Mental Evolution. 469 



becomes at last self-conscious, is a pure assumption. The 

 idealistic view, that the world of phenomena has no 

 existence save as a fiction of my own mind, is, once more, 

 a pure assumption. It is not a question of making or of 

 not making an initial assumption ; tliat we must do in any 

 case. The question is — Which assumption yields the most 

 consistent and harmonious results ? 



Again, an answer will, no doubt, be demanded by some 

 people to the question — Hoiv does that which, objectively 

 considered, is neurosis become subjectively felt as psychosis ? 

 Is not the identification of neurosis and psychosis a begging 

 of the question, unless the hoiv, the modus operandi, is ex- 

 plained ? If, in the latter query, by '' begging the question" 

 the adoption of an initial assumption is meant, I have 

 already answered it in the affirmative. To the direct 

 question — How does the objective neurosis become conscious 

 as a subjective psychosis ?■ — while freely admitting that I do 

 not know, I enter the protest that it is philosophically an 

 illegitimate question ; for an answer is impossible without 

 transcending consciousness. An illustration will, perhaps, 

 make my meaning clear. Suppose that a sentient being 

 be enclosed within a sphere of opaque but translucent 

 ground glass, into the substance of which there are wrought 

 certain characters. Suppose that external to this there is 

 another similar but larger sphere, similarly inscribed, and 

 that a second sentient being is enclosed in the space between 

 the two spheres. By an attentive study of the two spheres, 

 this second sentient being arrives at the conclusion that 

 the markings on the convex surface of the inner sphere 

 answer to the markings on the concave surface of the outer 

 sphere ; and he is led to the conviction that what he sees 

 as markings on the convex, the being within the sphere 

 sees as markings on the concave. He is, however, perplexed 

 by the question — How can this be ? He is acquainted with 

 a certain inner surface and a certain outer surface. He is 

 led to correlate the markings of the one with the markings 

 of the other. But the question how the two can have such 

 different aspects is beyond his solution. Puzzle as he 



