514 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



that the same kind of uniformity in the sequence and in the 

 concomitance of events occurs in the autic universe as that with 

 which we are familiar in the world of phenomenal objects. Of 

 this, as a matter of fact, we have clear evidence, since the orderly 

 sequence which we observe to prevail among the varying shadows, 

 that is, in the changes that take place in phenomenal nature, 

 necessarily implies that the real events of the autic universe which 

 east these shadows succeed one another in accordance with laws 

 as regular as those of nature, and which might be ascertained 

 like them if it were within our power to observe the past. But it 

 is one thing to be familiar with facts, and it is another thing 

 to contemplate them under that aspect which most justifies us in 

 using the past as our guide in judging what the future icill be. 

 From this point of view it is really a less assumption to regard 

 a change that has occurred in the autic universe as having come 

 about because it was caused, than to suppose that it merely arose ; 

 and the divergence of the two assumptions becomes greater, if 

 instead of a single event, an orderly sequence of events is contem- 

 plated. The subject of causation, however, requires so much 

 fuller treatment than can be given to it here, that I hope to devote 

 a separate essay to it. 



We have found that whenever a change takes place in Nature, 

 it is because a change has occurred in the autic universe — in 

 other words, every change in Nature has as its antitheton some 

 event which has happened in the autic universe. So much seems 

 certain ; but is the converse true ? Is every event in the autic 

 universe shadowed ? Does every change which takes place in the 

 autic universe involve a change in Nature ? To this question we 

 shall find that probably an affirmative answer is to be given. For 



1°. The labours of physiologists lead to the conclusion that no 

 thought becomes a part of the mind of any animal without being 

 accompanied by some change in its brain, using the word brain 

 here to mean, not the onto-brain, but the objective brain, which is a 

 part of Nature. These objective changes are motions of some 

 kind. Hence, here are cases in which the autic antitheta of 

 certain motions are thoughts. 1 



1 This relation is often so stated as to imply that the change in the brain is in 

 some way the cause of the thought. This is to mistake the weathercock for the 



