758 Dynamic Theory. 



bination of antecedent forces and is exactly equal to the amount of those 



forces consumed in its make up. 



The will then is a mode of the motion of brain cells, or their materials, 

 communicated to them b} r antecedent motion of others. It is the resultant 

 of these antecedent motions and in force cannot possibly exceed the sum 

 of them, but it may fall short of that sum because if there is inharmony 

 or opposition between them a part of this force may be wasted in heat, 

 and the result be a weak will, or irresolution as we call it. A match 

 may set fire to a powder magazine, but it does not represent the force of 

 the explosion. So the will may liberate a force much greater than it- 

 self ; and this circumstance may have led to the idea that it is greater 

 than its antecedent elements. 



The will being a motion of matter, and not a thing or commodity, it 

 cannot be made up into measurable and ponderable parcels and kept in 

 stock. The governing supply must be made up every instant for that 

 instant. Resolutions made yesterday of actions to be performed to-day 

 are of no force, and will cut no figure in to-day's action, unless the con- 

 ditions prevailing to-day are still such as to prompt such a conclusion of 

 the will. The ceaseless activity of the nervous currents compels a re- 

 adjustment of conclusions every moment. Even after the hand is raised 

 to strike, a new adjustment of the will may arrest the blow, or divert 

 its delivery to another object. 



The will is made up at different times under different circumstances, 

 and thus results from a variety of motives. Sometimes it results from 

 a sudden and violent impulse, in which case only one cerebral organ 

 perhaps is involved in the modification of the sensory stimulus before 

 it is allowed to influence motor action. At other times the action is de- 

 liberate, and the stimulus has time to agitate and be reflected from sev- 

 eral cerebral organs before final motor action. We say of such case 

 that the action was "well considered, " or that the person had "con- 

 trol of himself. " 



Some of our actions we call "instinctive," or habitual. These are a 

 class of actions which have been performed so many times by our an- 

 cestors or ourselves, that under proper stimulation they are performed 

 without hesitation or keen consciousness of their performance. But the 

 most of our voluntary actions are the result of stimuli reflected from 

 the various cerebral organs of memory, almost always including some 

 of those of an emotional nature, and registering memories of pleasure 

 or pain. Certainly the great majority of our deliberate volitions are 

 colored by reflections from these organs. The few which are not, will 

 probably all be found in the classes above mentioned, as impulsive, 

 habitual, or quasi instinctive. All of them are to be regarded as sel- 

 fish volitions, since the}^ are formed under the influence of vibrations 



