Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 9.djvu/320

 306 SOPHIA BRYANT : in so far as the question may be raised : Does their occur- rence in the organ of consciousness prevent the occurrence of some mental event? Clearly this is but part of the more general question which claims our attention as preliminary to all others. Is it a property in the reaction of an organ of consciousness that its quantity is divisible between the conscious and the unconscious effect, so that the more splutter the less mind and vice versa. This question reaches far. If we answer it in the affirma- tive, we imply that on the occurrence of consciousness a quantity of physical energy actually disappears from the physiological circulation, taking on ;some special form, the physical correlate of consciousness, in the evolution of which the principle of the transformation and conservation of energy is exemplified. The organ of consciousness, as such, effects this transformation, and the sum of ordinary physiological energies which stimulate the organ are, in part or whole, transmuted by it into a new physical energy which manifests itself in consciousness. If this be so, then consciousness is practically (though without detriment to the continuity of the laws of material energy) an absorbent of physical energy in the ordinary senses : it uses up the energy which even in a conscious organism might be otherwise employed. 1 It is well to realise the magnitude of the question : thus, we get a clearer view of the generality attaching to the answer. If it is ever true that consciousness uses up energy, it is always true, notwithstanding appearances to the con- trary in the vicissitudes of a very complex being. The explanation of such appearances forms however a topic in itself. Is there then any evidence to show that on the occurrence of a mental event increase of consciousness per se has the direct effect of diminishing either outgoing or interorganic activity, or both ? To take the simpler case first, are the mus- cular manifestations reduced as the consciousness deepens ? At least there are many indications that this may be so. Absolute quiescence is favourable to intense thought, and more obviously to intense feeling. Concentration of mind brings on a stillness in all the muscles, which is broken only 1 It should, of course, be remembered that equality is not to be expected between the external stimulus and the sum of physical and psycho- physical energies evoked. The organism as organised stands in fact for so much potential energy, and it recruits its stores by nutriment from the environment. The chief function of the stimulus is to let loose this potential energy : it is an agent for the conversion of the potential into the actual.