[76] Bouillier, into whose excellent “History of the Cartesian Philosophy” I had not looked when this passage was written, says, very justly, that Descartes “a merite le titre de pere de la physique, aussi bien que celui de pere de la metaphysique moderne” (t. i. p. 197).  See also Kuno Fischer’s “Geschichte der neuen Philosophie,” Bd. i.; and the very remarkable work of Lange, “Geschichte des Materialismus.”—­A good translation of the latter would be a great service to philosophy in England.

[77] For all the qualifications which need to be made here, I refer the reader to the thorough discussion of the nature of the relation between nerve-action and consciousness in Mr. Herbert Spencer’s “Principles of Psychology,” p. 115 et seq.

[78]
         “And this is she who’s put on cross so much,
         Even by them who ought to give her praise,
         Giving her wrongly ill repute and blame. 
         But she is blessed, and she hears not this: 
         She, with the other primal creatures, glad
         Revolves her sphere, and blessed joys herself.”

Inferno, vii. 90-95 (W.M.  Rossetti’s Translation).