330 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [PT. n. 



animal s psychical life becomes sufficiently complex to be 

 attended by distinct states of consciousness, the presence of 

 that which is beneficial is accompanied by a pleasurable 

 feeling which leads to the seeking of it, while the presence of 

 thnt which is injurious is accompanied by a painful feeling 

 which leads to the shunning of it. Our surmise is strength 

 ened as we reconsider the human actions lately enumerated, 

 and observe that the abnormal activity of a function, either 

 in deficiency or in excess, is injurious, while the normal 

 activity of a function in balance with its companion functions 

 is beneficial. As Mr. Spencer says, &quot;in a mutually dependent 

 set of organs having a consensus of functions, the very exist 

 ence of a special organ having its special function, implies 

 that the absence of its function must cause disturbance of 

 the consensus, implies too, that its function may be raised 

 to an excess which must cause disturbance of the consensus, 

 implies, therefore, that maintenance of the consensus goes 

 along with a medium degree of its function.&quot; In accordance 

 with this view, we may note that hunger and thirst are 

 feelings attendant upon a kind of functional inaction which 

 is harmful, and even fatal if prolonged; that inaction or 

 excessive action of the muscles is injurious as well as pain 

 ful ; that the intense heat and cold, and the violent pressure, 

 which cause distress, will also cause more or less injury, and 

 may cause death ; that the discomfort following repletion and 

 narcosis is the concomitant of a state of things which, if 

 kept up, must end in dyspepsia, or other forms of disease, 

 entailing usually a permanent lowering of nutrition ; and 

 that the intense sounds and lights which distress the ear and 

 eye also tend to produce deafness and blindness. And in 

 like manner, the enforced inaction of the social and esthetic 

 feelings, which is attended by mental discomfort, is also 

 attended in the long run by a diminution of the fulness and 

 completeness of psychical life, which in extreme cases may 

 result in consumption, insanity, or narcotic craving. 



