1 66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Bergson here makes one of his most suggestive contributions, for he 

 makes intellect and instinct divergent instead of linear characteristics. 

 Intellect is not derived from instinct, but they are both present in all 

 life. The former is emphasized by the vertebrates, reaching its cul- 

 mination in man; the latter is especially developed by the arthropods 

 and finds its highest expression in the Hymenoptera — bees, wasps and 

 ants. The awakening from torpor could be effected in two ways; life, 

 i. e., consciousness launched into matter, could fix its attention either 

 upon its own movement or upon the matter it was passing through, and 

 it would thus be turned either in the direction of intuition, or of intel- 

 lect. Apparently, on the side of intuition consciousness could not go 

 far; it found itself so restricted by its envelope that intuition had to 

 shrink into instinct, i. e., to embrace only that portion of life upon 

 which its continued well-being depended. Instinct is a prolongation of 

 the life principle (vital impulse). We call that the life principle 

 which in a living body coordinates the thousands of cells to work 

 towards a common end and to divide the labor of feeding, reproduction 

 and preservation among them, but we call that instinct which causes 

 the bees of a hive to work towards a common end, and to divide the 

 labor of feeding, reproduction and preservation among them. 



The most essential of the primary instincts are really vital processes. 

 Instinct only carries further the work by which life organizes matter. 

 When the little chick is breaking its shell with a peck of its beak it is 

 acting by instinct, and yet it merely carries on the movement which 

 has borne it through its embryonic life. When the digger-wasp, 

 Ammophila, stings its caterpillar victim in just the right places to 

 ensure paralysis without death it acts by instinct, it must not be con- 

 sidered to have any knowledge like that of the learned entomologist who 

 would know the vulnerable places from the outside — from detailed 

 observations of all parts of the caterpillar body. The insect's knowl- 

 edge, instinctive, proceeds from its inner identification with the same 

 life principle as that of the caterpillar — from a sympathy (in the ety- 

 mological sense of the word) between the two organisms which teaches 

 the insect from within the vulnerability of its victim, whereas the intel- 

 ligence of the entomologist goes all around the caterpillar instead of 

 entering into it, making itself one with it. 



On the other hand, consciousness concentrating its attention upon 

 the matter it was passing through succeeded in evading the barriers 

 raised by it, and now in man, freed to some extent from matter, it can 

 turn inwards on itself and awaken the powers of intuition which still 

 slumber within it. Intuition as thus used is instinct that has become 

 disinterested, self-conscious, capable of reflecting upon its object. 



Bergson makes freedom the corner-stone of his theory. The vital 

 impetus has for its goal the acquirement of an ever fuller volume of 



