238 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



body without increasing or diminishing the in- 

 tensity of the motion. 



The earth revolves around the sun in its 

 elliptic course because the force of gravity holds 

 it in that course. Suppose the sun were sud- 

 denly to disappear. Its attraction at an end, 

 the earth would rush away at a tangent. The 

 energy which it displays would not be altered 

 in any way, but the direction would be wholly 

 changed. 



Of course it may be asked whether one can 

 The will in any way show that the Will or the Vital 

 Power does act at right angles to the forces of 

 any material energy of the organism. That, 

 however, is an objection or an inquiry which we 

 may rightly consider to be unfair. 



All that one can be asked to do is to show 

 that there is a method by which an agent can 

 modify the action of physical energies without 

 altering their quantity. 



So far, however, we have only spoken of the 

 modification of a force " in being " ; how about 

 the initiation of the force or the initiation of the 

 change of energetic direction ? The pressure of 

 the button which completes an electric circuit 

 may produce prodigious effects, altogether out 

 of proportion to the power exerted in the 

 preliminary pressure; but pressure there must 

 be. 



