ANIMAL AUTOMATISM. 233 



by which external influences determine the movements 

 of the body, in the abnormal state. But does the state 

 of consciousness, which we term a tactile sensation, 

 accompany the operation of this nervous apparatus in the 

 abnormal state ? or is consciousness utterly absent, the 

 man being reduced to an insensible mechanism ? 



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 in- 

 sensible 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 operating during 

 his abnormal state. Nevertheless, it is possible so to act 

 upon his tactile apparatus, as to give rise to those mo- 

 lecular changes in his sensorium, which are ordinarily 

 the causes of associated trains of ideas. I give a strik- 

 ing example of this process in Dr. Mesnet's words : 



" H se promenait dans le jardin, sous un massif d'arbres, on lui 

 remet a la main sa canne qu'il avait laisse tomber quelques minutes 

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

 poignee coudee de sa canne devient attentif semble preter Toreille 

 et, tout-a-coup, appelle 4 Henri! ' Puis, 'Les voil&! 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 car- 

 touche, il fait le mouvement de charger son arme, se couche dans 

 Therbe a plat ventre, la t&te cach6e par un arbre, dans la position 

 d'un tirailleur, et suit, 1'arme 6paul6e, tous Ics mouvements de 1'en- 

 nemi qu'il croit voir a courte distance." 



In a subsequent abnormal period, Dr. Mesnet caused 



