86 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



all that goes on round about us, it will seem 

 evident that the mouse moves in condi- 

 tions where a stone of the same dimension 

 and situated in the same place would remain 

 motionless. In other words, where the stone's 

 immobility shows that there is no cause of 

 movement (wind, water-current, etc), a mouse 



The mouse displaces itself spontaneously.' 9 



and the 



stone V we reasoned more closely, we should say : 



" Where the stone's immobility shows there is 

 no displacing cause for the stone, the mouses 's 

 movement, on the contrary, should make us 

 think either the mouse is endowed with spon- 

 taneous mobility, or at the point where it is 

 placed there is some cause of movement for 

 the mouse." 



This no doubt is perfectly true, but the real 

 heart of the matter is the nexus between the 

 cause of movement and the movement itself. 

 It is clear that the nexus might be physical, 

 since some one might pick up the mouse and 

 throw it away. It is conceivable that it might 

 be chemical, since we could imagine a condi- 

 tion of affairs in which contact, say, with a 

 certain gas, should set up a quasi-effervescence 

 in the mouse which would cause movement. 

 Or again it may be vital, that is that the mouse 

 moves because it choses to move and is actu- 

 ated to that choice by the sight of danger, by 



