Abstract

In reference to the note by Prof. Fraser-Harris on the “Subjective Demonstration of the Existence of the Muscular Sense”, in Nature of Nov. 23, I beg to point out that so far from the existence of this sense being demonstrated by the simple experiment he describes, he has really got no further than the indication of the nature of the problem. William James was well acquainted with such evidences, yet he decided that the muscular sense was a “needless encumbrance”. My own position is different from both; the muscular sense, or as I call it, the sense of effort, has an existence, but the affirmation of Prof. Fraser-Harris or the denial of William James has no particular weight, as neither is based on any analysis of a searching character.