THOUGHT A FUNCTION OF MATTER. 235 



belongs to the properties, not the forces, of matter, if 

 to matter at all, and is equally out of the province of 

 d priori investigation with the qualities of the sether 

 and the atoms which must be postulated as the neces- 

 sary foundations of all scientific inquiry. Already, on 

 certain simple hypotheses of the aether and atoms, an 

 intelligible theory of the whole physical world is being 

 built up, and glimpses are seen of similar explanations 

 of chemical action. The vital and mental modes of 

 being of matter are not yet intelligible on any 

 hypothesis of the nature of the atoms, but we have 

 the same grounds of experience for putting them into 

 the category material as we have for the chemical 

 functions of atoms. 



If experience so teaches, we must postulate that the 

 Almighty created matter and force so constituted that 

 by their reaction they were capable of producing the 

 whole phenomena, not only of physics, chemistry, and 

 life, but even of mind ; and if He pleased so to do, who 

 shall gainsay Him ? It is for us to investigate and 

 understand His works, as far as our faculties enable 

 us, and not to criticize or place limits to His power. 

 The arguments that the brain is not merely the sub- 

 stratum whereon some unknown entity may rest, have 

 been reviewed again lately by Claude Bernard, who 

 concludes almost in the words of Cabanis : " The brain 

 is the organ of the mind in the same sense as the heart 

 is the organ of the circulation, or the larynx is the 

 organ of the voice" (385).* At the same time, he 

 makes no pretension to understand how it acts in 

 thought and consciousness. It is needless to recapitu- 

 late these arguments, as they are accessible through 



* "Revue des Deux Mondes," Mare, 1872. 



