Individual through the Nervous System. 109 



the lantern, which is a very important thing to have on an 

 occasion such as this. Some of the questions alluded to by 

 Dr. MacCormac are certainly very old, for instance, how far 

 conscience is an acquired moral instinct } As to another point 

 which he brought forward, I believe that animals really possess 

 to a very considerable extent the power of forming general 

 ideas. All domestic animals can be made to believe that they 

 are hungry, even when they are not, by talking to them about 

 food ; and I know most dogs can be made to feel quite sorry 

 and melancholy if you speak kindly and pity them. 



Mr. Workman. — Mr. President, before you ask Dr. MacCormac 

 to reply, might I be so irregular as to make a remark ? You 

 suggested the possibility of a nerve centre starting up and 

 fighting with you in your own system. I think we have 

 specimens of that in persons of an undecided character who 

 have a difficulty in coming to a decision on points generally, 

 until Providence decides for them what they must do. You 

 have in these cases two identities. 



Dr. J. MacCormac. — My thanks are due to the gentlemen 

 who have referred to my remarks in such a kind and flattering 

 manner. I think Mr. Murphy entirely agrees with all I have 

 said. And with regard to Mr. Workman's reference to cycling 

 and the attendant exhaustion afterwards experienced, I think 

 that can be readily explained by considering the condition of 

 the muscles. It is quite easy to comprehend and explain the 

 great exhaustion felt after a certain amount of muscular action; 

 because, we must remember, we have not only five senses, as is 

 commonly understood, but we have also a sixth — a muscular 

 sense — which is just as distinct as our sense of sight, for 

 example. And I think all that has been explained in a measure 

 by what Mr. Workman has just stated. With reference to the 

 observations regarding the ganglia, I think we too frequently 

 see the evil effects of one nervous centre being over-stimulated, 

 or educated, to almost the entire neglect of the other nervous 

 centres ; and in this present day of education, a great fault is to 

 be found in the training of the young. Take for example, an 



