40 The Universe and Life 



Now, it is to this changed physical condition, not 

 to the changed sensation or other mental experience, 

 that the mechanist attributes the change in action. 

 When the hand is withdrawn from a flame, the with- 

 drawal is held to be due to the physical change in- 

 duced in the hand by the flame, to the cooking of the 

 skin, as it were, not to the sensation of heat or of pain. 

 The same type of explanation is to be employed, it is 

 held, in all cases of apparent influence of mental con- 

 dition on action. When one weeps on receiving news 

 of the death of a friend, this is not the result of emo- 

 tion but of some physical change in one's body, re- 

 sulting from the impact of the vibrations of which 

 the words embodying the news consist. When one 

 changes his vote after reading an economic discus- 

 sion, this is not due to increased knowledge or to 

 change of opinion but only to some physical conse- 

 quence of reading the discussion. 



Such a view is so contrary to all the experience and 

 prejudices and practices of the natural man that he 

 is inclined to believe that it must be correct; other- 

 wise, no one would maintain such an apparent ab- 

 surdity. A preposterous opinion carries a certain 

 weight just because it is preposterous, for why should 

 anyone hold such a notion except because it is cor- 

 rect? But we must not allow ourselves to be imposed 

 upon by the mere apparent absurdity of a doctrine. 

 How shall we find out whether this opinion of the 

 mechanist is correct, as opposed to that of the natural 

 man? How shall we find out whether to attribute the 

 child's withdrawing his hand from the flame to the 



