ORGANIZATION AS LABOUR-SAVING; MECHANISM^ 29 1 



feels, its consciousness has to be all there, and 

 ►n the spot where the feeling is.. 



Now let us suppose that it differentiates itself and 

 {ets up a rudimentary organization, say a stomach, 

 t no longer requires to supervise the digestion of 

 ;s food in its proper person and with its whole con- 

 iciousness, but only gets called in by the structure 

 jt has set up when something has gone wrong, and 

 [t has dyspepsia. It is a familiar observation that 

 ^e know and feel nothing of our bodily organism 

 intil it is out of order. In health our nerves and our 

 iigestion do not demand the attention of our con- 

 sciousness. And the conjecture may be hazarded 

 lat this is precisely the reason why we have grown 

 lerves and a digestive apparatus. For the estab- 

 ishment of a nervous system makes it possible for 

 consciousness to be concentrated at the centre of 

 iffairs and quietly to receive reports and send 

 )rders through the nerves, instead of rushing about 

 ill over the body. 



There is thus a considerable econo^ny of consciotts- 

 less involved in every piece of material organization, 

 ts raison d'etre is that it liberates a certain amount 

 \i consciousness. That is to say, consciousness, 

 instead of being bound down to the performance of 

 lower and mechanical functions, is set free to pursue 

 higher aims or to perfect its attainment of the lower, 

 and thus the total of intelligence is increased. E.g., 

 our original protoplasm, when it has got a stomach, 

 can devote the attention it formerly bestowed upon, 

 digesting its breakfast to improved methods of 

 catching it, and so its descendants, as they increase 

 the complexity and efficiency of their organic ma- 

 chinery, may rise to the contemplation of the 

 highest problems of life. 



