Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-10-27
insects. or. eInstinct Without Brain. ,,

We find few paragraphs with the
above sub-captiOn in an exchange.
The writer, apparently person by no
means deficient in early education, at
tempts in a few brief sentences to dis
pose of the great principle of nervous
apprehension, or the necessity of brain
in the activities Of lower organized
life. His very first assertion seems
to us entirely gratuitOus, and not,
warranted by the extensive researches
of sdrGns in the field of natural histO-
ry. He says:
Long ago it was ascertained by
naturalists that worms and insects are
without brain, and vet they pursue
a course of activity which borders on
the domain of reason; so we are ae-
custOmed to say that they act from in
stinct, which is no explanation at all
of phenomenon in the highest order
of organic life which have their ORR
gin in the brain. If that organ is Sc
verely injured, so that its normal
functions are no longer performed,
consciousness and orderly manlfesta-
tiOns of its influence are interrupted
or suspended.
But the insect world swarms with
beings of the most delicate cOnstruc-
ton, without hearts and without
brains, whose movements and habits,
independently of thousands OF eOntin
gencies to which they are exposed,
prove, in the most satisfactory man
ner, that their acts are a near approach
to elements of a reasoning faculty, if
they do not indicate reason itself.
When, by accident, the thread of
spiders web is broken, the little
weaver examines the misfortune with
extreme care, and by taking different
positions surveys the damage, and
then proceeds artistically to repair it
by splicing or inserting an entire new
cord.
again: when a wandering fly be-
comes entangled in the net, the own
er of the trap, lying patiently near by
for game, indicates, calculation in re-
gard to the character and and strength
of the victim. Does it not strangely
resemble reason when all its move
ments, under such an aspect of affairs,
show beyond a doubt the spider
considers the matter in all its re-
latiOns before ventuTing to seize the
prey? And yet spiders are without a
brain"
1t was our intention to venture a
few remarks in analysis and counter
consideration of these statements, so
opposed are they to the scientific theO-
ry of the functions and general distri-
buttons of the nervous system; but
writer who subscribes himself RE
fiectOrn has anticipated us by publish
ing in the same exchange well pom
dered answer and refutatiOn. We can
do better than reprint that
part of it which bears upon the illus
tratiOn which the first writer uses as
an emphatic basis for his argument.
1.-The writer of the abOve-named az
ticle says: Long ago it was ascertain
ed by naturalists that worms and in
secJs are without brains
'NOw, ! take the ground that nat
uralists have not dScertdmed, but only
supposed the lower order of animated
nature to be without brains. The spi-
der, for instance, not only has brain
but a heart, as well as all the visceTa
but, being only one small link in the
great chain of created beings, must
in accordance with the immutable
laws of nature differ from all others
in anatomical structure, position, etc.,
bul dud JlCu " It's peAAlANuAeAA opAACAN- {
The spider has blood, and its blood |
circulates. 1t cannot live if shut up !
in an air-tight vessel, showing that !
air is indispensable to its /
proving also that it has /
lungs, or 4 breathing apparatus suited 4
to its nature. The spider has eyes, |
and can see now it is not the eye |
that sees but the brain; the eye be-
ing only powerful transparent lens
which the brain looks.
1.-The spider shows instinct when it
selects a position for its net, and ex-
hibits considerable mechanical skill
in expanding or contracting it to fit
the different angles, ETC., also weav-
ing the meshes large or small, in pro-
portion to the size and power of the
weaver, and the game for which its
net is SET"
The low orders of animal life in
in some instances do not possess a
brain constituted similarly to man or
the brute, but a brain distributed
through the body with numerous CEN
.ers called gIdRglid. The crab, the
lobster, and most other members of
the erustaeean family, are so organ
zed. The turtle has very little brain
IN its head, but several considerable
brains or ganglia distributed through
he large mass of its body. From
.hese ganglia nerves proceed and ram
fy through the different portions of
he turtle, receiving sensations and
fOTce.-PhFCR. Journal.