CONSCIOUSNESS AND SENSA TION. 1 1 r 



to move the pinna of the ear or bring the palmaris 

 brevis into action. If I attempt either of these 

 actions I am conscious of exercising an effort to 

 produce contraction in the neighbourhood of the 

 part, on that side of it towards which 1 wish to 

 move it. It seems to me therefore that muscular 

 sense, as I have sought to explain it, is sufficient, in 

 conjunction with experience, to account even for 

 the movement of the fingers. 



The bearing of the hypothesis now put forward 

 on the functions of the nerves may be expressed in 

 a few propositions. 



1. The irritation of a nerve of common sensation 

 throws the nerve into the impressed condition ; 

 and as soon as that condition is continued to the 

 brain, the mind recognizes the irritation at the site 

 where it is applied, in the form of sense of touch, 

 temperature, or pain, according to its character. 

 Over-intensity of the impressed condition may also 

 itself be recognized in the form of pain. 



2. Nerves of special sense differ from those of 

 common sensation both in the circumstance that 

 the apparatus 'at their extremities is affected by 

 irritations of a different kind from those which 

 affect other nerves, and in their irritation being 

 recognized in the form of the special sense to which 

 they are devoted. 



