IX.] ANIMAL AUTOMATISM. 217 



practical applications so far, as to treat domestic 

 animals with neglect, if not with actual cruelty. As 

 late as the middle of the eighteenth century, the pro- 

 blem was discussed very fully and ably by Bouillier, 

 in his "Essai philosophique sur Time des Betes," 

 while Condillac deals with it in his "Traite des 

 . Animaux ; " but since then it has received little 

 attention. Nevertheless, modern research has brought 

 to light a great multitude of facts, which not only 

 show that Descartes' view is defensible, but render it 

 far more defensible than it was in his day. 



It must be premised, that it is wholly impossible 

 absolutely to prove the presence or absence of con- 

 sciousness in anything but one's own brain, though, 

 by analogy, we are justified in assuming its existence 

 in other men. Now if, by some accident, a man's 

 spinal cord is divided, his limbs are paralysed, so far 

 as his volition is concerned, below the point of injury; 

 and he is incapable of experiencing all those states of 

 consciousness, which, in his uninjured state, would be 

 excited by irritation of those nerves which come off 

 below the injury. If the spinal cord is divided in 

 the middle of the back, for example, the skin of the 

 feet may be cut, or pinched, or burned, or wetted 

 with vitriol, without any sensation of touch, or of 

 pain, arising in consciousness. So far as the man is 

 concerned, therefore, the part of the central nervous 



c'est que Dieu les faisant pour les conserver, il a conforme leurs corps 

 de telle maniere, qu'ils evitent organiquement, sans le savoir, tout ce 

 qui peut les detruire et qu'ils semblent craindre." ("Feuillet de 

 Conches. Meditations Metaphysiques et Correspondance de N. Male- 

 branche. Neuvieme Meditation." 1841.) 



