226 ANIMAL AUTOMATISM. [LECT. 



state of consciousness, which we term a tactile sen- 

 sation, accompany the operation of this nervous 

 apparatus in the abnormal state ? or is consciousness 

 utterly absent, the man being reduced to an insensible 

 mechanism 1 



It is impossible to obtain direct evidence in 

 favour of the one conclusion or the other ; all that 

 can be said is, that the case of the frog shows that 

 the man may be devoid of any kind of consciousness. 



A further difficult problem is this. The man is 

 insensible to sensory impressions made through the 

 ear, the nose, the tongue, and, to a great extent, the 

 eye ; nor is he susceptible of pain from causes operat- 

 ing during his abnormal state. Nevertheless, it is 

 possible so to act upon his tactile apparatus, as to 

 give rise to those molecular changes in his sensorium, 

 which are ordinarily the causes of associated trains of 

 ideas. I give a striking example of this process in 

 Dr. Mesnet's words : 



"II sepromenait dans le jardin, sous un massif d'arbres, on 

 lui remet a la main sa canne qu'il avait Iaiss6 tomber quelques 

 minutes avant. II la palpe, promene a plusieurs reprises la main 

 sur la poigne"e coudee de sa canne devient attentif semble 

 prater 1'oreille et, tout-a-coup, appelle * Henri! 7 Puis, 'Les 

 voila ! Us sont au moins une vingtaine ! a nous deux, nous en 

 viendrons a bout ! ' Et alors portant la main derriere son dos 

 comme pour prendre une cartouche, il fait le mouvement de 

 charger son arme, se couche dans 1'herbe a plat ventre, la tete 

 cache'e par un arbre, dans la position d'un tirailleur, et suit, 

 1'arme e"paulee, tous les mouvements de I'euuemi qu'il croit voir 

 a courte distance." 



In a subsequent abnormal period, Dr. Mesnet 



