164 Studies in Animal Behavior 



planation of the origin of adaptive movements 

 which Spencer himself adopts has to work with re- 

 lationships which, as Spencer himself admits, have 

 been established by natural selection. It is the con- 

 genital make-up of the organism that determines 

 which of its various random movements comes to be 

 selected. In the absence of the proper hereditary 

 endowment the organism might make random move- 

 ments all its life without securing any desirable re- 

 sult. No one has yet succeeded in showing how a 

 bit of undisciplined protoplasm is able to acquire 

 any form of adaptive behavior. 



We are brought to the conclusion that the abil- 

 ity to profit by experience, both in its higher mani- 

 festations as intelligence and in the simpler forms 

 of organic adaptation, involves an organism 

 moulded into at least partial conformity with its 

 environment. The activities that are described as 

 "trials" afford increased opportunities for adjust- 

 ment, but the ability to take advantage of success- 

 ful trials rests upon the basis of congenital endow- 

 ment. It is inheritance that affords the means by 

 which inheritance is improved. 



REFERENCES 



BAIN, A. The senses and the intellect. 3d ed., 

 1894. 



BALDWIN, J. M. Mental development. Meth- 

 ods and processes. 2nd ed. N. Y., 1903. 



