480 Animal Life and Intelligence. 



army, another mode in the throb of a great printing-press ; 

 there is one mode of kinesis in the quivering molecules of 

 the intensely heated sun, another in the wire that flashes 

 our thought to America, and yet another in the molecular 

 vibrations of the human brain. All are of the same order, 

 all are kinetic. But they differ so widely in mode that 

 each requires separate, patient, and long-continued study. 

 So is it, we may conclude, with metakinesis. There may 

 be, nay, there must be, many modes. But our knowledge 

 is confined to one mode — that in which the metakinesis 

 assumes the form of human consciousness. 



I have been led to discuss this matter in order further 

 to indicate the inevitable limits of our knowledge of meta- 

 kinetic evolution. Our conclusions may be thus sum- 

 marized : First, we can know directly only one product of 

 metakinetic evolution — that revealed in our own conscious- 

 ness. Secondly, the process of metakinetic evolution must 

 be reached, if reached at all, indirectly through a study of 

 kinetic evolution. Thirdly, we have no right to infer a 

 mode of metakinesis analogous to human consciousness, 

 unless the mode of kinesis is analogous to that which is 

 observed in neural processes. And, fourthly, the closer the 

 kinetic resemblance we observe, the closer the metakinetic 

 resemblance we may infer. 



The last point we have to notice, and it is by no means 

 an unimportant one, is that, just as the kinetic evolution of 

 the organism must be studied in reference to its kinetic 

 environment, so, too, must the metakinetic evolution of 

 mind be studied in reference to its metakinetic or mental 

 environment. 



Of course, in ordinary speech, and even in careful 

 scientific description, we are forced, if we would avoid 

 pedantry, to skip backwards and forwards from the kinetic 

 to the metakinetic. We speak of a kinetic cow giving rise 

 to metakinetic fear, and this determining certain kinetic 

 activities. Why we thus interpose a mental link in a 

 physical series has already been explained. The physical 



