The Evohition of Mind. 223 



To break up consciousness into units, we must deal 

 with the object of consciousness, not with conscious- 

 ness itself not with the knowing that I feel, but with 

 the thing felt. But to make this the principle oft 

 discrimination is to seek, not the unit of consciousness, 

 but the primary object in experience. We are no 

 nearer the unit of consciousness by the process. We 

 cannot go back and find what is the first object of 

 consciousness; and if we could, we should not have 

 laid a firm foundation for the superstructure of in- 

 telligence. Mind is best studied in its highest and 

 most perfect state; not in the dim beginnings of 

 cognition in undeveloped childhood. But another 

 difficulty presents itself. Given the unit, it must be 

 multiplied and compounded either as an act of con- 

 sciousness or as an object of consciousness. It cannot 

 be dealt with in this fashion as an act of conscious- 

 ness ; for consciousness is simple and remains simple. 

 Throughout all complex intellectual operations, it re- 

 mains one and unchanged. The boy who feels the 

 rod knows that he feels ; the boy who works out an 

 abstruse problem knows that he reasons. The con- 

 sciousness viewed simply as consciousness is the same. 

 Taken as the object of consciousness the unit cannot 

 be built up into the structure of developed intelli- 

 gence. There is no one object of consciousness : 

 experience is manifold : the objects revealed in ex- 

 perience are endlessly varied ; and unless there be one 

 thing the sole constituent of all things, no process of 



