Teachings of Thomas Huxley 77 



Evolution, the anatomical structure of the brute 

 brain is very similar to that of the human. 

 Both the gross and microscopical appearance 

 of the eye, ear, alfactory organs, nerves, and 

 spinal cord in the ape, dog, and man are almost 

 identical; and experimentally each have been 

 cut, punctured, and anesthetized with quite the 

 same result. Huxley was inclined to the be- 

 lief that animals possess a sort of mental power 

 comparable to reason. He cites the fact that 

 dogs, when sleeping, appear to dream, for they 

 go through some of the motions during sleep 

 that they are accustomed to perform when 

 awake, such as brushing flies from the nose, 

 wagging the tail, etc. If they do dream, he 

 concludes, ideation must go on while they sleep, 

 and consequently this must be but the reflected 

 image of their true waking state. This seems 

 to be stretching the point; for simple observa- 

 tion is altogether insufficient ground upon 

 which to base such a far-reaching conclusion. 

 The automatic and reflex functions of the 

 spinal cord may and sometimes do deceive the 

 observer; for there is no reason to suppose that 

 the cord is at all endowed with the higher 

 psychic functions, and one may confound such 

 effects with those proceeding as the result of 

 action in the higher cerebral centers. For ex- 

 ample, the decapitated frog tries to stroke off 

 an irritating acid from his back, and if the 

 cephalic portion of his body were concealed it 



