A STUDY OF LOWER LIFE. 53 



that, in ourselves, co-ordinate purposive actions may take 

 place without the intervention of consciousness or volition, or 

 even contrary to the latter. As actions of a certain degree 

 of complexity/'' continues Huxley, " are brought about by 

 mere mechanism, why may not actions of still greater com- 

 plexity be the result of a more refined mechanism?" 



As may readily be noted, this theory of the physical 

 origin of man's mental powers necessarily carries with it a 

 special and peculiar interpretation of man's moral nature 

 and obligations. For it implies the belief that we cannot 

 act in any other fashion than is determined by our character; 

 and this latter in its turn results from or is developed by 

 the action of outer and physical circumstances upon the 

 organism. Consciousness, or that knowledge of Self, which 

 most people hold lies at the root, foundation, and direction of 

 our mental existence, except as a secondary matter, is thus 

 put altogether out of court ; and the powers of mind come 

 in this view to represent so many effects of the long-con- 

 tinued action of experience and custom in inducing various 

 mental states, as the result of certain combinations of outer 

 impressions. 



The fierce conflict to which the discussion of this auto- 

 matic doctrine has given rise can be readily understood 

 and explained. It is no light matter to assert that the 

 mental powers and intellect of man are after all simply 

 material in their nature and origin, and that they merely 

 represent a high development and modification of the 

 simple nervous impressions seen in lower states of exist- 

 ence. Yet there is a latent truth in this view of the 

 matter, which, when recognised and brought into relation 

 with facts and ideas external to such a theory, presents us 

 with a rational explanation of the origin of man's mental 

 nature. Whatever may have been the origin of man's 

 intellect, there can, firstly, be no question of the wide 

 nature of the gulf which exists between the human type 

 of mind and the instincts of all other forms of life. Even 

 if man's total origin from a lower form or forms were a 



