combinations which are never identically repeated. Fire we
know, and shavings we know, but no two men ever were or ever will be exactly
alike; and the smallest difference may change the whole conditions of the
problem. Our registry of results must be infinite before we could arrive at a
full forecast of future combinations; the wonder is that there is as much
certainty concerning human action as there is; and assuredly the older we grow
the more certain we feel as to what such and such a kind of person will do in
given circumstances; but this could never be the case unless human conduct were
under the influence of laws, with the working of which we become more and more
familiar through experience.
    If the above is sound, it follows that the regularity with which machinery
acts is no proof of the absence of vitality, or at least of germs which may be
developed into a new phase of life. At first sight it would indeed appear that a
vapour-engine cannot help going when set upon a line of rails with the steam up
and the machinery in full play; whereas the man whose business it is to drive it
can help doing so at any moment that he pleases; so that the first has no
spontaneity, and is not possessed of any sort of free will, while the second has
and is.
    This is true up to a certain point; the driver can stop the engine at any
moment that he pleases, but he can only please to do so at certain points which
have been fixed for him by others, or in the case of unexpected obstructions
which force him to please to do so. His pleasure is not spontaneous; there is an
unseen choir of influences around him, which make it impossible for him to act
in any other way than one. It is known beforehand how much strength must be
given to these influences, just as it is known beforehand how much coal and
water are necessary for the vapour-engine itself; and curiously enough it will
be found that the influences brought to bear upon the driver are of the same
kind as those brought to bear upon the engine - that is to say, food and warmth.
The driver is obedient to his masters, because he gets food and warmth from
them, and if these are withheld or given in insufficient quantities he will
cease to drive; in like manner the engine will cease to work if it is
insufficiently fed. The only difference is, that the man is conscious about his
wants, and the engine (beyond refusing to work) does not seem to be so; but this
is temporary,