306 ANIMAL FORCES. [ii. 



597. Lastly, those also are in error, who conclude that 

 because an animal performs movements, which are effected by 

 the cerebral forces alone, without the co-operation of the vis 

 nervosa, all its animal forces are actions of the cerebral forces 

 (590, 593). This is the error of the Stahlians, who consider 

 all animal movements to be sentient actions, nay, to be medi- 

 tated acts of a will, of which the soul is necessarily unconscious. 

 The old error, lately renewed by Whytt, is also connected with 

 this erroneous supposition, namely, that the souls of animals are 

 distributed throughout their bodies by means of the nerves, 

 because animal movements, which are usually sentient actions, 

 can be excited in decapitated animals, thus assuming that no 

 other force than the mental can effect this. 



