70 
propagates itself, and responds to stimulus, but has individual 
consciousness. It is in fact much the same theory, advocated 
from a scientific platform, as that which was expressed long ago by 
our native poet when he attributed conscious pleasure to flowers 
and plants :— 
Through primrose tufts in that sweet bower 
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths ; 
And ’tis my faith that every flower 
Enjoys the air it breathes. 
The budding twigs spread out their fan, 
To catch the breezy air : 
And I must think, do all I can, 
That there was pleasure there. 
iE 
The first, most universal, and weightiest fact, which at the 
beginning of this psychological enquiry meets the scientific explorer, 
is the dependence of all soul-activity on certain material parts of 
the animal body, viz.—the organs of soul. In man and in the 
higher animals, the soul-instruments of which I speak are the 
organs of sense, the nerve system, and the muscular system: 
in the lower animals, they are groups of cells, or even single cells, 
which have not yet been differentiated into nerves and muscles. 
Every manifestation of soul-life, every psychical work, is inseparably 
connected with such an organ, and cannot be conceived apart 
from one. It must therefore be our first duty to make ourselves 
somewhat more nearly acquainted with these organs. The above- 
named instruments of our soul-life, viz.—(1) the organs of sense, 
(2) the nerve system, and (3) the muscles, form together a single 
great apparatus which we designate briefly in one word as the 
soul-apparatus. In man, as in all the higher animals, this 
armoury of soul activity shews us a wonderfully remarkable 
combination of highly constituted organs and textures, the consti- 
tution of which is the more delicate, according as the work of 
the apparatus—the soul ac¢ivity, is the higher and more elaborate. 
