212 ANIMAL AUTOMATISM v 



idea it suggests was fully understood by Descartes' 

 contemporaries, is apparent from a passage in 

 Willis's well-known essay, " De Anima Bmtorum," 

 published in 1672, in which, in giving an account 

 of Descartes' views, he speaks of the animal spirits 

 being diverted into motor channels, " velut imdu- 

 latione reflexa." 1 



Nothing can be clearer in statement, or in 

 illustration, than the view of reflex action which 

 Descartes gives in the "Passions de 1'Ame," 

 Art. xiii. 



After recapitulating the manner in which sensory 

 impressions transmitted by the sensory nerves to 

 the brain give rise to sensation, he proceeds : 



"And in addition to the different feelings excited in the 

 soul by these different motions of the brain, the animal spirits, 

 without the intervention of the soul, may take their course 

 towards certain muscles, rather than towards others, and thus 

 move the limbs, as I shall prove by an example. If some one 

 moves his hand rapidly towards our eyes, as if he were going to 

 strike us, although we know that he is a friend, that h j dors it 

 only in jest, and that he will be very careful to do us no harm, 

 nevertheless it will be hard to keep from winking. And this 

 shows, that it is not by the agency of the soul that the eyes 

 shut, since this .action is contrary to that volition which is the 



1 " ( >tiaincuni((ue Brati actionem, velut automati mechanic! 

 niotum artificiulcm, in co consistere quod se prinii'> sensibile 

 aliquod spiritus animales afiicims, eosqur intror.siim mnvertens, 

 scnsioncm excit.it, a qua mox iidem spiritus, velut undulatine 

 rcflexfi denuo retrorsum commoti atque pro concinno ipsius 

 fabrii-n: nrganoniiH, et partium ordine, in certos nervos musciil- 

 osque determinati, resj>ectivos mrmbronim motus perfichuit."- 

 WILLIS: DC Animd JJriUorum, p. 5, ed. 1763. 



