SCIENCE AND MAN 



by an infinitesimal " priming " of the 

 muscles by the nerves. We all know the 

 effect produced on a "nervous " organi- 

 sation by a slight sound which causes 

 affright. An aerial wave, the energy of 

 which would not reach a minute fraction 

 of that necessary to raise the thousandth 

 of a grain through the thousandth of an 

 inch, can throw the whole human frame 

 into a powerful mechanical spasm, fol- 

 lowed by violent respiration and palpita- 

 tion. The eye, of course, may be 

 appealed to as well as the ear. Of this 

 the lamented Lange gives the following 

 vivid illustration : 



A merchant sits complacently in his 

 easy chair, not knowing whether smoking, 

 sleeping, newspaper reading, or the diges- 

 tion of food occupies the largest portion 

 of his personality. A servant enters the 

 room with a telegram, bearing the words, 



"Antwerp, etc Jonas and Co. have 



failed." "Tell James to harness the 

 horses !" The servant flies. Up starts 

 the merchant, wide awake, makes a dozen 

 paces through the room, descends to the 

 counting-house, dictates letters, and for- 

 wards despatches. He jumps into his 

 carriage, the horses snort, and their 

 driver is immediately at the Bank, on the 

 Bourse, and among his commercial 

 friends. Before an hour has elapsed he 

 is again at home, where he throws him- 

 self once more into his easy chair with a 

 deep-drawn sigh : " Thank God I am pro- 

 tected against the worst, and now for 

 further reflection." 



This complex mass of action, emo- 

 tional, intellectual, and mechanical, is 

 evoked by the impact upon the retina of 

 the infinitesimal waves of light coming 

 from a few pencil marks on a bit of paper. 

 We have, as Lange says, terror, hope, 

 sensation, calculation, possible ruin, and 

 victory compressed into a moment. What 

 caused the merchant to spring out of his 

 chair? The contraction of his muscles. 

 What made his muscles contract ? An 

 impulse of the nerves, which lifted the 

 proper latch, and liberated the muscular 

 power. Whence this impulse ? From 

 the centre of the nervous system. But 



how did it originate there ? This is the 

 critical question, to which some will 

 reply that it had its origin in the human 

 soul. 



The aim and effort of science is to 

 explain the unknown in terms of the 

 known. Explanation, therefore, is con- 

 ditioned by knowledge. You have pro- 

 bably heard the story of the German 

 peasant who, in early railway days, was 

 taken to see the performance of a loco- 

 motive. He had never known carriages 

 to be moved except by animal power. 

 Every explanation outside of this concep- 

 tion lay beyond his experience, and could 

 not be invoked. After long reflection, 

 therefore, and seeing no possible escape 

 from the conclusion, he exclaimed con- 

 fidently to his companion, "Es miissen 

 doch Pferdedarin sein" "There must be 

 horses inside." Amusing as this locomo- 

 tive theory may seem, it illustrates a 

 deep-lying truth. 



With reference to our present question, 

 some may be disposed to press upon me 

 such considerations as these : Your 

 motor-nerves are so many speaking- 

 tubes, through which messages are sent 

 from the man to the world ; and your 

 sensor nerves are so many conduits 

 through which the whispers of the world 

 are sent back to the man. But you have 

 not told us where is the man. Who or 

 what is it that sends and receives those 

 messages through the bodily organism ? 

 Do not the phenomena point to the 

 existence of a self within the self, which 

 acts through the body as through a 

 skilfully constructed instrument ? You 

 picture the muscles as hearkening to the 

 commands sent through the motor nerves, 

 and you picture the sensor nerves as the 

 vehicles of incoming intelligence ; arc 

 you not bound to supplement this 

 mechanism by the assumption of an 

 entity which uses it ? In other words, 

 are you not forced by your own exposition 

 into the hypothesis of a free human soul ? 



This is fair reasoning now, and at a 

 certain stage of the world's knowledge 

 it might well have been deemed con- 

 clusive. Adequate reflection, however, 



