MIND IS FUNCTION 173 



Psychological life begins with living protoplasm. 

 The pseudopodia, therefore, have mind, although there 

 is no trace of differentiated nerve structure. In this 

 sense, mind is coextensive with life. Haeckel says it is 

 not confined even to the organic. The original 

 atoms, that make up the entire inorganic, as well as 

 organic nature, themselves have the function of motion, 

 attraction, and repulsion. To the extent, that these 

 atoms respond to their environment, they have minds, 

 and knowledge. In short, all such responsiveness, 

 whether we call it attraction of gravitation, chemical 

 affinity, molecular motion, or physical phenomena, is, 

 in one sense, simply mind in different forms. This is 

 the doctrine of continuity of consciousness. The de- 

 gree, or intensity of it, depends upon the complexity of 

 the aggregation of atoms producing the responsive 

 motion. The atoms composing oxygen, when they 

 leave their combination with hydrogen, and rush to 

 embrace the atoms composing potassium, so impetu- 

 ously as to produce fire, on the surface of water, is not 

 a conscious process, in our conception of human con- 

 sciousness, but the result, the phenomenon of incan- 

 descence, and the formation of a new compound, differ- 

 ent from either of its constituent elements, is clearly 

 as wonderful, and as important, as the movement of 

 similar atoms in the human brain, that result in only 

 muscular motion, or what is called "will power." The 

 two processes do not differ, in being the interaction 

 of matter and motion ; and that is all we can perceive 

 mind to be. In only a less degree also, these chemical 

 phenomena in the inorganic world, have their subjec- 

 tive, and objective phases. If there did not exist, in 

 the inorganic world, these chemical responses to the 

 requirements of the cosmic movement, chaos would 



