TRACES OF IT IN MAN 221 



Assuming that it is as I imagine; that there is in 

 the brains of birds and other creatures a nerve, or 

 nerves, sensitive to such an extraneous force, even 

 as there are nerves sensitive to the often fatal effects 

 of animal magnetism (sometimes called fascination) 

 and to other extraneous forces; that it is a sense — 

 an incipient sense or a sense in the making in some 

 and a perfected sense in others — and is the origin 

 of migration, which, as we see, is an irregular, erratic, 

 and as a rule disastrous, impulse and act in insects 

 and even in some vertebrates, while in others, in birds 

 especially, it has developed in a manner favourable 

 to the species, and arrived at the state of perfection 

 we find in the swallow, the cuckoo and turtle-dove: 

 assuming all this, and that there is something of this 

 sensitiveness in practically all creatures endowed with 

 nerves, may we not find some traces, however faint, 

 of it in our own species ? I am inclined to think there 

 is a trace of it in the north-and-south position some 

 persons find it necessary to lie in to get a proper 

 night's rest. I had often heard of the fact, as I 

 suppose everybody has, but it was only when I began 

 to make a proper inquiry into it that I found how 

 common and widespread the belief is. Experimenting 

 first on myself, I found a slight advantage in sleeping 

 in this position, but it was probable that " thinking 

 made it so," and the experiment was of no value; 

 but when I questioned others, as many as I could, I 

 came upon facts or experiences much more definite 

 and convincing. The instances I collected would fill 

 a chapter, and in a majority of them the relief found 



