INTRODUCTION 23 



as inconsistent minds ascribe to it. It raises no 

 obstacle whatsoever to Ethical or Religious thought ; 

 " For we are but parts of one stupendous whole," so 

 that Consciousness, feeling, life itself thus appear as 

 an attribute of matter varying only in degree. The 

 physicist strictly speaking need not concern himself 

 with this, but the Natural philosopher should and 

 must. He is bound to study Nature as a whole 

 and therefore cannot fail to observe that sensibility 

 and life are as much properties of Matter as motion 

 and force. And this he may discourse upon without 

 being in the least sense metaphysical. 



Of the ultimate nature of force and of motion it 

 is not our intention here to speak, other than to note 

 that to dwell upon them would be quite beyond our 

 scope. In the closing chapters we shall venture to 

 pass some remarks on the idealistic interpretation of 

 Matter, an interpretation which appears to be the 

 true one ; we are, however, met by no contradic- 

 tion, because though admitting as we do that Mind 

 is a property of Matter in its higher and more com- 

 plex states, the atoms of which Matter is composed 

 are perceptions and therefore not merely elements 

 of mind-stuff, but, strictly speaking, nothing else 

 but Mind. We shall defer this question for 

 the present until other matters far simpler are 

 discussed. 



The discussion of this subject, however, and its 

 investigation from various points of view will 

 always be a most fascinating occupation. We can 

 claim for this work to have re-opened the subject 



