Spiritual Evolution of Society 203 



In describing the "Automaton Theory," he states that 

 " man may be defined as a machine for converting 

 chemical energy into motion. ... all actions of men 

 are explicable as purely material and mechanical 

 sequences, without invoking the assistance of mind or 

 consciousness, or anything but matter and energy, 

 working under their ordinary laws. Consciousness 

 appears as an inert accompaniment of material cerebral 

 changes. This is the theory to which Huxley gave the 

 name of epiphenomenalism." With Huxley's definition 

 we have no quarrel : consciousness is something super- 

 added — something above phenomena, and shows that 

 the great scientist's mind comprehended thoughts as 

 not only an inert accompaniment of material cerebral 

 changes. His lucidity of thought and power of logical 

 insight taught him that the plays of Shakespeare and 

 the writings of Carlyle were beyond this material 

 origin. It will take thought far beyond and infinitely 

 greater than the Automaton Theory to explain the 

 power of the imagination. 



We are informed that " the whole of science is built 

 upon materialism, as the whole of chemistry is built 

 on the atomic theory, and the foundation is secure." 

 In reply we have only to say that pure materialism is 

 the negation of science. Stated categorically, material- 

 ism is simply a refusal to recognise such an entity as 

 Thought — the faculty of the Imagination ; not the 

 process of ideation which the mechanist believes repre- 

 sents solely chemical change in the nerve cells of the 

 brain. It is a refusal to recognise such things as history 

 and the ideas moulding it to-day, such as the evolution 

 of liberty, altruism, social amelioration, and the causes 

 of the rise and fall of empires. These are not gross 

 material facts, and must be put aside as of no 

 importance, because they necessitate a belief in the 

 spirit or soul of man, quite apart from the physical 



