2 1 6 The Evolution Hypothesis. 



form parts of one unbroken stream of change ; and a 

 philosophy on the basis of evolution is impossible. 



SECTION II. 

 IN WHAT DOES CONSCIOUSNESS INHERE? 



Granting for the moment that consciousness is not 

 existent in any knowable mode until a wave of 

 molecular motion thrills through a nerve centre, and 

 that it is then startled into being in the form of a 

 nerve-shock, we ask, In what did consciousness lie hid 

 up to that moment ? and where is it concealed till it 

 reappears when the nerve-pulse throbs again ? It 

 was not latent in the matter of which the organism 

 is composed ; for Mr. Spencer very strongly repudiates 

 the charge of being a materialist: nor can we go 

 behind the matter to the force which is manifested 

 in it to find consciousness there ; for the portion of 

 matter is a fixed quantum of manifested force, no 

 part of which can be transformed into a new mode 

 called feeling. Under the guidance of Mr. Spencer 

 we have recourse to the unseen to look for that in 

 which consciousness inheres ; it lies hid in the un- 

 knowable actuality. But then the question arises, 

 What relation does that actuality bear to the organ- 

 ism and its activities? Let us try to see the fact 

 quite clearly. A wave of molecular motion passes 



