220 UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION 



ness." James says that consciousness, as a metaphysical 

 thing, does not exist. Calkins says, " it is a self, conscious 

 of itself." This is saying it is a metaphysical thing. 

 Others say, it is a relation of objects. It seems certain 

 that in the correspondence between the organism and its 

 environment, or between the brain centers and the object, 

 the only thing presented to the brain is the object. This 

 is done by an image. The subject is not in the conscious- 

 ness, to the perceiver of an external object, that is, 

 while the attention is directed to an object outside the 

 psychical device. Whether that object is a tree, or an 

 idea, or a problem, or the effects of the thinking pro- 

 cess, the fact, as it is represented to the brain, is the 

 only conscious thing. It may be an hallucination, and 

 not true; the brain "sees" it however as a true object. 

 The brain may see it as an hallucination a moment 

 after. But the hallucination, followed by its being per- 

 ceived, as such, are both real to consciousness, the one 

 is just as true an object as the other. Hallucinations 

 are images, as if they were true. 



Other definitions of consciousness are : ' ' Conscious- 

 ness is that, by which an object perceived, differs in that 

 regard, from an object not perceived." 



"Consciousness is the virtual, or potential presence of 

 an object at a place, or time, in which it is not actually 

 present." The same object can be perceived by several 

 persons at the same time, or several objects can be per- 

 ceived at one time, by the same person. But it seems, 

 that when the energy which carries the object to the 

 perception, produces the consciousness, a certain time 

 has passed, and the object as perceived, is not in the 

 same place, nor time, as it actually is. So that it is 

 better to state, that consciousness is a perception, by 

 the brain, through the senses, of an object entirely made 



