XXVII.] INTELLIGENCE. - 9 



instance probably all eruptive ones, are due to the un- the direc- 

 conscious instinctive action of the vital forces in endea- -g^^pg^ ^^^^ 

 vouring to get rid of poisonous matter. And morbid the health 

 growths, like cancer, probably consist of portions of the orcfanism. 

 organism that have got away from the control of the disease is 

 general life, and lead a life of their own, parasitic on no excep- 

 the rest, and ministering to their own life, though to 

 the injury of the entire organism.^ 



The law that the actions of every organism are such as Vital 

 to minister to its own life and health is to be understood minister 

 with this very important extension, that under certain ^°^ °^^y 



•. • • . , , ., . ■■ tothein- 



circumstances it mmisters not to its own private advan- dividual, 

 tage only, but also to that of the race. Here is the ^^* **^ *^® 



° "^ _ race. 



ground of the reproductive and maternal functions ; and, 

 where vital actions are accompanied by sensation and tive and 

 consciousness, here is the ground also of the sexual, the ^natemal 



. ° functions. 



domestic, and the social affections. Social 



Where sensation is developed, what is healthful is felt as ^ff®<=*i°"«- 

 agreeable, and what is destructive is felt as painful ; and l*evelop- 

 where conscious intelligence is developed, pleasure is con- uncon- 

 sciously sought and pain is consciously avoided as such action into 

 and for their own sakes. But the instinctive unconscious ten- conscious, 

 dency to seek what is needful for life and to avoid what is 

 injurious is developed far lower down in the organic scale 

 than any sense of pleasure and pain : a daisy, for instance, 

 opens to the light and closes at sunset, and a sea-anemone, 

 which has no nerves and consequently no sensation, opens 

 to the water and closes when the tide leaves it. The vital 

 impulse to self-preservation is also the ground of the love 

 of life and the fear of death. All organisms are constantly 

 and instinctively employed in the work of self-preservation ; 

 and hence when consciousness aiises, the preservation of 

 life is thought of as desirable, and the destruction of it as 

 fearful. But in every case — love of life, love of pleasure, life. 



1 See Carpenter's Human Physiology, p. 371. He leans to the belief 

 that cancer is due to a morbid poison in the blood ; but the question is an 

 open one, and I think the opinion of the nature of cancer expressed in the 

 text is favoured by the fact that, when not too far advanced, it may be 

 cured by extirpation. See also vol. i. p. 167, note. 



