2V8 Philosophy of Botany. 



stage oi organization. M. Romanes, in his zoological scale, 

 assigns the first manifestations of surprise and fear to th(. 

 larvae of insects and annelids; but according to A. Binet thi ; 

 emotion is proper also to infusories. If a drop of acetic acij 

 be introduced beneath the glass slide in a preparation contai i- 

 ing quantities of infusories. the latter will at once be seen o 

 flee in all directions like a flock of frightened sheep. 



Alobius thinks that memory is one of the most elemental y 

 and primitive psychological facts, already observable in tl.e 

 ciliated infusories. He properly remarks that every time i n 

 animal repeats the same action under influence of the same 

 excitation that fact proves that the animal is possessed )f 

 memory. According to Verworn even rhizopods are endow< d 

 with primary instincts, as he demonstrates in the conduct ')f 

 ihe Difflugia urceolata, which constructs an envelope out of 

 sand particles for its ofifspring, before it passes out of its boay 

 by division. 



To find such complete psychical activity in the history of 

 these low organisms Ijecomes less surprising when we call to 

 mind that, agreeable to the idea of evolution now accepted, a 

 higher animal is nothing more than a colony of protozoans. 

 Every one of the cells coniposing such an animal has retained 

 its primitive properties, giving them a higher degree of perfec- 

 tion by division of labor and by selection. The epithelial cells 

 that secrete the nails and the hair are organisms perfected with 

 reference to the secretion of protective parts. Similarly, the 

 cells of the brain are organisms that have been perfected with 

 reference to psychical attributes. 



I wish to close this sketch of protoplasm with some remarks 

 on the mechanism of the cerebral functions and ultimate infer- 

 ences in reference to the psychical problem. 



Considering that the human cerebral mass, weighing 3 4 

 pounds, consists of material of the most impressible and versa- 

 tile molecular composition, with the supra-addition of an iia- 

 mensely complicated structure, with a supply of blood for its 

 nutrition and repair, amounting to one-third of the supply f jr 

 the whole body, it is evident that a motor center is provided,, 

 able to evolve great effects. 



Microscopical cerebral anatomy and psycho-physiology 



