14 Alfred Russel Wallace, LL. D. 



that mind can not control matter. An equally necessary 

 conclusion is that matter can not control mind. This is not 

 the place to enter into a discussion of this broad question, 

 so I will only refer to Dr. Wallace's position on this impor- 

 tant subject. 



Dr. Wallace has perceived the necessity of some agency 

 other than mechanical energy to account for the intelli- 

 gence displayed by animals and men. As he does not admit 

 the Lamarckian idea of use and disuse, he finds no direct 

 use for animal consciousness in the premises. He criticises 

 the position of the writer of the present paper (Darwinism, 

 Chapter XIV), that consciousness, and consequently intelli- 

 gence, have been the determining causes of animal move- 

 ments. He well remarks that since evolution has produced 

 the vegetable kingdom and the lowest animals, intelligence 

 can not well have been a factor, and that, this being the case, 

 it is not necessary to suppose it to have been so in the case 

 of the higher animals, as one rule must have governed all 

 cases at the basis. Dr. Wallace does not appear to have 

 taken into consideration the fact, however, that the simplest 

 sensations belong to the department of mind, and that it is 

 highly probable that the lowest animals and their almost 

 indistinguishable vegetable allies give evidence of such rudi- 

 mentary sense-perception; and sensation and memory are 

 sufficient for the evolution of mind. The vegetable king- 

 dom displays^for the most part characters of degeneracy, its 

 entire " efficient " cause being the reproductive function, 

 which has speedily become automatic and unconscious. 



The rational mind which has not surrendered to the idea 

 of fortuity seeks some explanation of the ever-increasing in- 

 telligence found intimately associated with the evolution of 

 animals. Prof. Haeckel conceived his theory of the " plas- 

 tidule soul " to meet the difficulty ; but the idea is indefi- 

 nite, and would not probably have been entertained by its 

 distinguished author if he had followed up the subject of 

 animal psychology. It still remains in the limbo of unreal- 

 ized fancies. But Dr. Wallace cuts the Gordian knot by 

 the introduction of the idea of " influx " of a mind-energy 

 from without. I can say of this proposition that it appears 

 to be an unnecessary interjection into an otherwise continu- 

 ous operation of known and visible causes. The presence of 

 sensation and memory in very low animals is too well as- 

 sured to render any external influence necessary except that 

 of the environment ; and the process of education is well 



