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, and has been dealt with above.
"Accordingly, the requisite strength being given to the motives that are
to drive the driver, there has never, or hardly ever, been an instance of
a man stopping his engine through wantonness. But such a case might
occur; yes, and it might occur that the engine should break down: but if
the train is stopped from some trivial motive it will be found either
that the strength of the necessary influences has been miscalculated, or
that the man has been miscalculated, in the same way as an engine may
break down from an unsuspected flaw; but even in such a case there will
have been no spontaneity; the action will have had its true parental
causes: spontaneity is only a term for man's ignorance of the gods.
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