IX.] ANIMAL AUTOMATISM. 237 



means inconsistent with the other aspect of the facts 

 of the case that he is a machine impelled to the 

 chase, and caused, at the same time, to have the desire 

 to catch the game by the impression which the rays of 

 light proceeding from the hare make upon his eyes, 

 and through them upon his brain. 



Much ingenious argument has, at various times, 

 been bestowed upon the question : How is it possible 

 to imagine that volition, which is a state of conscious- 

 ness, and, as such, has not the slightest community of 

 nature with matter in motion, can act upon the 

 moving matter of which the body is composed, as it 

 is assumed to do in voluntary acts ? But if, as is 

 here suggested, the voluntary acts of brutes or, in 

 other words, the acts which they desire to perform 

 are as purely mechanical as the rest of their actions, 

 and are simply accompanied by the state of conscious- 

 ness called volition, the inquiry, so far as they are 

 concerned, becomes superfluous. Their volitions do 

 not enter into the chain of causation of their actions 

 at all. 



The hypothesis that brutes are conscious automata 

 is perfectly consistent with any view that may be 

 held respecting the often discussed and curious 

 question whether they have souls or not ; and, if they 

 have souls, whether those souls are immortal or not. 

 It is obviously harmonious with the most literal 

 adherence to the text of Scripture concerning "the 

 beast that perisheth ; " but it is not inconsistent with 

 the amiable conviction ascribed by Pope to his 

 "untutored savage," that when he passes to the 



