PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, AND PSYCHOLOGY. 153 



tially as blind as the action of gravitation. In the 

 process of reproduction the germ might seem as if it 

 were realising a conscious plan of the fully developed 

 organism. Embryological investigation indicates, how- 

 ever, that each step in development is the immediate 

 outcome of the conditions existing at the moment. 

 If these conditions are abnormal the development will 

 also be abnormal, so that all sorts of monstrosities are 

 possible. It is true that for a mere organism the past 

 lives on in the present, and there is a sense in which 

 we can speak of organic memory. But we might equally 

 describe this organic persistency as of the same nature 

 as inertia. It does not present the character of conscious 

 memory. 



In perception and conscious reaction to it we are in 

 contact with phenomena which we cannot interpret 

 in terms of either physical or biological conceptions. 

 An object which has been perceived is present to, and 

 directly influences, both future and past objects of 

 perception, so that their influence on conscious action 

 is altered. When Faraday pointed out the existence 

 of ions in solutions he made a discovery which has 

 gradually exercised a more and more wide-spread 

 influence on scientific and practical activity, and has 

 at the same time given a new significance to previous 

 discoveries. In every new act of perception, however 

 unimportant, there is a similar influence on the reactions 

 to future, present, and past perceptions. To what we 

 regard as mere organism the past is simply a dead weight 

 on the present, and the present on the future, just as 

 in the case of what we regard as mere physical existence. 



It has been assumed widely that, while we can 



