CHAPTER VII 



CONSCIOUSNESS 



IN Consciousness and Will in the faculties of 

 appreciating the points of a question and of 

 deciding upon them Life displays its supremest 

 manifestations. In shaping his behaviour, man 

 has left the instinctive automatism of the insects 

 far behind him. Instinct holds his hand, but is 

 blindfolded, urging rather than guiding him. 

 Habits may cling round him ; but they are of his 

 own making. For the rest he is free. It is pos- 

 sible to imagine a machine that would illustrate 

 the working of directive instinct, of sensation and 

 reaction even of reasoning inference. But no 

 mechanism can be imagined that could develop 

 consciousness, that could become aware of itself, 

 or that could spontaneously decide upon the 

 movements of its wheels. 



The meaning of consciousness has been obscured 

 by the theories that have grown up around it. 

 We may translate it simply by the term " aware- 

 ness." In Chapter III we have found some reason 

 for believing that a nerve-cell not only receives 

 an impression and develops a muscular reaction 

 in response, but feels, or becomes aware, of what 

 has passed. The feelings of nerve-cells are no 

 doubt of the vaguest, most shadowy character. 

 But when concentrated in the nerve ganglia they 

 take more substance and definition, and produce 



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