ESSAYS 157 



I make these remarks with the reservation that there may be in Liesegang's 

 work, and in Prof. Cole's suggestion, details of which I am not aware, and which 

 might render them a more complete explanation of the lines of flint than they 

 appear to be. 



G. W. Bulman, M.A., B.Sc. 



The Ego-Cell— a Speculation 



Unless advanced by experts who know all that is to be known in connection 

 with their subjects, speculations in science are apt to be very useless, if not 

 grotesque ; and I mention the following one with the more diffidence since, on 

 describing it to two eminent specialists on Nerve- Physiology, they both said that 

 it is not altogether new and that they did not think it likely to be sound. Never- 

 theless, even the speculations of amateurs have sometimes led to advance, or at 

 least have assisted advance by others ; and, at the worst, may amuse readers ! 



The speculation is that the judgment, will, or mechanism for deciding conduct 

 in living things which possess volition is likely to reside in a single cell — in the 

 brain or principal nerve centre. There appear to me to be two lines of argument 

 which converge towards this hypothesis. The first has always been borne in upon 

 me when studying motile protozoa or discrete cells, such as the leucocytes of the 

 blood. These objects, though they consist of a single cell, possess in themselves 

 the rudiments of many of the capacities found more developed in the Complex 

 Animals or Metozoa. An infusorian or flagellate, swimming rapidly about in 

 water, is always turning from side to side, just as a dog does when running in a 

 field. The little cell appears to have a mind to make up ; and its movements are 

 not absolutely at random. An amoeba often progresses in the same direction, and 

 when it meets with an obstacle tries either to burrow beneath it or to get round it. 

 Animals of a little higher development, consisting of only a few cells clustered 

 together, show the same power of decision or will. Hence I am inclined to infer 

 that judgment and will— that is, what appears to be the principal constituent of the 

 Ego itself— is capable of being developed to some extent in a single cell. 



As regards the other line of reasoning referred to above, we may infer from 

 introspective psychology that "the Will or Judgment is an extremely unified power. 

 At every moment of our life something decides instantly what is to be done during 

 the next moment. The deciding power does not appear to be distributed through 

 a large number of entities but to reside in a single one. I mean that there is the 

 same difference here as that between the decision of a general in the field and a 

 war council, or between the director of any enterprise and a committee. We 

 all know, often by painful experience, that while a director can act with immediate 

 promptitude, a council may require months of deliberation before acting. Per- 

 sonally, therefore, I have a feeling (let us say fancy, if we please) that my will and 

 judgment are the results of autocratic .and not of democratic decisions. For 

 example, suppose that I have come to a cross-road and have to decide which 

 turning to take, my Ego immediately consults some other entities in my brain 

 where he (my Ego) knows that he has been keeping information stored for years — 

 that is, consults his memory. He seems, so to speak, to ring up his Librarians by 

 telephone and to ask them what facts bearing upon the question they have at 

 hand. Perhaps one replies immediately, " You passed that house on the right 

 years ago in company with , and that is therefore the road to ." If, how- 

 ever, there is no such definite reply, something like a Secretary-Cell says from 

 somewhere, "The Librarians have no record, sir ; but let me remind you that you 

 have a map in your left coat-pocket." So my Ego wires to my Left Hand to take 



