PRINCIPLE OF LEAST ACTION 11 



reacting blindly and quantitatively to every chance force which 

 plays on it. While, to a certain extent, we may regard this as 

 true, we must, nevertheless, draw a sharp distinction between 

 those actions which may be regarded as pertaining to organic 

 life and those which pertain to conscious life dominated by 

 personality. Plants and animals may be governed by this law 

 of equilibrium, and every one of their actions may be regarded 

 as a blind response to stimuli, just as the swing of a galvanometer 

 needle is. Man, in so far as he is an animal, may also be con- 

 sidered a blind agent. Is there not, however, something super- 

 added not to interfere or even to govern, but to carry out a 

 function of its own ? For example, there are no grounds for deal- 

 ing with volition merely as a complex chemical equation or as a 

 problem in molecular physics, resulting merely from physical or 

 chemical changes in the body or environment. Suppose a man 

 meets another man in the street who suddenly strikes him. The 

 injured man has several courses open to him : 



1. He may hit back. 



2. He may run away. 



3. He may fetch a policeman, and so on. 



The action taken depends on several factors : 



1. The previous history of the two men. 



2. The relative sizes of the two men. 



3. The nature of the spectators. 



4. The nearness of the policeman. 



5. The real business of the injured man, whether pressing, etc. 



6. The personality of the injured man. 



Knowing the man one may predict his action in a certain 

 case, and one may probably be right, but it is only a probability 

 not a certainty. While the cause of volition is still unknown 

 and cannot but be regarded as mysterious, there is nothing to 

 hinder research into the mechanism whereby the Will causes 

 its dicta to become acta. 



To summarise, the physical necessities of man have become 

 a problem of energy pure and simple. The fact that man is 

 living scarcely makes the problem more complicated than one 

 arising out of the fuel demands of an inorganic machine. So 

 much work has to be done, so much energy must be provided. 



Energy is indestructible, and in itself is only valuable in its 

 conversion from what may be called higher to lower forms. This 



