Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 61.djvu/304

298 functions of the spinal cord, which in mammals is devoted to reflex actions. Its verification is further suggested by the natural history of habits. As we all know, new actions are performed with difficulty and slowly, but if often repeated they are soon easier and more rapid. If a given reaction to a sensation or group of sensations through consciousness is advantageous to the organism and the environment is such that the sensation is often repeated, then a habit is formed and the response becomes more rapid, and often in ourselves we see habits which arose from conscious action working almost without the participation of consciousness, and moreover working usefully because rapidly. The usefulness of conscious reactions is that they are determined not merely by the present sensation but also by past sensations, but they have the defect that they are slow. We can readily understand that it would aid an organism to have the quicker reaction substituted, and we thus recognize a valid teleological reason for the replacement of conscious action by habits in the individual, by instincts in the race. The investigation of the evolution of reflexes and instincts is one of the important and most promising tasks of comparative psychology.

A frank unbiased study of consciousness must convince every biologist that it is one of the fundamental phenomena of at least animal life, if not, as is quite possible, of all life. Nevertheless its consideration has barely a place in biological science, although it has long occupied a vast place in philosophy and metaphysics. If this address shall contribute to a clearer appreciation of the necessity of treating consciousness as primarily a problem for biological research to solve, my purpose will be achieved. In an ideal world philosophers and scientists would be identical; in the actual world there are philosophical scientists and scientific philosophers, but in the main the followers of the two disciplines pursue paths which are unfortunately distinct. The philosophical mind is of a type unlike the scientific. The former tries to progress primarily by thought based on the data available, the latter seeks to advance primarily by collecting additional data. The consequence of this difference is that philosophy is dependent upon the progress of science, but we who pursue the scientific way make no greater mistake than to underestimate philosophy. The warning is needed. Data of observation are a treasure and very precious. They are the foundation of our mental wealth, but that wealth consists of the thought into which the data are transmitted. In pleading therefore for an increased observational study of consciousness we plead, not merely for science, but equally for philosophy. The scientific progress must come first. Hence we urge the advantage of investigating consciousness in its immediate revelations which are accessible now. Let us give up the ineffectual struggle to discover the essential nature