Now and then it gives a jump. What the
precise object of its leaps may be I dare not pretend to say; but
probably it regards us with some apprehension, and desires to escape.
To be perfectly impartial, it must be admitted that the frog had some
slight reason for apprehension. The lecturer proceeded:
I touch one of its toes, and you see it resents the molestation in a
very decided manner. Why does it so struggle to get away when I pinch
its toes? Doubtless, you will say, because it feels the pinch and would
rather not have it repeated. I now behead the animal with the aid of a
sharp chisel. . . . The headless trunk lies as though it were dead. The
spinal cord seems to be suffering from shock. Probably, however, it
will soon recover from this. . . . Observe that the animal has now
_spontaneously_ drawn up its legs and arms, and it is sitting with its
neck erect just as if it had not lost its head at all. I pinch its
toes, and you see the leg is at once thrust out as if to spurn away the
offending instrument.
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