Implications of the Theories of Nerve Action 203 



simple elements, material or immaterial, are "behind" the 

 reflex, and since the reflex is an indubitable reality, there is 

 no escape from the conclusion that something other than the 

 original inorganic simples must have intervened between 

 these simples and the reflex. And what is that something? 

 Does common experience and common sense hesitate with its 

 answer? If it does its hesitancy is probably from surprise 

 that so obvious a matter should be made the subject of 

 serious questioning. "The dog is what has intervened be- 

 tween the chemical simples and the reflex." That is what 

 common experience must answer and will unhesitatingly 

 answer once it recovers from its surprise at being ques- 

 tioned on a subject so open and daylight clear. 



But then science comes forward with its criticism of this 

 common-sense answer. There is no gainsaying, it admits, 

 the truth of the naive answer thus given. But this answer, 

 science says, is a mere truism. It leaves the case just where 

 it was before science began its analysis, so is worthless for 

 scientific purposes, however useful it may be for ordinary 

 purposes. 



This rejoinder by science must be looked into carefully; 

 otherwise its weakness will be missed. It must be exacted 

 of science that she show more explicitly than she has what 

 she means by explaining the dog's scratch-reflex by refer- 

 ring it to the physico-chemical elements at the basis of the 

 act. Let us, we must insist, hear you express a dog's 

 scratch-reflex in the terms of oxygen, carbon, et cetera. 



That such expression is possible is freely granted. But 

 how can it be done? That is a key question. It can be 

 done in one and only one way, namely by adding to the 

 attributes, that is, to the "terms" which inorganic chemistry 

 recognizes in the chemical elements concerned, just those 

 attributes and terms which the dog's scratch-reflex requires 

 in order that the elements may explain the reflex. We can 

 say that besides the specific gravity, combining weight, and 



