CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES AND MEMORY 249 



similar observations, which are doubtless correct, 

 Pfluger concluded that the spinal cord possesses con- 

 sciousness. Pfluger's statements gave rise to a lively 

 discussion. His opponents could not refute his con- 

 clusions entirely, but they advanced arguments to show 

 that the spinal cord does not possess consciousness. 

 Goltz's ingenious experiments deserve special mention 

 in this connection (3). They show that the decapi- 

 tated frog is not able to rescue itself from an unpleas- 

 ant situation. A blinded but otherwise normal frog 

 and a frog without cerebral hemispheres were placed 

 together in a trough filled with water and the water 



o o 



heated gradually. When the temperature of the water 

 rose, the blinded frog became restless, jumped about, 

 and attempted to escape from the trough. The frog 

 without cerebral hemispheres, on the other hand, re- 

 mained quiet and the heat rigor overcame it in the 

 attitude it assumed when put into the trough. This 

 of course speaks against the presence of consciousness 

 in the spinal cord. But since this did not directly 

 prove the erroneousness of Pfluger's conclusions, opin- 

 ions remained divided. I believe we are now in a 

 position to prove that Pfluger's observations not only 

 allow but demand an entirely different explanation, and 

 that it is wroncr to make them a criterion for the exist- 



o 



ence of consciousness. The experiment with the tail 

 of the eel is a case of tropism. The eel is positively 

 stereotropic. It is forced to bring every part of its 

 body as far as possible in contact with solid bodies, 

 like Nereis, many insects, the stolons of Hydroids, 



