ANIMAL AUTOMATISM. 223 



only to those which we perform without the help of our minds. 

 For which reason we shall be forced to conclude, that we know of 

 the existence in them of no other principle of motion than the dis- 

 position of their organs and the continual affluence of animal spirits 

 produced by the heat of the heart, which attenuates and subtilises 

 the blood; and, at the same time, we shall acknowledge that we 

 have had no reason for assuming any other principle, except that, 

 not having distinguished these two principles of motion, and seeing 

 that the one, which depends only on the animal spirits and the 

 organs, exists in beasts as well as in us, we have hastily concluded 

 that the other, which depends on mind and on thought, was also 

 possessed by them." 



Descartes' line of argument is perfectly clear. He 

 starts from reflex action in man, from the unquestionable 

 fact that, in ourselves, co-ordinate, purposive, actions 

 may take place, without the intervention of conscious- 

 ness or volition, or even contrary to the latter. As 

 actions of a certain degree of complexity are brought 

 about by mere mechanism, why may not actions of still 

 greater complexity be the result of a more refined 

 mechanism ? What proof is there that brutes are other "S 

 than a superior race of marionettes, which eat without 

 pleasure, cry without pain, desire nothing, know nothing, 

 and only simulate intelligence as a bee simulates a mathe- 

 matician ? * 



* Malebranche states the view taken by orthodox Cartesians in 1689 

 very forcibly : " Ainsi dans les chiens, les chats, et les autres animaux, il 

 n'y a ny intelligence, ny ame spirituelle comme on 1'entend ordinairement. 

 Us mangent sans plaisir; ils orient sans douleur; ils croissent sans le 

 B9avoir ; ils ne desirent rien ; ils ne connoissent rien ; et s'ils agissent avec 

 adresse et d'une maniere qui marque 1'intelligence, c'est que Dicu les faisant 

 pour les conserver, il a conform6 Icurs corps de telle maniere, qu'ils eVitent 

 organiquement, sans le S9avoir, tout ce qui peut les deiruire et qu'ils 

 scmblent craindre." (" Feuillet de Conches. Meditations M6taphysiques et 

 Correspondance de N. Malebranche. Neuvieme Meditation." 1841.) 



