338 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



justification in the idea that effort is taught by nature, even when a 

 definite result is invisible, yet the teachings of physical causation show 

 that it is vain to expect an escape from some material trammels. We 

 see the vibration of two apparently opposing social forces, in which 

 the high and more intelligent force is slowly gaining the ascendency 

 by a process of adaptation, so that the physical force is becoming a 

 source of power to men instead of fear. Emerson's conclusion, like 

 that of Kant, is two-sided — that the principle of mind is manifested to 

 us through material action. This holds true aside from Kant's " Forms 

 of Thought " on one hand, or Herbert Spencer's relations between par- 

 ticles on the other. We can not have the unalloyed mind-power or 

 control usually wished for, because our demands are unreasonable in 

 the sense that we would dispense with the necessary and lower condi- 

 tions upon which the higher depend, and thus thrust out causation, 

 which is the principle of combination or order by which error and 

 absurdity could be escaped if the relations between events were com- 

 pletely mastered. This mastery of physical power represents an ideal 

 condition in which the mind is no longer enslaved by forces that seem 

 material or mechanical. 



In closing with a general view of this subject, we encounter the fol- 

 lowing contradiction : During a long period we see that fortunes and 

 reputations grow by means of industry, and that a high percentage of 

 the men having these industrious qualities accomplish their purpose. 

 On the other hand, it is obvious that many of the physiological phe- 

 nomena of the human body, the varying limitation of thought in 

 individuals, and especialy the universe of matter, are not appreciably 

 influenced by our actions or ideas. The idea of possible control nar- 

 rows from a solar system to a planet, to a particular part of planetary 

 surface, to a special series, of effects, and to special kinds of callings. 

 The arguer can truthfully claim that we have no control, and hold his 

 position by referring to the material universe and the development of 

 mankind ; but particular kinds of effort when so considered undermine 

 his argument as applied to immediate results of actions. In arguing 

 on the other side, he can maintain as truthfully, to put the same idea 

 in different form, that the control is almost complete, but he must 

 apply his argument to special and restricted conditions. 



It has been denied that we can trace with certainty any manifesta- 

 tion of law in circumstances ; that there is a fatal error in conclusions 

 regarding the inevitableness of causation or law ; that there is no per- 

 ceptible law, because everything shows a margin of variation which 

 may reach inconceivable results in the course of ages. Law, as under- 

 stood by a member of the Theosophical Society, means the exact repe- 

 tition of previous conditions, owing to vast averages and inconceivably 

 great lapses of time.* The argument as to whether phenomena are 



* This definition of law was advanced by one of the younger members of the society. 

 It may not fairly represent the views of all the members. 



