New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-24
Liferorr NetOs and Criticism

nerfected is faculty Of using and even
OF constructing organized instrurneh's'
Intelligence perfected is the faculty OF
making and using unorganized insuu-
ments What within its limits instinct
| can accomplish is illustrated by impress
sive examples. such as that OF the wasps
who live in obedience to the general
theme. "the necessity OF paralyzing with
ont killing" The species that have this
/ instinct lay their eggs in spiders, beetles
or caterpillars. which, having first been
subjected by the wasp to a skilful surgi-
cal operation. will go on living notion
less a certain number OF days, and thus
provide the larvae with fresh meat. In
the sting which they give 70 the nerve
centres Of their victim they take into ac-
count. so TO speak. the different species
OF prey they respectively attack. The
Scotia. attacking a larvee Of the rose
beetle stings II in one point only out III
this point the motor ganglia are concen-
trated. and those ganglia alone. The
stlnging Of other ganglia might cause
death and putrefaction. The Ammophila
hirsuta gives nine successive strokes OF
its sting upon nine nerve centres OF us
caterpillar. and then seizes the head ana
squeezes il in its mandibles enough 10
cause paralysis without death.
The zeal shown by n. Bergson IN
strictly defining the provinces OF IN
stinct and intelligence finds explanation
when we come 10 what forms his Sec
ond outstanding hvpothesis-the idea
namely. that reality, the real inward
ness OF life never disclosed 10 the
CLAIMANT intellect. is revealed to intui-
ton. That the vision is vouchsafed to
one and denied the other is owing 10 no
romantic arbitrariness. Intuition, by
which is meant instinct that has become
disinterested, is fitted by its long train
ing in sympathetic activity for appre-
bending vital operations. Intelligence
and instinct are ever turned in opposite
directions. the former toward inert mat
ter. the latter toward life. In dealing
with things science like all ordinary
aspect Of repetition; it can work only on
what is supposed TO repeat itself, on
what is static-that is TO say, on what Is
Withdrawn. by hypothesis, from the &C
ton Of real time Anything that is ire
duclble and irreversible in the success
sive moments of history eludes our
science Life eludes the grasp Of intel
lect much az the marching past Of
regiment may be said 10 elude the cine
matograph. for the machine reconstructs
the mobility OF the misunderstanding
BY means OF a quickly unrolled series OF
snapshots. each one Of which represents
the regiment in fixed attitude. In vain
would be your attempt 10 seize life by
increasing the number Of views and les
soning the intervals between the atti-
tudes, the veritable mobility would re-
main unpictured II we would see life.
then. we must t-y 70 see no longer with
the ewes Of the intellect alone, which
grasps only the already made and looks
from the Outeide, but with that faculty
Of vision which springs up somehow
with the turning Of the will on itself As
7 VI. Bergson eXhorts rs:
Let IFS then concentrate attention on that
which We have that is at the same time
, the most removed from externally and the
least penetrated with intellectually. Let
/ ms seek IN the depths Of our experience.
tho point whore We feel ourselves most
intimate Wdthin our own life. It IS into
pure duration that we then plunge BACK.
We must By q strong -ecoil Of our
I rrf.r "a on haT Va .
which IS slipping away, I'm order 70 thrust
ia. compact aud undivided. into a present
which ~ viii create by entering. Rare, IN
deed are the moments when We are self
possessed 10 this extent; II g. then that
Our actions are truly free.
/ Rare. indeed. for most of us such mo-
ments must be. ana if I'm the name Of art
and religion We welcome new account
I Of them. it need not escape our notice
! that the bliss which NJ BeTgson seview
Of reality imparts is not too deep for de-
scription. AS he himself observes. the
, intuition must use the pons formed
: by intelligence. To be sure. it is against
the logical categories that he chiefly in
: Weighs against erecting reality in A
/ Platonic Idea. against the ignoring Of
I whatever may not ft into ready made
: concepts However chastened by the
: present arraignment the idealist may
( still be disposed 20 insist that it takes
right ogic 70 dispose Of a false, snd that
Il takes a concept 70 demolish a con-
cent Perhaps ". BerCson's field would
he less fruitful If he mad not ploughed
with the ideaHsts heifer
When the theories If evolution sssoci-
ated with the names OF Darwin, La
narck. Spencer and their successors are
brought under revisal beneath the light
Of that vital glow IN which the universe
consists il is not surprising that neither
the theological "fualst." views nor
those of radical mechanism afford pleas
ure 10 our author AS we have seen. he
is averse to any dosmatizins about crea-
tons final goal. and he has no sympathy
for the tendency to reduce the descrip-
ton Of the universe 20 prim mathe-
mat.cal formula The evCutionism Of
Herbert Spencer was false. because il
posted in advance everything that was
10 be explained, and consequently got no
nearer 10 the root of nature and Of mind.
To speak. with Huxley, Of the entire
world as the result Of the mutual inter
action according 10 definite laws. Of the
forces possessed by the molecules OF
which the primitive nebulosity o. the
universe was composed is TO employ
mechanistic terms where they will not
potentially. in the cosmic vapor. and that