COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



contrasted actions there is no such psychical dif- 

 ference as accompanies the similarly contrasted 

 human actions of taking food and ducking the 

 head to avoid a blow ; for the polyp's contrac- 

 tions, being simply reflex actions of the lowest 

 sort, are unattended by states of consciousness, 

 either agreeable or disagreeable. Nevertheless 

 there is one respect in which the two cases per- 

 fectly agree. In both cases there is a seeking of 

 that which is beneficial to the organism, and a 

 shuntung of that which is injurious. And while, 

 in the case of the polyp, there is no conscious 

 pleasure or pain, we may fairly surmise that, 

 as soon as any animal's psychical life becomes 

 sufficiently complex to be attended by distinct 

 states of consciousness, the presence of that 

 which is beneficial is accompanied by a plea- 

 siuahlc feeling which leads to the seeking of 

 it, while the presence of that which is injurious 

 is iccv>in|\iiiicd by a painful feeling which leads 

 to {\\c shunning of it. Our surmise is strcngth- 

 ciu\i IS wc reconsider the human actions lately 

 enunui itcd, and observe that the abnormal ac- 

 tiN itv ot a function, either in deficiency or in ex- 

 cess, is injurious, while the normal activity of a 

 function in balance with its companion functions 

 is beneficial. As Mr. Spencer says, " in a mutu- 

 ally dependent set of organs having a consensus 

 of functions, the very existence of a special or- 

 gan having its special function implies that the 

 iia 



