New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-07


Court Publishing Company.
The physical basis Of life is held by modern
biologists TO be protoplasm. AS to the physlcal
basis of mind there is less agreement. The prop-
lem is one Of the first Importance. Pending cOa-
elusive evidence certain working bypotheses nave
been advanced and Professionally accepted vi
these the most generally received Is that wnicn
PLACES ths nerve-cell at the foundation OF mentai
evolution. The belief that undiferentated pro
toplasm could exhibit any evidence OF psychologlc
sct5op while never In terms rejected, has untii
recently been practically disrcgarded, the tenden-
cies of modern thought favoring the theory tna'
some completely Of constitution In the organism
was necessary to the evolution OF MIND. mr'
Romanes whose work on Mental Evolution IN
Nam The Tribune recently reviewed, presented
in his preceding volume on Mental Evolution IN
Animals chart. intended to show the grown
and limitations Of mind from the lowest 70 tne
biehess Organisms. In this chart the pro-
topiasmic organisms are credited with excitaoihty
alone. and protoplasmie movements" To the
unoeIlular Organisms conductiyity and discrimins-
tiop are assigned. 1t is not until the echinoderms
and the auneldes and larvae of insects reached,
that the germs of memory, consciousness. and
= primary instincts ere supposed to develop NOW
the conclusions TO be drawn from this theory are
far resching and tmportcnt. II Mr. Romanes is
right mental evolution does not inhere IN the
physical basis Of life, but is slowly evolved oy
processes Of protoplasmic differentiation when ars
unable to produce mental operations save tnrousn
n more or less complex and elaborate nerVesystetn.
But suppose that Mr. ROmanes is wrongs sup
pose that evidences of physical action are 10 oe
found. not only in the echlnodernls and annehdes
and larvae but in unicellular orgsnisms-ln those
minute and microscopic forms, hundreds OIL wnlch
may be seen moving in a drop OF water-ln tne
pseudopods which to all appearance are SIMPLE
lurabs Of undiffesentatcd protoplasmP Coulo
this be proved il would clearly have most Inn
portant and deeply interesting results. IL wouid
mark another step in the slow but STEADY progress
Of science toward the establishment OF unity In
nature. 1t would compel US TO look for the
physical basis Of mind not in the nerve-celi, but
in the protoplasm itself We must not say the
simple protoplaSm, for we know as yet too nttle
OF its constitution, and the tendency OF modern
ANALYSIS is SO strongly toward the resolution OF
supDosed simple substances into compound ones,
that all reference to elementary matters must be
characterized by extreme caution. All that u Is
safe 20 hazard is that so far as at present known
protoplasm constitutes the physical basis OF nte
should it be demonstrated presently that IL ls
also the physical basis Of mind we should ma our
selves approaching land not for the hrst Tune
ia this century, hoary theories wmon
nineteenth century science has evinced dlsposi-
tom heretofore to dismiss contemptuously as the
crude speculations of an ignoranS age Inc ny
notbesis of n primal substance has indeed been
rccaining plausibilty for many years. 1t Is held
f,rmIy to-day by many men Of science. But
Enough II il be true it clearly involves the initial
identify OF that which we call spirit and that
= md
fundamentally one, we should expect to find traces
~ shirt no less in the lowest forms than in the
higher. such "a possibility seems to have occurred
to very few scientists.
Nj Alfred Binet is q distinguished French man
Of science who, in conjunction with NJ fcro re-
Gently wrote luminous book upon Animal mag
netisn, which has been translated FOO the lner-
national Scientific Series" lie has for some hmo
been stadying micro-organisms and he has at
rived at conclusions regarding them when he Se'S
forth with admirable lueidity in the volume under
review. M. Binet traverses the theory Of Mr..
Romanes, whose chart Of psychoiogic eVoiuuon
he declares 20 be incorrect and misleading. lie
ssserts and undertakes to prove that psyenoiog'
ical phenomena begin among the very lowest
Oh sses of beings; they arc met with in every form
Of life, from the simplest cellue 20 the most COM
picated organism 1t is they that the essential
phenomena OF life, inherent in oil protoplasm."
The last sentence possesses as viii be perceived
az once broad and deep implications. Life, &C.
eoring to Mr.. Binet or "vitalism," as he some.
times puts il, is characterized by psychological
properties, which ore not something added to it,
bet something native to it and inherent in It, IL
this be true, we must be prepared TO find these
psyehclOgic properties not only in the Protocols,
tie micro.organisms of various kinds, but in the
worm and the spermatozoid-and in effect MIR.
Binet has found them there and he fortiRes his
theory by such wealth Of exact observations
and experiments that the reader who follows his
demonstration carefully can hardly fail Of con.
viction.
OF course 10 is necessary TO have criterion Of
mind before ii can be argued about proftably.
The first question therefore is What 10 to be con-
sjdersd valid evidence of mental evolution? Mr.
Eomanes proposes the following test: " It is
adaptive action by living organism in cases
where the inherited machinery Of the nervous sys-
tenn does not furnish data for our provision OF
what the adaptive action must necessarily belt
Is only ia such cases that we recognize the eemente
of mind.n In other words: Effectively consad-
cred the distinctive element Of mind Is conscious
ne - the test of consciousness Is the presence Of
choice. and the evidence Of choice 10 the ante
cedent uncertainty Of abusive action between
two or more alternatives" This exsctness OF
de fnition 10 rendered necessary by the difficulty
Of distinguishing between reflex actions and VOL
tional actions in many cases. NJ Binet accepts the
eriterion proposed, and undertakes to show that
ricro-organisms exhibit psychological phenomena
that they exercise choice, that is to say. and
manifest yolitio% and consciousness. Now the
organisms referred to what is termed uniceilu
lar, and they have no trace OF nervous system
Il is the theory Of Mr. Herbert Spencer that nerves
are evolved from what he calls lines OF dis
charge that is, the lines upon which waves o.
stsmulation projected through the Homogeneous
protoplssm have acquired the habit OF oceeolnt
most easily. The theory Of dihused nervous
system is less suggestive, but 1t is perhaps mor'
STRICTLY In accordance with observed facts. II u