The sun., 1900-12-23

II was IN 1874 before the British Associa-
ton. which that year mot at Belfast. Ireland
that Huxley read his paper on Animal Au-
tomatism.- He asserted that states Of con-
sc!ousness are Immediately caused by mo-
lecular ohanges OF the brain substance. and
our mental conditions are simply the sym
bols in consciousness Of the change, which
take plnce automatically In the organism.
AZ for the bu0bear Of the logical conse-
auenccs- Of this conviction. he said: I may
be permitted 20 remark that logical conse-
ousnces are the soareorows OF fools and the
beacons Of wise mon He added that II
st. Augustine. Calvin and Jonathan Edwards
held IN substance the view that men are con-
scious au.omata, It obviously does not fol-
low that to hold this view constitutes a m an
f1taltst, a materiali.t nor an atheist. lie
takes occasion once moro to declare that he
ranks in none OF those three categories Not
among fatalists. for take tho oon csption
OF necessity TO have q logical. and not q ply
sical, foundation: not among materialists.
for I am utterly incapable OF conceiving
the existence OF matter II there is no mind
IN which 10 picture that existence; not among
atheists. for the problem OF the ultimate
cause OF existence Il ono which seems to
me TO be hopelessly out OF reach OF my poor
powers. OF all the senseless babble have
ever had occasion to read. the dem monstr "a
tions Of these philosopher who undertake
to tell us all about the nature Of God would
be the worst. II they were not surpassed by
tho stin greoter absurdities o! tho phloso-
phers who try to prove that .hsrs Il no God :.
In the year 1878 the bitter agitation d.
rooted against expertn entail physiology came
TO head. 1t had gone on In England for
several yea1. In 1870. when President Of the
british Association. Huxley had been violently
attacked for speaking in defence Of Brown
ssquard. the French psychologist. The name
OF viv!section. indiferently applied TO all
experiments on animals. whether carried
ont by the use Of tho knife or not. seems to
have had on many minds an effect opposite
to that Of the blessed word Me.opotania :"
Misrepresentation was rife even among
tho most estimable and well-neanins OF tho
opponents Of vivtsection. because they fan
cied they saw traces Of the practice svery-
where. all the more. perhaps. for not having
sufficient technical knowledge or proper
discrimination. Ono Of the most fragrant
Instances OF this kind OF thing was published d
letter charging Huxley with advocating
vivisections before children. II not by them.
Passages from the introdu ction TO his "Ele-
mentary Physoloay,- urging that IN II should
be shown the stru ctures under discussion, ex-
amples for which could easily be provided
from the domestic animals, wore put side
by side with later passages In the book. such.
for instance. as statements OF fact as to the
behavior OF severed nerves under irritation.
4 sinister inference was drawn fro m this
combination. and published as fact. without
further verihcaton. To this accusation Hug
ley replied in his address on Elementary In
struction In Physiology 1T is, l hope.
unnecessary for me to give q formal CONTRA
dIctlon to the silly fiction which is assiduously
circulated by the fanatics. who not only ought
to know. but do know, that their assertions
are untrue that ! have advocated the intro
duct.on Of that experimental discipline, which
IL absolutely indispensable to the professed
psychologist, into elementary teaching As
10 Huxley's general attitude to the subject.
II Is To be noted that he never followed any
line OF research involving experiments on
living and conscious animals Though, as
Is shown from various letters reproduced
In the work before us. he considers such ex-
pcriments justifable. his personal feelings
prevented him from performing than him-