192 DESCARTES' DISCOURSE ON METHOD i\ 



of that pain ; and, secondly, that there is a certain 

 correspondence between the intensity of the heat, 

 or mechanical violence, which gives rise to the 

 pain, and the pain itself; the possibility of the 

 establishment of a correlation between mechanical 

 force and volition becomes apparent. And the 

 same conclusion is suggested by the fact that, 

 within certain limits, the intensity of the mechan- 

 ical force we exert is proportioned to the intensity 

 of our desire to exert it. 



Thus I am prepared to go with the Materialists 

 wherever the true pursuit of the path of Descartes 

 may lead them ; and I am glad, on all occasions, 

 to declare my belief that their fearless develop- 

 ment of the materialistic aspect of these matters 

 has had an immense, and a most beneficial, 

 influence upon physiology and psychology. Nay, 

 more, when they go farther than I think they are 

 entitled to do when they introduce Calvinism 

 into science and declare that man is nothing but 

 a machine, I do not see any particular harm in 

 their doctrines, so long as they admit that which 

 is a matter of experimental fact namely, that it 

 is a machine capable of adjusting itself within 

 certain limits. 



I protest that if some great Power would agree 

 to make me always think what is true and do 

 what is right, on condition of being turned into 

 a sort of clock and wound up every morning 

 before I got out of bed, I should instantly close 



