104 HUXLEY MEMORIAL LECTURES 



matter ; or, at least, such is just the way we repre- 

 sent matter when we wish to oppose it to 

 consciousness. Leibnitz defined matter that is 

 to say, what is not consciousness by calling it a 

 momentary mind, an instantaneous consciousness. 

 And, in fact, an instantaneous consciousness is 

 just what we call unconsciousness. All conscious- 

 ness, then, is memory; all consciousness is a 

 preservation and accumulation of the past in the 

 present. 



But, on the other hand, all consciousness is an 

 anticipation of the future. Analyse your mental 

 state when you hear someone speaking : you are 

 intent on what is being said, but also on what is 

 coming; and even the present only interests you 

 in so far as it will profit the immediate future. 

 We are essentially drawn and, as it were, inclined 

 towards the future, because we are creatures of 

 action, and every action is like a leap into the 

 future into the next moment. 



So that to remember the immediate past and to 

 anticipate the immediate future is the most strik- 

 ing function of consciousness. Indeed, what we 

 call the present instant is something that hardly 

 exists except in theory, for it has already ceased 

 to exist when it attracts our attention. Try to 

 'catch the present instant, it has already gone, it 

 is already far away. Practically, what we call 

 our present is something that has a certain length 

 or breadth of duration, and is composed of two 

 halves, one being our immediate past, the other 



