CHAP. XIV.] PSYCHOPHYSIK. 453 



mere Objects. Whether the being of such Objects can be 

 maintained or upheld apart from my continuous perception 

 of them is the great question of Metaphysic. 



Though nothing can rise to the dignity even of an 

 Object, except in so far as it is perceived by me, I regard 

 certain Objects as nearer in rank to me, the Subject, than 

 others, because it is through them that other Objects are 

 perceived. Indeed, I often catch myself, when thinking 

 about my body or my mind, supposing that I am thinking 

 about myself. 



There are other objects within the sphere of our percep- 

 tions which resemble our bodies, though they are not ours. 

 The actions of these objects are so far like our own that we 

 not only attribute to these objects the power of thinking, but 

 also the consciousness of knowing, feeling, desiring and 

 willing. In short, we suppose that each of these objects, 

 when he asserts himself to be the Conscious Ego, means 

 what we do when we make a similar statement. 



The late Professor Eerrier, in his " Metaphysic," makes 

 great use of this Alter Ego, and for his own purposes he 

 treats him as a true Ego, whereas in Metaphysic he can 

 never be more than an Object. This, however, is only a 

 confusion of persons, not an actual division of the substance 

 of the Ego. Our business to-night lies in the abysmal 

 depths of Personality, and relates to the Unity of the Ego. 



A great deal of what has been written on this subject 

 relates to the continuity of the Ego in space and time, or in 

 what corresponds in metaphysic to the space and time of 

 physic. And first of Space. Has the Ego anything corre- 

 sponding to Extension ? Has he parts ? and, if so, are these 

 parts separable in fact or even in idea ? 



It has been maintained that he has no parts ; that his 

 state of consciousness at any instant is an inseparable whole, 

 comparable, in respect of extension, to a mathematical point. 

 According to this view, when I think I see an extensive 

 prospect all at once before me, I am in reality either actually 

 rolling my eye in an unconscious frenzy, or without any 

 bodily motion I, that is, the perceptive Ego, am attending 



