446 METAPHYSICAL EVOLUTION. 



since animals of the lowest types possess powers of movement, 

 their activity has necessarily been an immediate cause, while sur- 

 rounding circumstances have exercised a controlling influence. 



Animal activity must be traced to the generation of force or 

 motion by a protoplasmic body which is constantly supplied with 

 nutriment. This production of force is the basis of the acts of 

 animals, up to and including man ; often, as remarked by Prof. 

 Bain, disjilaying itself in aimless discharges or playful movements, 

 as in lambs and boys. 



But we observe even in very simple organisms, as the Amoeba, 

 etc., that many movements are not aimless, nor without design. 

 We observe that these mere specks of jelly devour nutritious sub- 

 stances, and reject the innutritions ; that they even distinguish 

 between the Diatom which contains protoplasm within its shell, 

 and the empty shell. Many facts of this kind lead us to believe 

 in the consciousness of these pioneers of life, and seem to show 

 that they have experiences of the pleasures of nutrition, and of 

 the pains of retaining insoluble substances in the seats of assimi- 

 lation. It would also appear that they remember these sensations, 

 so as to seek the pleasures and reject the pains, when in the course 

 of their wanderings they again come into contact with the ma- 

 terial objects which have caused them. Given these two terms, 

 sensibility (consciousnsess) and memory, and we have the con- 

 ditions by means of which the entire complex superstructure of 

 the affectional and the intelligent acts has been elaborated out of 

 mere movements. 



This has been accomplished by the well-known laws of organi- 

 zation of habits, and heredity. The performance of an act under 

 stimulus so modifies the structure of the bioplasts of the brain as 

 to facilitate its repetition. Witli further repetition the organiza- 

 tion is soon complete, and action follows the stimulus without 

 direction, so long as no adverse influence affects the consciousness. 

 Whether the act be one of the Kational or Anaesthetic orders, from 

 this habitual stage it becomes automatic in the true sense, between 

 which and the reflex act no line can be drawn. It is evident that 

 the degree of consciousness present in animals will dej^end on the 

 number of changes appearing in their surroundings, whether due 

 to modifications of the external world, or movements of their own 

 bodies. Inasmuch as the habits of the lower animals are few and 

 simple, most of them must be automatically performed, the con- 

 sciousness being only present at the commencements of the several 



