LOTZE ON THE UNION OF SOUL AND BODY. 183 



absolutely inscrutable. That would be Herbert 

 Spencer's Nescience. Lotze assumes that matter 

 and spirit have a common origin, and at the last 

 analysis a common substratum. Matter to Lotze is 

 visible force. In his view, it has all the ordinary 

 qualities which we attribute to matter. It cannot 

 move itself. Inertia is one of its inherent properties. 

 Faraday was right when he said that inertia proba- 

 bly is the only true characteristic of matter. But, 

 at the bottom of all matter, Lotze finds the absolute 

 substance from which every thing in the universe 

 proceeds. All things finite were created. From 

 what? From nothing? No. Is matter an efflu- 

 ence of the Divine Mind ? In one sense, yes : in 

 one sense, no. God is not like matter, but matter is 

 a product of the omnipotent will. The Divine Omni- 

 presence transcends infinitely all matter and finite 

 mind, but is immanent in both everywhere. Natural 

 law is only the method of action of the will of Him 

 who was, and is, and is to come. This is true of the 

 laws of matter as well as of those of mind. There- 

 fore his will underlies the laws of matter, inertia, 

 chemical attraction, cohesion, magnetic affinity, 

 as surely as it underlies the laws of the soul. He has 

 given a substance to the soul : he has given a sub- 

 stance to matter. The two substances, we say, are 

 utterly unlike. There is one thing in which they 

 are common : they had the same origin. [Applause.] 

 If, therefore, as one of the propositions I have put 

 before you declares, we are to explain how matter 

 can have an influence on mind, and mind have an 



