The Evolution of Mind. 237 



ness of those likenesses and differences that group all 

 manifestations into the two great divisions the ego 

 and the non-ego. But is this a valid distinction ? 

 Can there be a consciousness without consciousness of 

 self ? Let Sir W. Hamilton answer : " I know, I feel,. 

 I desire, etc. What is it that is necessarily involved 

 in all these ? It requires only to be stated to be 

 admitted, that when I know, I must know that I 

 know, when I feel, I must know that I feel, when 

 I desire, I must know that I desire. The knowledge,, 

 the feeling, the desire, are possible only under the 

 condition of being known, and being known by me. 

 For if I did not know that I knew, I would not know. 

 Now this knowledge, which I, the subject, have of 

 these modifications of my being, and through which 

 knowledge alone these modifications are possible, is 

 what we call consciousness. The expressions / know 

 that I know, I know that I feel, / know that I desire, 

 are thus trranslated by, / am conscious that I know, 

 I am conscious that 1 feel, I am conscious that 

 I desire. 



" Consciousness is thus, on the one hand, the recogni- 

 tion by the mind or ego of its acts and affections ; in 

 other words, the self-affirmation that certain modifica- 

 tions are known by me and that these modifications- 

 are mine Though the simplest act of mind, con- 

 sciousness thus expresses a relation subsisting between 

 two terms. These terms are, on the one hand, an I or 

 Self, as the subject of a certain modification, and on 



