THE INNER FEELING 333 



motion ; in the same way portions of a fluid may be agitated in the 

 cerebral hemispheres, while the rest of the fluid remains still : these 

 are truths that cannot be called in doubt. But if it is manifest that the 

 nervous fluid may receive movements in a certain part of its mass, 

 it is no less so that special causes may agitate almost the entire mass 

 of this fluid, since all its parts are in communication. I say almost the 

 entire mass, because in the ordinary inner emotions, that portion of the 

 nervous fluid which serves for the excitation of muscles independently 

 of the individual, and often also that portion contained in the hemi- 

 spheres of the brain, are sheltered from the agitations which constitute 

 emotions. 



The nervous fluid may therefore undergo movement in its separate 

 parts, or as a whole ; it is these latter movements which constitute 

 the general agitations of the fluid, that we are about to discuss. 



General agitations of the nervous fluids are of two kinds, viz. : 



1. Partial agitations which become general and end by reactions ; 

 it is this kind of agitation which produces feehng. We have dealt 

 with it in Chapter III. ; 



2. Agitations which are general from the first and form no reaction : 

 it is these which constitute the inner emotions, and it is exclusively 

 with them that we shall now deal. 



But a word must first be said about the feehng of existence, since it 

 is in this feeling that the inner emotions take their rise. 



Of the Feeling of Existence. 



The feeling of existence, which I shall call inner feeling, so as not 

 to imply a universality which it does not possess, is a very obscure 

 feeling possessed by animals whose nervous system is sufficiently 

 developed. 



This feeling, obscure as it is, is none the less very powerful ; for it is 

 the origin of the inner emotions, and consequently of that singular 

 force which enables individuals to produce for themselves the move- 

 ments and actions which their needs demand. Now this feeling, 

 regarded as a very active motive power, works simply by dispatching 

 to the required muscles the nervous fluid which is to excite them. 



The feehng in question is now well recognised, and results from 

 the confused assembly of inner sensations which are constantly 

 arising throughout the animal's hfe, owing to the continual impres- 

 sions which the movements of life cause on its sensitive internal 

 parts. 



Indeed, as a result of the organic or vital movements taking place 

 in every animal, those which possess an adequate nervous system 

 derive from it physical sensibility and are incessantly being affected 



