THE REACTIONS OF LOWER ANIMALS. 24 1 



conscious beings. Bethe,^ however, says : " I have cut away the 

 entire abdomen from bees and have seen them live over an 

 hour, during which time, from the moment of the operation on, 

 if I placed them at some honey, they sucked at it unceasingly. 

 Indeed, while a bee sat on ray hand and sucked honey I have 

 suddenly cut off its abdomen. It raised up for a moment and 

 then quietly sucked on at the honey." I have cut off the 

 abdomen, piece by piece, of Libelhda without the animal's 

 making any reactions whatever. 



In conclusion it may be here remarked that of course the 

 absence of reactions on the part of the lower animals to injury 

 does not directly prove the absence of pain. It may, however, 

 be as strongly asserted that the reactions of these animals to 

 injury furnish no safe evidence that they are due to the pres- 

 ence of pain-sensations ; and, further, if such reactions do indi 

 cate pain, then by the same criterion we must attribute pain 

 sensations to pieces of an animal which likewise react to injury, 

 — a view which to me seems entirely unbiological. 



^ Bethe, Albrecht, " Vergleichende Untersuchungen liber die Functionen des 

 Centralnervensystems der Arthropoden," Pflilger^s Arckiv, Bd. Ixviii, p. 509. 



