THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF ''FREE-WILL:' 751 



when they might bear the cross into the blood-stained dens of the Iro- 

 quois." In the tortured captives they had baptized even amid the 

 flames, they saw their own fate, but it caused not a moment's hesita- 

 tion. These all chose ichat to them semed most desirable ; for, beyond 

 torture and death, they seemed to see the martyr's crown, the eternal 

 reward. Not less on these supreme occasions than in the most ordi- 

 nary affairs of daily life,, choice is determined by the apparent desira- 

 bleness of things. 



But, if this be granted, it immediately becomes evident that one's 

 views of what is desirable arise from an infinite variety of coincident 

 circumstances with which the individual concerned had no more to do 

 than with the shape of his skull or the color of his skin. That no 

 two persons have exactly the same preferences or tastes, or would 

 choose alike on every occasion, is a truism. Their ideas of what is 

 desirable may have resulted from congenital or inherited constitutional 

 tendencies. A drunkard's children ai-e often endowed with a craving 

 for stimulants, that sooner or later brings them to drunkards' graves. 

 One man possesses fierce and strong animal propensities ; another is 

 never tempted by vicious allurements. The social condition of men 

 has a great influence in this respect. I do not suppose the Prince 

 of Wales ever perceived the desirableness of snatching a loaf from 

 a baker's cart ; but many a starving London tramp has felt it. Hun- 

 ger and poverty meet a thousand temptations that never assail full 

 stomachs and well-clothed bodies. Victor Hugo says that English 

 statistics prove four robberies out of five to have hunger for their im- 

 mediate cause. Or the state of the health may influence men's views 

 of the desirableness of things. Of the effect of impaired vitality in 

 vitiating desires, every physician is aware. Many of us, offered a 

 glass of wine, could accept it without the remotest danger of thereby 

 becoming drunkards ; but others, men like Mr. Gough, tell us that for 

 them such indulgence would be the first step to a long debauch. How 

 powerful is the influence of habit in this respect ! I enter a tobacco- 

 nist's with no other desire apparent to myself than to do my errand 

 and escape as soon as possible ; but a venerable gentleman told me the 

 other day that, after breaking off the use of tobacco for thirteen years, 

 the chance inspection of some fresh samples renewed with overwhelm- 

 ing force the old appetite and refixed the old habit. Or the decision 

 may be due to occasion and other surrounding circumstances attend- 

 ing the moment of choice. There is a profound significance in the 

 petition, " Lead us not into temptation." Many a woman walks our 

 streets wrecked, from the fortuitous conjunction of opportunity, temp- 

 tation, and desire, whose virtue would never have yielded to either 

 alone. What an immense influence is exerted upon men's desires by 

 their religious belief ! The Jesuit among the Ilurons could choose a 

 daily martyrdom that, now and then, he might touch a dying pa- 

 poose with holy water and snatch its little soul from eternal fires ; 



