OF THE SOUL. 259 



Miiller and E. H. Weber, had through physiological 43. 



Influence o( 



inquiries approached the phenomenon of consciousness physiology. 

 in the highest forms of organic life. Single phenomena 

 of conscious life, notably those referring to the organs 

 or processes of sensation, had been subjected to minute 

 observation, measurement, and experimentation ; the 

 question presented itself, What position has the phy- 

 siologist to take up to the problems of the inner life ? 

 As already stated in the earlier part of this chapter, 

 this serious and fundamental question was taken up 

 by the editor and the writers of that important dic- 

 tionary of physiology which began to be published in 

 1842. The editor was a celebrated professor of physi- 

 ology at Gottingen, Rudolf Wagner. Among the con- 

 tributors was his colleague, the successor to Herbart in 

 the chair of philosophy, Hermann Lotze. The position 

 which the former took up was essentially dualistic : soul 

 and body were two substantial principles, the relation 

 of which was not clearly defined or definable ; both 

 principles, however, worked together in producing the 

 higher life of organised beings. To a dualism in this 

 form Lotze objected, inasmuch as he maintained that 

 for the student of nature all observable processes within 

 the organism came under the rule of a definite and all- 

 pervading mechanism. Vital forces were not to be intro- 

 duced into the study of nature, and, if they existed, they 

 would be of no use to the physiologist, who has to look 

 merely for such mechanical, physical, and chemical pro- 

 cesses as can be explained by resorting to such laws 

 and agencies as are laid down in the sciences of 

 mechanics, physics, and chemistry. Nevertheless Lotze 



