IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 195 



possible to conceive of them as being on the plane of sense 

 experience pure and simple. I, on the other hand, in contem- 

 plating the same apparently rational activities, assume that 

 they are rational until it is proved that they are not. 



The second point on which it appears to me that Professor 

 Morgan is mistaken is in his treatment of the perception of 

 relations. His conclusion that the lower anhnals are unable to 

 perceive relations appears somewhat arbitrary, and open to 

 several objections, the first of which is a thoroughly theoreti- 

 cal one, and may or may not be of weight, although perhaps 

 not unworthy of consideration. Mr. Morgan adopts the wave 

 theory of consciousness for both man and brutes. He admits 

 that the relation is present in the mind of the animal, but says 

 that it is always marginal, never focal. Now, we knov\^, or 

 perhaps it would be better to say that I think I know, that any- 

 thing that is marginal in human consciousness may become 

 focal. For instance, as I stand before this audience a certain 

 individual becomes focal in my consciousness. My attention is 

 fixed on him; all of the other persons in the room may be 

 regarded as marginal. Now any of these latter may become 

 focal. In other words, I can fix my attention upon any of the 

 things that are marginal or of which I am sub-consciously 

 aware. An opposite state of affairs seems to be the case in 

 dreams. In these we appear to have no control whatever over 

 the wave of consciousness, and the most incongruous impres- 

 sions result. It appears, moreover, that in the dreaming state 

 the incongruity of the most absurd relations does not strike or 

 impress the coriscioasae-isin the least Perhaps I should not 

 deal with this subject at all, not having studied it sufftciently, 

 but it appears to me that we have in the dream state an example 

 in which the perception of relations is at least reduced to a 

 minimum; in dreams we never, so far as I know, focus the "how" 

 and "why." Moreover, if my own experience be a guide, 

 dreams are in a marked degree irrational and incoherent. 

 There is no consecutiveness of purpose. A waking man acting 

 as he would in a dream would at once be judged as insane. It 

 may be remarked in passing that there is almost as marked a 

 difference between a sane and insane animal as there is between 

 a sane and insane man. 



To return from our digression, man can render focal to con- 

 siousness anything that is marginal in consciousness. The ques- 

 tion then arises, can the other mammalia do the same thing? 



