LETTER 477. TO A.R. WALLACE. Down, January 10th [1873].

I have read your Review with much interest, and I thank you sincerely
for the very kind spirit in which it is written. I cannot say that I am
convinced by your criticisms. (477/1. "Quarterly Journal of Science,"
January, 1873, page 116: "I can hardly believe that when a cat, lying
on a shawl or other soft material, pats or pounds it with its feet, or
sometimes sucks a piece of it, it is the persistence of the habit of
pressing the mammary glands and sucking during kittenhood." Mr. Wallace
goes on to say that infantine habits are generally completely lost in
adult life, and that it seems unlikely that they should persist in a few
isolated instances.) If you have ever actually observed a kitten sucking
and pounding, with extended toes, its mother, and then seen the same
kitten when a little older doing the same thing on a soft shawl, and
ultimately an old cat (as I have seen), and do not admit that it is
identically the same action, I am astonished. With respect to the
decapitated frog, I have always heard of Pfluger as a most trustworthy
observer. (477/2. Mr. Wallace speaks of "a readiness to accept the most
marvellous conclusions or interpretations of physiologists on what
seem very insufficient grounds," and he goes on to assert that the frog
experiment is either incorrectly recorded or else that it "demonstrates
volition, and not reflex action.") If, indeed, any one knows a frog's
habits so well as to say that it never rubs off a bit of leaf or other
object which may stick to its thigh, in the same manner as it did the
acid, your objection would be valid. Some of Flourens' experiments, in
which he removed the cerebral hemispheres from a pigeon, indicate that
acts apparently performed consciously can be done without consciousness.
I presume through the force of habit, in which case it would appear that
intellectual power is not brought into play. Several persons have made
suggestions and objections as yours about the hands being held up
in astonishment; if there was any straining of the muscles, as with
protruded arms under fright, I would agree; as it is I must keep to
my old opinion, and I dare say you will say that I am an obstinate old
blockhead. (477/3. The raising of the hands in surprise is explained
("Expression of Emotions," Edition I., page 287) on the doctrine of
antithesis as being the opposite of listlessness. Mr. Wallace's view
(given in the 2nd ed