394 METAPHYSICAL EVOLUTION. 



of their tendrils, and the closing of some sensitive leaves ; the 

 timely expansion of the down of the Asclepias seed, and the in- 

 sect-catching habits of Droscra and Dioncea. No one surely 

 attributes consciousness to these. And there are many similar 

 movements in animals which are as thoroughly unconsciously 

 performed as are those of plants, from the first moment of the ani- 

 mal's birth ; as, for instance, the involuntary activities of the cir- 

 culatory and digestive systems, etc. Did these originate in con- 

 sciousness or unconsciousness ? The answer to this question 

 constitutes the key to the mysteries of evolution, and around it 

 the battle of the evolutionists of the coming years will be fought. 



It may be asserted at the outset that those habits whose origin 

 we have had the opportunity of observing in ourselves and in other 

 animals were certainly acquired in consciousness, and that we do 

 not believe that they could have originated out of it. The stimuli 

 to action are divided into the two general classes of pleasures and 

 pains, and each stimulus is potent in proportion to the intensity 

 with which it is consciously apprehended. If many and complex 

 acts may be performed automatically, through the organization of 

 special machinery in the gray matter of the brain, it is altogether 

 reasonable that similar powers should be found to be conferred on 

 gray nervous tissues in parts of the body which are no longer seats 

 of consciousness. It is well known that the spinal cord of the head- 

 less frog responds to stimuli, in the vigorous muscular contractions 

 of the limbs which follow the application of acid to the skin. So 

 the ganglionic centers of organic life respond to their appropriate 

 excitants ; the various glands of the digestive system discharging 

 their contents into the ingesta at the proper moment, conscious- 

 ness having no share in the proceeding. These phenomena are 

 more readily explained on the theory of endowment than on that 

 of physical movements ; since by means of the former the evident 

 design in the movements is accounted for, while the latter gives us 

 no clew to this characteristic feature of these and all other vital 

 processes. 



The lowest form of consciousness is common sensibility ; and, 

 judging by the resemblance between our own experience and that 

 of the higher animals, the lowest of animals also are not devoid 

 of this quality. The structureless jelly of Ehizopods, such as 

 Amcebas, Groraias, etc., evidently selects its food with regard to 

 its nutritious qualities, in most instances preferring diatoms and 

 desmids to sand and other innutritious substances. Its acquisi- 



