Will and Guidance 157 



food, like any other self-propelled and fuel-fed 

 mechanism ; but mechanism is usually con- 

 trolled by an attendant. The question is 

 whether our will or mind or life can 

 direct our body's energy along certain 

 channels to attain desired ends, or whether 

 as in a motor-car with an automaton 

 driver the end and aim of all activity is 

 wholly determined by mechanical causes. 

 And a further question concerns the mode 

 whereby vital control, if any, is achieved. 

 Answers that might be hazarded are : 



(a) That life is itself a latent store of energy, 

 and achieves its results by imparting to matter 

 energy that would not otherwise be in 

 evidence : in which case life would be a part 

 of the machine, and as truly mechanical as 

 all the rest. 



Experiment lends no support to this view 

 of the relation between life and energy, and 

 I hold that it is false ; because the 

 essential property of energy is that it can 

 transform itself into other forms, remaining 

 constant in quantity, whereas life does not 



