77/ K /;/:/. h:\sr A IUUIKHS. 405 



. -lusion: ami it certainly would be interesting, if n<>t 

 us all, in hear what he would or could urge 

 in opposition to th- . iij "f t ne bishop. Asa bi 



discussion of the point will enable us to see the hearings 

 I' an important <piestioii. 1 will here permit a disciple of 

 Lucretius to try the stivn-th of the bishop's position. Hinl J- 

 then allow the bi>hop to retaliate, with the view of rolli ' 

 back, if lie can, the difficulty upon Lucretius. 



The argument might proceed in this fashion: 



" Suhjccti-il to tbe test of mental presentation i 

 ///////). your views, most honored prelate, would otTer to 

 many minds a irivat. if not an insuperable diHieulty. You 



ik of living powers/ ' percipient <>r p : 

 powers.' and 'ourselves;' but can you form a mental 

 picture of any of these, apart from the organism through 

 which it is supposed to act? Test yourself hoiiotlv, and 

 see whether you possess any faculty that would enable you 

 to form such a conception. " The true self has a local habi- 

 tation in each of us; thus localized, must it not possess a 

 form? If so, what form? Have you ever for a moment 

 reali/ed it? When a leg is amputated the body is divided 

 into two part<: is the true self in both of them or in one? 

 Thomas Aquinas might say in both; but not you, for you 

 appeal to the consciousness associated with one of the two 

 parts, to prove that the other is foreign matter. Is con- 

 l/ sciousness, then, a necessary element of the true self? If 

 so, what do you say to the case of the whole body being 

 deprived of consciousness? If not, then on what grounds 

 do you deny any portion of the true self to the severed 

 limb? It seems very singular that, from the beginning to 

 the end of your admirable book (and no one admires its 

 sober strength more than I do), you never once mention 

 the brain or nervous system. You'begin at one end of the 

 bod;, and show that its parts may be removed without 

 pi'-jndice to the perceivini: power. What if you begin at 

 the other end. and remove, instead of the leg, the brain? 

 The body, as before, is divided into two part-: i>ut both 

 are now in the same predicament, and neither can he 

 appealed to to prove that the other is foreign matter. Or. 



;oad of going so far as to remove the brain ir-.-.f. let a 

 tin portion of its bony covering be remove i, and let a 

 rhythmic series of pressures and relaxations of pressure be 

 to tii> soft substance. At every pressure ' the 



