50 Spirazines 



Thought and memory may be explained on the 

 theory that a previous impulse from a sensory 

 nerve has produced such a forceful coordination 

 of certain of the spirazines of the cerebral cortex 

 that the surrounding structures have become per- 

 manently modified in such a manner that they 

 will retain the spirazines in their new positions 

 for some time thereafter. 



Free will and volition are probably due to the 

 spontaneous activity of the spirazines in our 

 cerebral cortex and differ from memory only in 

 that the electric impulses which are produced by 

 such activity have found an outlet through the 

 motor nerves instead of being confined to the 

 molecular structures of the cerebral cortex. 



Whether the exercise of free will involves any 

 violation of the laws of nature is a question on 

 which there is much difference of opinion. Ac- 

 cording to the laws of nature the behavior of 

 every physico-chemical system is fixed and pre- 

 determined, whereas the exercise of free will in- 

 troduces an arbitrary and indeterminate factor. 

 Since there cannot be two independent systems of 

 governing forces operating in the same place and 

 at the same time, we must either regard free will 

 as a delusion, or we must assume that living mat- 

 ter does not come under the domain of those nat- 

 ural laws which govern physico-chemical systems. 



