Force ^ Energy, and Will 227 



physics ; but it is the more general, not the exact use of the 

 term to which reference is here made. 'Force' becomes 

 known to us partly through the sense of effort and resistance 

 overcome which attends our muscular activity, and partly 

 through the exercise of will, as perceived in exerting our 

 voluntary mental activity — force of mind being a term of 

 familiar use as well as force of arm. We have, therefore, force 

 in our own being as the active exercise of mental and bodily 

 powers which are possessed by our complex organisms. The 

 sensations of effort and resistance we experience, are the occa- 

 sions through and by which our intellect comes to perceive 

 that surrounding bodies have- powers corresponding to our 

 o^\Ti, We do not, however, as some pretend, attribute to sur- 

 rounding bodies activities such as our o^vn, but only activities 

 having a certain analogy with ours. If we try to pull a man 

 up from the ground against his will, and fail from his being 

 more muscular than we are, and if we try to pull up a stone 

 from the ground and fail from its being too heavy to lift, we 

 do not attribute muscular activity to the stone, or to the 

 earth which by gravity retains it ; but we perceive a certain 

 relation of analogy between the pulling activity of the man 

 and the pulling activity of the earth, and this though our 

 own sensations constitute the one material by means of 

 which our intellect has the power of apprehending those two 

 very different perceptions. As it is with gravity, so with the 

 other influences (luminous, calorific, electrical, etc.) which 

 surrounding bodies bring to bear on us ; we naturally recog- 

 nise them as the actively exercised powers and properties of 

 such bodies. The sleeper who wakes to find that the earth's 

 rotation has carried him from beneath a tree's friendly shade 

 into the direct influence of a scorching sun, believes that the 

 heat he experiences is due to the activity of that great body 

 acting upon his own organisation, and also believes that 

 activity to be something radically and essentially different 



