310 THE REIGN OF LAW 



the Reign of Law — that is, its dependence on the 

 Body, prepares us for yet other senses in which 

 it lies under the same dominion. The very fact 

 that the Mind is itself unconscious of its depend- 

 ence upon Matter, and of the manner and con- 

 ditions of its connexion with " organs," teaches 

 us that there is a large class of phenomena con- 

 nected with Mind of which we should be entirely 

 ignorant if we trusted to the direct evidence of 

 Consciousness alone. This ought not to inspire us 

 with any distrust of Consciousness in those matters 

 in which it is a competent and indeed the only 

 witness. But there is a large class of phenomena 

 of which Consciousness properly so called, that is 

 the direct perception of the Mind of its own present 

 workings, does not inform us. The Mind looking 

 in upon itself sees itself only, and does not see 

 either the mechanism through which it is able to 

 work at all, nor many of the forces which operate 

 in it and upon it. These, some of them at least, 

 can only be arrived at by the same processes of 

 reasoning and observation which we apply to the 

 external world, and by which we ascertain the 

 action and reaction of involuntary agents. 



