46 DR. HILL, PROM REFLEX ACTION TO VOLITION. 



separate mental faculties ; but we have reason to think, 

 although we have not yet succeeded in accouoting for a small 

 portion of the front of the brain, that the whole of the cortex 

 is occupied in the reception and elaboration of sensations. 



This brings us a step nearer to understanding the mode of 

 working of the brain. The network of which it consists 

 belongs to the several senses. The kind of work which it 

 does must depend upon the amount of territory in which 

 each sense is represented. 



Hitherto we have described the organism as if it were 

 simply a machine for transforming external force into 

 movement. Our actions, our thoughts, our characters 

 are the products of certain forces transmitted, some at 

 once, and others after lying latent, through a network which 

 happens to have a certain inherited form modified by the 

 circumstances in which our lots are cast. Thus is un- 

 doubtedly formed the substratum of mental action, the 

 machine with which the mind works. But there is a danger 

 of dwelling upon this aspect of the problem to the exclusion 

 of other phenomena which are equally demonstrable, but 

 which can only be studied by different methods of research. 

 To be perfectly candid I must admit that it was from this 

 other side that I wished especially to treat the subject in this 

 paper, but I found that even a hasty statement of the data 

 with which I wished to work, required all the time which I 

 could demand, and more than I ought to ask, of your patience. 

 I must be content with indicating in a few sentences the 

 lines along which my own thought travels in attempting to 

 reach from these data conclusions with regard to the 

 subjects which must ever carry the greatest human 

 interest. 



In the description of the principles of construction of the 

 thought-producing apparatus which I have submitted to you, 

 I have carefully avoided the use of any term which implies a 

 knowledge of the processes which go on within ourselves. I 

 have spoken of reflex action, of memory, but not of conscious- 

 ness. Consciousness is a by-phenomenon which accompanies 

 the reception and transmission of sensory impressions. It 

 cannot be imagined as preceding sensation, it accompanies 

 it. In the evolution of the animal kingdom, it makes its 

 appearance at some point which we can never determine, for 

 we can only judge of its existence in animals by its effects. 

 It cannot be defined, for we can only express it in terms of 

 itself, or in descriptions of the circumstances under which it 



