ixVi INTRODUCTION 



*a tk&idntiyibiishe inventor. There is no longer any reason 

 to d©it<fefethati|ihysiological processes are exclusively material, 

 ^fefefbll ottoerpoeesses in the universe ; and that there exists 

 nO!>iii8.ep«ndent i^ntity of this character, as was assumed in 

 ,tinaes of igm^Mtifte. Nevertheless, so highly complex is the 

 «UBje0t;4)n^ so-'j)ressing is the demand for some immediate 

 explaifatiisn, ^at there are still a few physiologists remaining 

 whp invoke spirits to assist them in accounting for certain 

 ^hefl&iena !that have yet been scarcely reached by the 

 rising' ti'de'of materialistic science. It is true that they are 

 k®i often t&sh enough to invoke an actual spiritual sub- 

 stance- -(Fhey'|>refer to speak of " biotic energy" or " vital 

 lorb^i^^:' that'is to say, they invent a spiritual form of 

 i!ner^.,"']l,>lh^f.than a spiritual form of substance. But 

 Efeheie M'-nd'fesential difference whatever between the two.^ 

 If' they affirm .'the existence of any kind of vital or spiritual 

 foroei i'of M©rt<toaterial character, they are inexorably com- 

 aiiitted to W belief in souls or some such spiritual bodies. 

 .Notwifhsifeanding their protestations to the contrary, they 

 hawd' no hgio&l escape from the position. These physio- 

 logists Tufeg© vitalism almost exclusively on the grounds that, 

 Asithout the assumption of a vital force, it is impossible to 

 fesjpladnjybettain of the more complex manifestations of 

 irfteffi^eno^^t f\5oluntary movement, choice, etc. Now it is 

 but a ishiortli^ime back that even quite simple nervous pro- 

 sotesesiisucto'ds. reflex action, were impossible to explain by 

 mechanical t or f physico-chemical methods. It is now known 

 that these simple processes are in point of fact of a purely 

 .mechainical matmre ; and it is also very widely believed by 

 ItkBjgEfiat (aaaafsarity of physiologists that the more complex 

 'Cerebral's dpeBalaons are based entirely upon the reflex prin- 

 tripki a&jdi findfi^d are nothing more than reflex action. 

 jBtdtiplifed and fcompounded to a high degree of complexity. 

 B&ir£aT. then^ ifoom there being any apparent impossibility 

 •abput "^i^Xp^idimng the highest mental manifestations on 



^Qn this point, v. ipy article in Bedrock for October, 1912, with the ensuing con- 



