CHAP. XIV The Simplest Animals 217 



but as psychical, in fact that the two are inseparable aspects of one 

 reality. " The cell-soul in the monistic sense is the sum -total of 

 the energies embodied in the protoplasm, and is as inseparable 

 from the cell-substance as the human soul from the nervous 

 system." For several years Verwom has been investigating the 

 psychical life of the Protozoa. He has conducted his researches 

 with great care and thoroughness, observing the animals both in 

 their natural life and in artificial conditions. I shall cite his con- 

 , elusions, translating them freely : ' ' An investigator of the psychical 

 processes in Protists (simple forms of life) has to face two distinct 

 problems. The first is comparative, and inquires into the grade of 

 psychical development which the Protists may exhibit — the known 

 standard being found of course in man ; the second is physiological, 

 and inquires into the nature of these psychical processes. Since 

 we know these only through the movements in which they are 

 expressed, the Investigation is primarily a study of the movements 

 of Protists. 



" On a superficial observation of these movements the impression 

 arises in the observer's mind that they are the result of higher 

 psychical processes, like the consciously willed activities of men. 

 Especially the spontaneous movements of advance and recoil, of 

 testing and searching, give us the impression of being intentional 

 and voluntary, since no external stimulus can account for them ; 

 while even some of the movements provoked by stimuli appear on 

 account of their marked aptness to arise from conscious sensation 

 and determination. 



" But a critical study of the results yielded by an investigation 

 of spontaneous and stimulated movements warrants a more secure 

 judgment than that of the superficial observer, and leads to a con- 

 clusion opposed to his. To this conclusion we are led, that none 

 of the higher psychical processes, such as conscious sensations, 

 representations, thoughts, determinations, or conscious acts of will, 

 are exhibited by Protists. A number of criteria show that the 

 movements are in part impulsive and automatic, and in part reflex, 

 and in both cases expressions of unconscious psychical processes. 



" This opinion is corroborated by an examination of the structure 

 of these Protists, for this does not seem such as would make it 

 possible for the individual to have an idea of its own unified self, 

 and the absence of self-consciousness excludes the higher psychical 

 processes. Small fragments cut from a Protist cell continue to 

 make the same movements as they made while parts of the intact 

 organism. Each fragment is an independent centre for itself. 

 There is no evidence that the nucleus of the organism is a psychical 

 centre. There is no unified Psyche. 



' ' Since the characteristic movements persist in such small frag- 



