io COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN 



blood which prevents the muscles of our skeleton 

 from beating rhythmically in our body. As the mus- 

 cles contain no ganglion-cells, it is certain that 

 the power of rhythmical spontaneous contractions 

 is not due to the specific morphological character 

 of the ganglion-cells, but to definite chemical con- 

 ditions which are not necessarily confined to gang- 

 lion-cells (3). 



The coordinated character of automatic movements 

 has often been explained by a " centre of coordina- 

 tion," which is supposed to keep a kind of police 

 watch on the different elements and see that they 

 move in the right order. Observations in lower 

 animals, however, show that the coordination of 

 automatic movements is caused by the fact that 

 that element which beats most quickly forces the 

 others to beat in its own rhythm. Aperiodic 

 spontaneity is still less a specific function of the gang- 

 lion-cell than rhythmical spontaneity. The swarm- 

 spores of algae, which possess no ganglion-cells, 

 show spontaneity equal to that of animals having 

 ganglion-cells. 



6. Thus far we have not touched upon the most 

 important problem in physiology, namely, which 

 mechanisms give rise to that complex of phenomena 

 which are called psychic or conscious. Our method 

 of procedure must be the same as in the case of in- 

 stincts and reflexes. We must find out the ele- 

 mentary physiological processes which underlie the 

 complicated phenomena of consciousness. Some 



