VOLITION AND FREE-WILL 



a piece of her ear bitten out by a pony. For some 

 time afterwards she put her hand to her ear when she 

 saw the pony ; but in six months this action ceased, 

 and the instinct died away. There is nothing 

 mechanical in this ; either in the inception or in the 

 gradual decline of the reflex action. Evidently a 

 mental process is involved as well as a mechanical 

 one. The mind receives the stimulus, examines it, 

 and decides what is to be done. When constant 

 repetition takes place, the examination is omitted, 

 and a pseudo-mechanical action is the result. But 

 the mind is there all the same, and if it finds that 

 its directions have been wrong , it gradually recovers 

 itself and alters them. In fact, reflex action is an 

 acquired character, due to experience, and its action 

 is not invariable. Consequently it cannot be com- 

 pared to any of the physical forces. Intelligence, 

 or mind, is always an intermediary between the 

 physical processes. Reflex action is due to lapsed 

 intelligence, which may be re-awakened when the 

 stimulus is not followed by the usual effect. And 

 the greater the intelligence of the animal the sooner 

 can the effect of a stimulus be altered. 



We thus see that these physiological experiments 

 give no evidence either for or against the exis- 

 tence of free-will in man, and I have, I hope, 

 cleared the way for a further consideration of the 

 case. 



There are, I think, three lines of evidence in 

 favour of free-will. First, the existence of the moral 

 sense. Anyone who admits that he has felt regret 

 for any act that he has done, feels that he is free. 



