Then, too, we know that Life is not characterised by consciousness. This is clearly evident in the cases of seeds and eggs which are most assuredly composed of living matter. But it is also just as obvious in fully matured human beings if careful consideration be given to all the facts involved. A man’s bones, for example, are endowed with life; but no one suggests or contends that they are characterised by consciousness. The same thing is true of his hair, his nails, his flesh, his blood. His eyes and ears and other organs of sense are mere receiving and transmitting apparatus, and are not in themselves conscious. Hence by far the greater part of the life that enters into the composition of a living human being is devoid of consciousness. And when the brain is taken into account the situation is not changed. Cerebral matter is, like the sensory mechanism, a mere piece of apparatus, a gramophone, as it were, which, in a certain sense of the words, may be said to hear and to speak, but which has not any inner consciousness of what goes on. This view, which no man of science will contest, and which is a tenet of modern natural philosophy, is established by the everyday experience of every man. Not only does he know that his bones, hair, blood, etc., are not conscious entities, though they are full of life; he also knows that he remains as alive as ever during his sleep, which is frequently dreamless and free from all indications of consciousness. He knows that chloroform and other anæsthetics are constantly employed on thousands of occasions with resulting insensibility and unconsciousness, but with no difference in the life that animates the bodies of the persons operated upon. He knows that a man may be stunned by a severe blow on the head and may become, for the time being, bereft of consciousness while still retaining his full vitality. The truth of the matter, in fact, is so plain as not to be open to any serious discussion, even though, as is the case with every doctrine under the sun, it may in appearance be argued about in words and phrases that are ingeniously diverted from their normal meanings.