novel inven- 

 tion quite worthy of Mr. Huxley's ingenuity. 

 But whence did it derive the faculties with 

 which he says it is endowed ? 



It is " conscious," he tells us. And its 

 " volition counts for something." What then is 

 Volition ? and whence ? And what is Con- 

 sciousness ? 



" Can you satisfy the human understanding 

 in its- demand for logical continuity between 

 molecular processes and the phenomena of 

 consciousness ? " It is Professor Tyndall who 

 asks this question, and his answer to it is 

 this : 



"This is a rock on which materialism must 

 inevitably split whenever it pretends to be a 

 complete philosophy of life." 2 



And with the candid and elegant Lucretian, 

 Professor Huxley notwithstanding his material- 

 istic declaration of faith in molecular machinery 



1 " Lay Sermons," p. 145. 

 * Belfast Address. 



