

VOLUNTARY ACTIONS 373 



more persistent and more perfect in the case of bladder and bowel. 

 But always the reflex impulse tends to grow stronger, till at last 

 it overpowers the will. No adaptive reflex which is not associated 

 with feeling (usually pleasure or pain) is under the control of the 

 will. Thus we cannot voluntarily control the beatings of our 

 hearts nor the movements of the middle portions of our alimentary 

 canals. All adaptive reflexes which are normally associated with 

 feeling are directly or indirectly under the control of will. Thus, 

 as we see, the bladder reflex which promises relief from pain is 

 directly controlled by the will, whereas the swallowing reflex 

 which promises pleasure is indirectly controlled by it, for the will 

 provides those voluntary actions, the provision of food, the chew- 

 ing and removing of it to the pharynx, which in turn awaken the 

 reflex impulse to swallow. 



6 1 6. We see then how clearly the reflexes are adaptive, how 

 plainly they bear the marks of .evolution. On the other hand, we 

 see how complex they are both physically and mentally ; and yet 

 how perfectly they link up with the rest of the physical and mental 

 activities of the individual. Every complex animal has these 

 wonderful reflexes. Except through actual miracle such manifold 

 co-ordinated activities could not have arisen by mutation. Unless, 

 therefore, we attribute them directly to a supernatural origin, we 

 must assume that they arose gradually by the continual selection 

 of fluctuating variations by a process which gradually and con- 

 currently altered the whole organism. Here also we have an 

 example, emphasised as we shall see by the whole study of mind, 

 of facts which are familiar to everyone, which nevertheless since 

 their relations are complex and difficult to trace, cannot be 

 classified except after careful thought. ' Obvious inferences/ such 

 as are all that are needed in anatomy and that kind of botany and 

 zoology which takes no account of the sequences of events in the 

 evolution of the race, here lead, and have repeatedly led, only to 

 confusion and error. 



617. Voluntary acts are either instinctive or (in the lack of a 

 better term) rational. As far as I am aware, no one but myself 

 regards instinctive actions as voluntary. Usually they are classed 

 as a kind of reflex. However, I feel confident I am right. A 

 voluntary act is one which is prompted by the will. If we think 

 carefully we find that the will, in turn, is always prompted by 

 desire; and that desire again is always prompted by present or 

 prospective pleasure or pain. The desire may be so faint that we 

 can hardly detect it ; but unless it is present we do not, we cannot, 



