CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE WILL 65 



generally admitted, either tacitly or openly, that the 

 psychical side of life is beyond the possible applica- 

 tion of the methods of physics and chemistry ? 

 a conclusion seemingly equivalent to the admission 

 that there exists a non-material reality. Physiolo- 

 gists have shunned this supremely difficult problem, 

 leaving it too largely in the care of metaphysicians 

 and narrowly specialized psychologists. The true 

 note was struck on this subject when the compara- 

 tive anatomist Minot said that " Consciousness 

 ought to be regarded as a biological phenomenon 

 which the biologist ought to investigate in order to 

 increase the number of verifiable data concerning 

 it." Something of value would doubtless be won by 

 carrying the comparative method into the psycho- 

 logical study of all types of life, but an even more 

 promising way would seem to lie in neuropathology, 

 which gives us hope that consciousness may be 

 definitely connected with changes in the structure 

 and properties of the nerve elements. But it is 

 unlikely that narrow specialism will force the ad- 

 vances in this most subtle field of research. Rather 

 must we look to the united labors of the chemist, 

 the physicist, the pathologist, the psychologist, and 

 the physiologist to penetrate this land of mystery 

 in the hope of showing it to belong in the same 

 category with the better-known territories of science. 

 Let us first state the problem so as to exhibit its 

 main difficulties. A physical influence of some kind 

 (as a touch on the skin), easily within reach of the 



