Why does man exist ? : the continuation and conclusion of Whence comes man ? / by Arthur John Bell.

  • Bell, Arthur John.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Why does man exist ? : the continuation and conclusion of Whence comes man ? / by Arthur John Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the hfty pounds. To the fifty you add ten, twenty, forty pounds; hut tlie l)eam never moves, it continues throughout —horizontal; the man has his desire satisfied. To be able to “ strive,” to “ effort,” that which strives or efforts must have at its command a certain amount of force, and must be able to use such force either all at once, or only such portion of it as tliat whicii strives needs for the attainment of a desired end. In the illustration used, the man varied the amount of force used so as exactly to balance whatever weight was on the o^jposite scale, the object being to satisfy Ids desire, which was—to keep tlie beam hori- zontal ; and, in virtue of being able to varji the amount used, he kept the beam horizontal, he satisfied his desire. Let us take another illustration : extreme efforting. Let us supjjose an occupied house at midnight. If is some distance from any other house or houses. The master of the house and his wife ere asleej) in a room on the first floor. The children and servants are asleep in various rooms above. One—the youngest, the best beloved—sleejis in the uppermost room of all. She has been reading in bed. She has fallen asleep with the unextinguished candle very near the bed-curtains—so near that a j)0ssilde motion on the part of the sleeping girl may set them on fire. She makes that motion. The curtains burst into flames. The heat and smoke awake her. Paralysed by the horrible sight of the burning drapery, she utters a faint scream as she staggers out of bed and falls senseless on the floor. And the door is locked on the inside. The girl’s scream is loud enough to awake the mother : but, at first, she is confused by the sudden awaking—she hardly knows what iias awakened her. She smells the fire. She franticaliy awakens her husband. He rushes to the nearest rooms, and finds the children asleep. They are (piickly awakened by tlie motlier. The father flies to the topmost chamlier, where he finds, to his horror, that the door is locked on the inside. Tlie smoke pours over the top of the