government, in the newspaper press, radio, and the 
cinema. 
23. It may be considered that I am concentrating 
too much on Biosophy as a book subject. I think, 
from the point of view of reaching all the people all 
the time, this is unavoidable. We must not, however, 
lose sight of other points of view. First there is the 
laboratory side; a small amount of elementary science 
is already taught as a laboratory subject even in primary 
schools, and this is capable of considerable extension; 
but anything in the nature of adequate ‘laboratory pre- 
sentation of Biosophy means more time than the average 
student can spare and more expense of teachers and 
equipment, if the whole of the public is to benefit, than 
seems at present practicable; this difficulty is present 
even in the great centres of culture, and in remote, 
sparsely settled districts, which, after all, collectively 
are of at least equal human importance with the great 
centres, it becomes almost insuperable. Books, on the 
other hand, can reach everyone at comparatively neg- 
ligible cost; and a book is always there to be read or 
referred to, 
24. Of permanent institutions for the promotion of 
Biosophy, next in importance after the primary school 
comes the public free library, for there is nothing to 
prevent the development of an adequate library, including 
a library of Biosophy, even in the most remote country 
centres. Museums also are capable of being developed 
to give an adequate presentation of Biosophy, and by 
the exhibition of scientific apparatus and reproduction 
of experiments, could come very close to taking the 
place of laboratory work; small educational museums 
are by far the least expensive means of bringing science 
before the public in a practical, tangible form, and are 
capable of being established in remote districts, where 
they will be in their sphere of influence of equal value 
with the large city institutions, Supplementary to the 
permanent equipment of school, library and museum, 
very valuable use, from the biosophical point of view, 
may be made of educational films in the cinema, and 
educational talks on the radio; nor should it be forgotten 
that, besides such “educational” work, a high cultural 
standard in drama and music in the normal programmes 
is of equal importance to the Biosopher. 
FREE WILL, 
25. I think that Biosophy will be based on the 
assumption that our will is free. Λα imposing array 
of data can be assembled in contradiction of this; it may 
he granted at once that our powers are strictly limited 
by the “laws” of Nature and that we can only do things 
in accordance with those “laws.” _ In many cases, when 
we think we act deliberately and of free will, it can be 
shown that circumstances and conditions in relation to 
our particular character have had much more part in 
determining our “choice” of a line of action than we 
ourselves realise. This is well shown in statistics of 
human action, where, even if it would be difficult to 
forecast the precise behaviour of an individual, one can 
43 
Free Will 
safely forecast the percentage of a large group which 
will act in a particular way. For example; I could 
hardly say myself if I shall pay a tax before or on or 
after its due date, but the taxation department knows 
fairly well what percentage of its victims will call on 
each particular day over a period. I do not know if | 
shall spend Sunday on the beach or in the hills or in 
the art gallery, but the caterer at each of these places 
has a good idea, according to weather and season, how 
many visitors to provide for, 
20. According to the degree of certainty with which 
a result can be expected from given conditions, we may 
distinguish three series of cases, characterised respec- 
tively by Necessity, Chance and (?) Free Will. 
27. A. As an example of the first, if I fill a bottle 
with a mixture of two volumes of Hydrogen to one of 
Oxygen and apply a match, an explosion will follow. 
However many times I repeat the experiment (so long 
as I do not bungle my preparations) the result will be 
the same. The “laws” of nature are followed inevitably. 
28. B. As an example of the second, you and I each 
have fifty pounds and we agree to stake the whole of 
this amount on the result of once tossing a penny. 
According as it comes down “head” or “tail” one of us 
will lose all his money to the other. There is no cer- 
tainty which will win; it is an “even chance.” The bare 
statement, however, needs some qualification; if the 
precise speed, direction and spin were known with which 
the penny left the tosser’s hand the result could be 
foretold with some degree of certainty; indeed, if a 
machine were constructed with extreme accuracy and 
used to toss the penny, and its mode of action carefully 
tabulated, it is quite likely that it could be made to 
throw “heads” or "tails" at the owner's wish, In other- 
words, if the conditions were more perfectly known, 
Necessity might be found to take the place of Chance. 
It is further to be noted that, using the crude method of - 
tossing the penny, Chance gives place to an increasing 
degree of Certainty when a large number of throws are 
made, When you and I risk our fifty pounds on a 
single throw it is an "even chance" which wins; but 
if we made 12,000 throws and had a penny bet on each 
throw, it would be very surprising if we did not each 
end up within a few shillings of keeping his own fifty’ 
pounds. The result in a large number of cases con- 
sidered statistically is practically as certain as was the 
result in our first example: it is an instance of “statisti- 
cal law” in the mass covering “uncertainty” in the 
individual ‘case. It is important to remember that 
recent discoveries and theories in atomic physics indicate 
that some of our “natural laws” may really be “statis- 
tical laws,” individual uncertainty in the behaviour of 
particles being masked by statistical certainty in the 
average behaviour. For example, in a small mass of 
radium the number of particles thrown off in a second 
and the average “life” of a radium atom may be known 
exactly, but the knowledge is statistical and there appears 
