128 GENERAL YIEW AND BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



An act of the mind starts into being, probably, not of 

 itself, because that would be self-creation, and a contra- 

 diction of the great law of causation, but in a similar 

 way to that of other stored-up forms of energy, viz., 

 by the action upon it of some releasing or exciting 

 condition. 



The reason why we cannot, in many cases, perceive 

 that which initiates a volitional action in us, is the same 

 as that why Newton could not describe how he attained 

 his most difficult results, i.e., because we cannot intently 

 think, and at the same time think of that act of thought. 

 As a strong volition occupies the entire mind, so are we 

 unable to survey that act of mind. Out of this arises 

 a self-deception and an error, viz. that the power which 

 initiates a volition is essentially different from that which 

 excites other mental actions. The mind in a state of 

 quiescence is a static power, and may become active on 

 every exciting occasion. As a breath of wind, or even 

 a sound from a fiddle, will cause iodide of nitrogen to 

 explode and liberate its stored-up chemical power ; and 

 even a beam of light will produce a similar effect upon a 

 mixture of chlorine and hydrogen ; so is it reasonable to 

 conclude that a very minute circumstance, entirely im- 

 perceptible to our consciousness, will excite the will, and 

 that the mind, being wholly and strongly occupied in the 

 act of volition, is entirely unable to perceive or remem- 

 ber the minute circumstance which excited it. To assume, 

 therefore, that the mind is a power, which by its own self- 

 determining action causes volition, is not the real truth, 

 but a fallacy caused by appearances. The will,' being a 

 conscious effort of the mind in effecting objects we desire, 

 is subject to all the laws which govern the mind itself; 

 and to acquire a knowledge of the extent to which the 

 same or similar principles which govern inanimate nature 



