a2 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
compound, endowed with the power of directing energy in- 
dependently of any outside agent, should have been brought 
into existence by the action of known physical laws is an im- 
possibility. The processes of assimilation and fission, on 
which all progress depends, are quite distinct from anything 
which had gone before. And, as every living cell is imbued 
with what we call instinct, which directs its energies, it fol- 
lows that, in physiology, action and reaction are not equal 
and opposite. - Indeed, every organism inherits from its 
parents a store of energy which directs growth, and which 
appears to be inexhaustible. It is drawn upon during the 
whole period of growth, which, in some plants, lasts all 
through life, and yet abundance is left for transmission to 
its offspring, no matter how numerous they may be. The 
store imcreases, instead of diminishes, and we cannot tell 
why. Until some explanation can be given, it is not only 
permissible, but reasonable, to view the origin of life as due 
to some guiding action of natural law, especially when we 
remember what that break in continuity has led to. 
Again, it has been often pointed out that the genesis of 
consciousness is as great a mystery as the genesis of life, and 
that it seems to be equally opposed to the law of conserva- 
tion of energy. In the lower animals, and in some of the 
lowest plants, we see physiological processes producing move- 
ments which appear to be intelligent, but which, in reality, 
are no more so than the movements of the leaves of a sensi- 
tive plant. And it is generally allowed that for the exhi- 
bition of consciousness a brain-cortex is required; but how 
matter in the brain-cortex becomes self-conscious we cannot 
understand. However, it is possible to suppose that mind 
is a necessary concomitant of life, so that the origin of the 
two may be one and the same problem. Also, as conscious- 
ness may be lost—as in habit—and regained by attention, 
it is possible that consciousness may be a constant function 
of mind, but one that cannot become efficient until a large 
number of specially-formed cells are accumulated in a brain- 
cortex. I cannot, therefore, see that the genesis of con- 
sciousness in animals necessarily marks a break in continuity, 
notwithstanding that its origin is quite incomprehensible to 
us, 
Free will in man is so contrary to what we know of the 
laws of nature, that some metaphysicians believe there is no 
such thing. However, I must confess that I am one of those 
who think that the possession of free will by man is a truth 
as fundamental as self-existence. Everyone, I think. knows 
that, by means of his imagination, he can, at his will, 
