THE CRAYFISH MIND. 89 



while, in other cases, the act follows the sensation with- 

 out one being aware of any other mental process ; and, 

 in yet others, there is no consciousness even of the sensa- 

 tion. As I wrote these last words, for example, I had 

 not the slightest consciousness of any sensation of hold- 

 ing or guiding the pen, although my fingers were caus- 

 ing that instrument to perform exceedingly complicated 

 movements. Moreover, experiments upon animals have 

 proved that consciousness is wholly unnecessary to the 

 carrying out of many of those combined movements by 

 which the body is adjusted to varying external conditions. 



Under these circumstances, it is really quite an open 

 question whether a crayfish has a mind or not ; more- 

 over, the problem is an absolutely insoluble one, inas- 

 much as nothing short of being a crayfish would give us 

 positive assurance that such an animal possesses con- 

 sciousness ; and, finally, supposing the crayfish has a 

 mind, that fact does not explain its acts, but only shows 

 that, in the course of their accomplishment, they are 

 accompanied by phenomena similar to those of which 

 we are aware in ourselves, under like circumstances. 



So we may as well leave this question of the crayfish's 

 mind on one side for the present, and turn to a more 

 profitable investigation, namely, that of the order and 

 connexion of the physical phenomena which intervene 

 between something which happens in the neighbourhood 

 of the animal and that other something which responds 

 to it, as an act of the crayfish. 



