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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
"(4) The fourth stage is characterised by the centralisation or integration of the nervous system, and, consequently, of sensation; by the association of the previously isolated or localised sensations, presentations arise, though they still remain unconscious. That is the condition of many, both of the lower and the higher animals.
"(5) Finally, at the fifth stage, the highest psychic function, conscious perception, is developed by the mirroring of the sensations. in a central part of the nervous system, as we find in man and the higher vertebrates and probably in some of the higher invertebrates, notably in the articulata,"
This, no doubt, seems very learned, but if one reflects on the theory its defects become clear. It does not, for one thing, explain the faculty of perception itself. The eye is not the same thing as vision, nor is the organ the same as function. Besides, vision is a simple act, but none the less it involves several centres behind the eye in its performance. Unless all these centres develop internally and externally at the same time, vision would be impossible. Morever, if the organ be the cause of the function, we ought to be aware of its exercise at all times. Constantly ought the ear to hear, the nose to smell, the eye to see, and so forth. But that this does not happen always, even in waking moments, is only too well-known. In sleep the functions of sense organs are suspended even more completely. The mechanical explanation, therefore, falls short of explaining the psychic faculties.
The development of identical complex organs, such as the eye, on different and divergent 'lines of evolution,' points to an internal impetus being the real cause of variation. This impetus resides in the soul, as will be proved fully a little later. According to Bergson, Life is a flux which, at a certain point of its progress into
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