Philosophy of Botany. 289 



tween the souls of men and animals. The movements, desires, 

 and actions, from the lowest to the highest, are determined by 

 antecedent physiological states. The ciianges which at each 

 moment take place in consciousness are produced by an in- 

 finitude of previous experiences, registered in the nervous 

 structure, cooperating with the immediate impressions on the 

 senses ; the effects of these combined factors being in every 

 case qualified by the physical state, general or local, of the or- 

 ganism. 



The current tenet respecting the freedom of the will is " that 

 every one is at liberty to do what he desires to do." All admit 

 this ; however, the real proposition involved in the dogma of 

 free will is, whether every one is at liberty to desire or not to 

 desire. The mainspring of desires, the physiological state, 

 has to respond to the solution of this question. 



Herbert Spencer expresses himself thus : " Psychical 

 changes either conform to law or they do not. If they do not 

 conform to law, any work on psychical inquiry is sheer non- 

 sense ; no science of psychology is possible. If they do con- 

 form to law, there cannot be any such thing as free will." 



The intellectual expression of the will we find in its influ- 

 ence on consciousness. The normal state of consciousness 

 supposes diffusion, with the work of the brain diffused. The 

 will can localize the work of the brain to special regions, or it 

 may affect different elements, spread through the mass of en- 

 cephalon, to a working in harmony, to the exclusion of the 

 others. This attitude of the mind constitutes attention. 

 Consumption of stored-up energy is called in aid for the per- 

 fection of this effort, which is only transient and soon brings 

 about relaxation. This is the culmination of mind energy. 



As the greatest multitude of vital actions are ever-return- 

 ing repetitions of actions of the. same quality, they become 

 habitual, instinctive, unconscious. The combination of the 

 mind elements subserving these unconscious actions consti- 

 tutes the instinct mechanisms of the brains. That such in- 

 stinct mechanisms direct not only the actions of the lower 

 animals, but also the higher organisms, including man, we 

 daily experience in the process of training, through which we 

 convert intellectually-conceived actions into unconsciously- 



lO 



