220 ANIMAL AUTOMATISM v 



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 system which lies beyond the injury is 

 cut off from consciousness. It must indeed be 

 admitted, that, if any one think fit to maintain that 

 the spinal cord below the injury is conscious, but 

 that it is cut off from any means of making its 

 consciousness known to the other consciousness in 

 the brain, there is no means of driving him from 

 his position by logic. But assuredly there is no 

 way of proving it, and in the matter of conscious- 

 ness, if in anything, we may hold by the rule, " De 

 non apparentibus et de non existentibus eadeiu cst 

 ratio." However near the brain the spinal cord is 

 injured, consciousness remains intact, except that 

 the irritation of parts below the injury is no 

 longer represented by sensation. On the other 

 hand, pressure upon the anterior division of the 

 brain, or extensive injuries to it, abolish conscious- 

 ness. Hence, it is a highly probable conclusion, 

 that consciousness in man depends upon the 

 integrity of the anterior division of the brain, 

 while the middle and hinder divisions of the brain, 1 

 and the rest of the nervous centres, have nothing 

 to do with it. And it is further highly probable, 



Not to be confounded with the anterior middle and hinder 

 parts of the hemispheres of the ccivbruin. 



