484 Mr. W. S, Savory [March 14, 



more evidence that the motion exhibited by far the largest number 

 of animals is voluntary. 



Nor is it possible to say when or where the earliest indications of 

 voluntary motion appear — that is to say, a movement under the 

 influence of a will : but undoubtedly the application of the phrase 

 should be restricted within much narrower limits than it commonly is. 



We are apt to confound the term 'voluntary' with the visible 

 adaptation of a movement to an obvious purpose ; but a passing 

 consideration of some of our own functions will render this error 

 manifest. For example, what movements are more obviously adapted 

 to a definite purpose than those of the muscles of respiration — the 

 muscles by whose action the respiratory movements are effected ? Yet 

 we know that neither the will nor even consciousness is at all times 

 concerned in them, for they work most efficiently during the pro- 

 foundest sleep. 



Again, the evident purpose and adaptation manifested in the 

 movements of animals — the cold-blooded for example — when beheaded, 

 must be admitted to be independent of will or consciousness, or we are 

 driven to the extravagant assumption that these faculties may remain 

 after the brain is removed. 



Pass at once to the other extreme of animal life and watch the 

 movements of Infusoria. What actions do they exhibit more entitled 

 to be called voluntary than those just mentioned ? When we observe 

 the movements which these active atoms accomplish, we are prone, 

 from our preconceived ideas of motion as we commonly witness it in 

 the higher animals and in ourselves, to consider it voluntary without 

 sufficient evidence. 



Nor is it only in the lowly organized Infusoria that we seek in 

 vain for any evidence of the existence of a will. There are no good 

 grounds for concluding that the actions of creatures far beyond these 

 are in their nature voluntary. 



Be it remembered that there is no more evidence of the existence 

 even of nerve-force in the simplest animals than in plants. No trace 

 of nerve-structure has yet been demonstrated. 



The visible adaptation of a movement to an obvious purpose, is 

 therefore not necessarily evidence that it is voluntary. It by no means 

 implies even consciousness ; far less of itself does it indicate a will. 



Still more closely is Locomotion associated with our idea of the 

 nature of an animal. And although, when the higher individuals or 

 extreme forms of the two kingdoms are compared, the power of 

 locomotion is undoubtedly a striking and distinctive attribute of an 

 animal, yet while on the one hand vast numbers of the lower animals 

 are fixed to one spot, on the other, many of the lowest forms of 

 vegetable life possess the power of locomotion. Amongst the lower 

 members of either kingdom many are locomotive in the earlier, and 

 fixed in the later, periods of their existence. Some others again are 

 locomotive only during the later stages of their existence. 



The movements which are exhibited by living beings are not 



