RECORD: Darwin, C. R. n.d. '1 Sensation is the ordering contraction (that is the only evidence where'. CUL-DAR91.9. Edited by John van Wyhe. (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe 3.2021. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR91 contains early notes on guns & shooting. Darwin's draft of recollections of Henslow, 1861. Notes on the moral sense. Wallace pension. 'a sketch of the principal events in my life' & list of Darwin's works. Loose notes found with CUL-DAR119 'Books to be read'.
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1. Sensation is the ordering contraction (that is the only evidence when consciousness is absent) in fibres united with nervous filaments.— ?plants? yes by distinct mechanism
2. Sensation of higher order where the sensation is conveyed over whole body (which it may be in first case as when the excised heart is pricked) and certain actions (only evidence where not consciousness) are produced in consequence having some relation to the primary sensation— man moving leg when asleep (or habitual actions)— perhaps polypi— (so that lower animals are sleeping higher animals & not plants as supposed by Buffon)
Consciousness is sensation No. 2. with memory added to it, man in sleep not conscious, nor child— Evidence of consciousness, movements (?) anterior to any direct sensation, in order to avoid it— beetles feigning death upon seeing object.— are Planariae conscious.—
Consciousness bears same relation to time & memory
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 6 September, 2023