RECIPROCAL CELL-FEELING 131 



they are separated, in some cases, by space that 

 is by no means inappreciable. If they are not 

 isolated from one another by space that is within 

 the body, neither need they necessarily be isolated 

 from one another by space that is outside the 

 body in fact, the nerve-cells of one body may 

 be able to communicate with the nerve-cells of 

 another body if their awareness is actively 

 reciprocal. In this thought we may find an 

 explanation of certain very curious manifesta- 

 tions of sympathy between different individuals 

 of intimacies which seem to lay bare the inner- 

 most moods, and even thoughts, of one friend 

 to another, and of the puzzling phenomena of 

 thought-reading, telepathy, and hypnotism. The 

 remarkable affection that binds dog to man may 

 be due to a certain innate responsiveness in the 

 attunement of their nerve cells which enables one 

 to sympathize with the other. Most lovers of 

 dogs will affirm that they can read the mind of a 

 dog as intimately as that of a human companion. 

 At night, in the tropics, the trees are haunted by 

 myriads of fire-flies, which flash their light some- 

 times independently, but at other times in most 

 exact 1 accord with one another, so as to illumine 

 the foliage as by a gleam of lightning. They 

 must time themselves by such a feeling of sym- 

 pathy as we have been considering : and we may, 

 indeed, hold that their simultaneous flashing- 

 illustrates the sudden processes which sweep 

 through our brains when we cogitate and form 

 conclusions. 



If the faculty of consciousness is inherent in a 

 sensitive cell, it must be possessed, in however 

 rudimentary a form, by all living creatures. But 

 self-consciousness appears to be a refinement that 



1 Similar concerted action commonly occurs in the insect world, 

 and is very noticeable in the accurate evolutions of a flight of 

 gregarious birds. 



