No. 3.] REMARKS. 585 
for if qualities are left out at the beginning, they will not turn up at the 
end. £x nihilo nihil fit. Now I may be mistaken, but I think there are 
few biologists to-day who will object to an hypothesis because it is 
mechanical ; but there are at least some who find it difficult to accept 
any hypothesis that ignores qualities. The evolution of function pro- 
ceeds pari passu with that of structure, and the basis for both must be 
postulated at the outset. There is no place anywhere for the sudden 
apparition of qualities for which no basis previously existed. And here 
the question forces itself upon us: If it be inadmissible for a physicist 
to import into his discussion of atomic phenomena anything which has 
no physical antecedent, how much has he lessened the difficulty by post- 
poning the forbidden act till after his automaton has been constructed ? 
And yet we are told that the psychical factor, once introduced, trans- 
forms the machine into a microcosm, and henceforth exhibits itself in 
vibrations that do not upset the previous mechanical harmony. If the 
mechanical field be the avenue of admission for the psychical factor, 
then why may not our mechanical hypotheses endure its presence at one 
stage with as much composure as at another? If the doctrine of the 
conservation of energy allows a “ mental field,” impressing itself upon 
a mechanical field, then it surely will not break down under the burden 
of a few qualitative distinctions imported into our atoms and molecules. 
Then, too, I am tempted to ask, is not the “ mental field’ a needless 
invention? It claims to add nothing to the organism except motion, 
and if qualitative distinctions need no other basis, why seek an unknown 
source for what is furnished in the elements with which we have to deal? 
But there is no end to questions, and my interest in Professor Dol- 
bear’s admirable exposition has already carried me beyond the first 
intention of my comments, and perhaps beyond the forbearance of the 
reader. 
C. O. WHITMAN. 
