[14] Bryan, Thermodynamics, p. 195.
[16] This is, of course, the argument of part of Chapter II. of Bergson’s Creative Evolution. The reader will not find the essential differences between plants and animals stated so clearly anywhere else in biological literature.
[17] It is no use saying that apart from the electric spark the combination would not take place, for we do not know that the O and H of the mixture do not combine very slowly, molecule by molecule, so to speak. At all events there is no functionality between the infinitesimal quantity of energy supplied by the spark, and the energy which becomes kinetic in the explosion.
[18] A statement of interest in view of the enormous number of “ferments” or enzymes discovered by physiologists. It would appear that any tissue in any organism is capable of yielding an enzyme to modern investigation.
[19] We have not referred to “psychical secretion.” If we smell some very savoury substance our “mouth waters,” that is, secretion of saliva occurs. If we even see some such substance the same secretion occurs. All this is clear and can be “explained” mechanistically: the stimulation of the olfactory or visual organs begins a kind of reflex process. But if we even think about some very savoury morsel saliva may be secreted. We must suppose now that our consciousness, something which has nothing to do, it must be noted, with energy-changes in the body, can react on the body. If we show a dog an attractive bone it will secrete saliva; if we show it again and again, the same thing occurs. But after certain such trials the dog will realise that he is being played with, and the exhibition of the bone no longer evokes a flow of secretion. Why is this? The whole process has now become more mysterious than ever.
[20] Impossible, in the sense that while we are unable to “abrogate” a physical law, Maxwell’s finite demon could, although his faculties were similar in nature to ours.
[21] Many of Jacques Loeb’s remarkable investigations point in this direction.
[22] Thus to the ordinary woman the sight of a cow in the middle of a country road produces a certain definite feeling of apprehension, which is always the same although the optical image of the animal differs remarkably in different adventures.
[23] We do not find this explicitly stated in this way in mechanistic biological writings. None the less it is implied, and is the legitimate conclusion from the arguments used.