268 Transactions of The American Institute. 



times on one side and sometimes on the other, now in the senses and 

 now in the intellect. 



The Superiority of Mind. 

 I urge, in conclusion, that if this view of philosophy is correct, 

 then the mind evidently marks out all fields of inquiry, and assigns 

 to every science its department. It says to natural philosophy, 

 "You may woi-k with the idea of space and the idea of cause." It 

 says to mental philosophy, " You may work under the notion of con- ^ 

 sciousness and with the idea of spontaneity." I also urge, inciden- 

 tally, that it is to mental science that we are to look for the verifica- 

 tion of that action of mind by which the M^iole invisible word is 

 reached. If we can verify the idea of cause and effect, may we not 

 also, for our religious purposes, verify the idea of the infinite and the 

 idea of right ? The physicist must come to us for everything with 

 which to build up the framework of science, and shall we not claim 

 for ourselves the power of grasping at the infinite source of all things? 

 It is pleasant, indeed, by means of the light, to look on the external 

 world, but it is yet more pleasant to resolve the light itself into its 

 first colors. It is pleasant to use the mind m understanding what is 

 about us, but it is yet more pleasant to understand the mind itself, 

 and the powers by which it establishes for itself those permanent 

 hopes, without which all other possessions would be of little avail. 



