264 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



experience, and exists merely in and as thought. 

 If the molecular particles are grey, the greyness is 

 surely in the perceiving mind ; if hard or soft, the 

 hardness or softness is surely in the perceiving 

 mind. And we surely cannot attempt to explain 

 thought merely by a reference to some of its 

 contents. A brain-cell, and all its properties and 

 motions, is simply a part of the consciousness we 

 seek to explain. As Stallo {Concepts of Modern 

 Physics) well puts it : " However much, and in what- 

 ever sense, it may be contended that the intellect 

 and its object are both real and distinct entities, 

 it cannot for a moment be denied that the object 

 of which the intellect has cognisance is a synthesis 

 of objective and subjective elements, and is thus 

 primarily, in the very act of its apprehension and to 

 the full extent of its cognisable existence, affected 

 by the determinations of the cognising faculty." 



From whatever point of view we approach the 

 question we are met with mystery. "We can," 

 says Tyndall, "form a coherent picture of the 

 physical processes — the stirring of the brain, the 

 thrilling of the nerves, the discharging of the 

 muscles, and all the subsequent motions of the 

 organism. But we can present to our minds no 

 picture of the process whereby consciousness 

 emerges, either as a necessary link or as an acci- 

 dental by-product of this series of actions." 



