Many physiologists have of late years tried to establish with precision the point of the brain which is the seat of emotional expressions; that is, that part, the destruction of which obliterates every expression of fear or pain in the animal, although allowing life to continue. One of the latest works published concerning this is by Bechterew. His observations show that a dog, in whose brain the corpora bigemina and quadrigemina have been destroyed, still barks and shows his teeth if anything loathsome is given him to eat, or if something smelling disagreeably is put before him; but that he is bereft of all expression of disgust and loathing after the two optic thalami have been removed. Hence Bechterew concludes that the paths of transmission along which pass the involuntary commands which cause the muscles to contract, in order to express the emotions, concentrate in the optic thalamus, which is one of the deepest parts of the brain. The upper story of volition and the lower of the emotions have here their point of union, whence to excite in the muscles of the organism all the characteristic movements of the passions. IV Let us now see what instinctive qualities we inherit from our forefathers, and what others we acquire through our own experience. Long ago Galen performed a very simple and instructive experiment. He cut a kid out of the body of its mother, laid it immediately on the ground, and, near its head, dishes in which were oil, wine, honey, vinegar, water, and milk. He then stood to observe the first movements of the animal. After trembling a little, the kid got up, scratched itself, smelt a few of the dishes, and at last drank the milk. There are birds which, scarcely out of the shell, catch flies with such precision that one is astonished at their bringing with them skill such as must usually be acquired by long practice. Certain butterflies, on leaving the cocoon, fly at once into the air, directing their flight with the most perfect accuracy towards the flowers, to suck the nectar from their cups. We shall return to this point when we investigate fear in children. Let us here only state that, at his birth, man is far less perfect than many animals. He must acquire by education and experience much knowledge of which animals are possessed at the beginning. The less care parents give to their young, the more completely do they furnish them through heredity with instinctive knowledge; the less considerable this inheritance, the more care and attention must parents give to their offspring in order to keep them alive. This apparent inferiority in the gifts of instinct at birth is, as it is with the gifts of fortune, fully compensated for by the greater capability of those animals to increase their intellectual capacity by education, and by the work of their own experience to surpass by far animals more favoured by instinct; so it is with man, who subjugates them all.