8o THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE AND MIND 



selection should not increase the " irritability " of some of 

 the cells (the future sense-cells) as well as the " imbibition " 

 of others (the gastric cells). In both cases we merely 

 assume a local development of known and natural properties 

 of protoplasm. These new sense-cells would be gathered 

 by natural selection at the head of the worm-like organism, 

 where they are most needed. To be of service they would 

 have to connect with the rest of the frame by means of 

 telegraphic fibres. We should have the primitive brain and 

 nervous system. Do we need a supernatural principle to 

 understand this structure, and the corresponding psychic 

 life, in such organisms ? 



The number and organisation of the very valuable 

 sensitive cells would be fostered by natural selection. We 



press it in detail it proves utterly useless. How does this intangible 

 something (neither matter nor force nor energy nor substance) act on 

 the molecules or biogens ? Sir Oliver Lodge contends that " energies" 

 may be "directed" by a principle that is not an "energy." But 

 elsewhere (pp. 36 and 103) he abandons "energies," and leaves onlyether- 

 particles in motion in the frame of an organism, and says that material 

 particles only move when they are " pushed from behind." How can 

 his mystic principle, which is a "power" but not a "force," come in 

 contact with them, and alter the direction of their movement ? In all 

 the supposed analogies that he gives (p. 170) the real guiding forces are 

 not abstract ideas or volitions, but very concrete movements in the 

 nerves and brain. And even if we overlook this formidable difficulty, 

 the way in which the control is exercised would be just as unintelligible. 

 To argue from our conscious guidance of energies to an unconscious 

 guidance of them in lower organisms is to violate all the laws of analogy. 

 How does this " bit" from a big " spiritual lump " tell off some cells 

 for digestion, others for sensation, etc. ? Has it a conscious plan ? 

 Does it act at a distance ? We ask a hundred questions in vain. His 

 theory is infinitely less intelligible than the most defective mechanical 

 scheme. It is a mere flash of imagination. 



