at is to
say, for aught that we can know, Force and Matter may be anything within
the whole range of the possible; and the only limitation that can be
assigned to them is, that they are modes of existence which are independent
of, or objective to, our individual consciousness, but which are uniformly
translated into consciousness as Force and Matter. Now it does not signify
one iota for the purposes of Materialism whether these our symbolical
representations of Force and Matter are accurate or inaccurate
representations of their corresponding realities,--unless, of course, some
_independent_ reason could be shown for supposing that in their reality
they resemble Mind. Call Force _x_ and Matter _y_, and so long as we are
agreed that _x_ and _y_ are _objective realities which are uniformly
translated into consciousness as Force and Matter_, the materialistic
deductions remain unaffected by this mere change in our terminology; these
essential facts are allowed to remain substantially as before, namely, that
there is an external something or external somethings--Matter and Force, or
_x_ and _y_--which themselves display no observable tokens of
consciousness, but which are invariably associated with consciousness in a
highly distinctive manner.

I dwell at length upon this subject, because although Mr. Spencer himself
does not appear to attach much weight to his argument, Mr. Fiske, as we
have seen, elevates it into a basis for "Cosmic Theism." Yet so far is this
argument from "ruling out," as Mr. Fiske asserts, the essential doctrine of
Materialism--_i.e._, the doctrine that what we know as Mind is an effect of
certain collocations and distributions of _what we know_ as Matter and
Force--that the argument might be employed with almost the same degree of
effect, or absence of effect, to disprove any instance of recognised
causation. Thus, for example, the doctrine of Materialism is no more "ruled
out" by the reflection that what we cognise as cerebral matter is only
cognised relatively, than would the doctrine of chemical equivalents be
"ruled out" by the parallel reflection that what we cognise as chemical
elements are only cognised relatively. I say advisedly, "with _almost_ the
same degree of effect," because, to be strictly accurate, we ought not
altogether to ignore the indefinitely slender presumption which Mr.
Spencer's subjective test of inconceivability establishes on the side of
Spiritualism, as against the objectiv