134 WHAT IS LIFE 



motion of a body can alter the direction of that 

 body without increasing or diminishing the inten- 

 sity 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 suddenly to dis- 

 appear. Its attraction at an end, the earth would 

 rush away at a tangent. The energy which it dis- 

 plays would not be altered in any way, but the 

 direction would be wholly changed. 



Of course it may be asked whether one can 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 pro- 

 portion to the power exerted in the preliminary 

 pressure ; but pressure there must be. 



