f |
| escaping from its conclusions is, by either disproving the |
| fundamental Propositions, or by detecting fallacies in the |
| subsequent reasoning. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

Those organic compounds of which organized beings are built up, consist,
as is well known, of matter of an extreme complexity. and great
instability; whence result the changes of form to which it is
continually subject. This view enables us to comprehend the
_possibility_, of the phenomena of vegetative life being due to an
almost infinite complexity of molecular combinations, subject to
definite changes under the stimuli of heat, moisture, light,
electricity, and probably some unknown forces. But this greater and
greater complexity, even if carried to an infinite extent, cannot, of
itself, have the slightest tendency to originate consciousness in such
molecules or groups of molecules. If a material element, or a
combination of a thousand material elements in a molecule, are alike
unconscious, it is impossible for us to believe, that the mere addition
of one, two, or a thousand other material elements to form a more
complex molecule, could in any way tend to produce a self-conscious
existence. The things are radically distinct. To say that mind is a
product or function of protoplasm, or of its molecular changes, is to
use words to which we can attach no clear conception. You cannot have,
in the whole, what does not exist in any of the parts; and those who
argue thus should put forth a definite conception of matter, with
clearly enunciated properties, and show, that the necessary result of a
certain complex arrangement of the elements or atoms of that matter,
will be the production of self-consciousness. There is no escape from
this dilemma,--either all matter is conscious, or consciousness is
something distinct from matter, and in the latter case, its presence in
material forms is a proof of the existence of conscious beings, outside
of, and independent of, what we term matter. (_Note B._)

_Matter is Force._--The foregoing considerations lead us to the very
important conclusion, that matter is essentially force, and nothing but
force; that matter, as popularly understood, does not exist, and is, in
fact, philosophically inconceivable. When we touch matter, we only
really experience sensations of resistance, implying repulsive force;
and no other se