The Beginnings of Intelligence 121 



of comparative psychologists, the acute Father Was- 

 mann, defines intelligence as "the power of con- 

 ceiving the relation of concepts to^ one another and 

 of drawing conclusions therefrom. It involves ab- 

 straction, deliberation and self-conscious activity." 

 Intelligence, according to Wasmann, is the God- 

 given attribute of man alone ; its possession separates 

 man from brute by an impassable barrier. 



Many comparative psychologists, among whom 

 we may mention Lloyd Morgan, Forel and Loeb, 

 adopt as a criterion of intelligence the power of 

 forming associations, or associative memory^ anxl 

 we^sKalT follow the usage of these writers: it is 

 obvious that the possession of this faculty marks 

 an important step/ in advance upon the creatures 

 whose actions are fatally determined by their in- 

 stinctive make-up. From its beginning in forms in 

 which the simplest associations are established only 

 after a large number of experiences, intelligence has 

 assumed a role of ever-increasing importance in 

 the evolution of animal life, until in man, who is 

 notoriously a weakling compared with the large 

 beasts with which he has had to contend, it became 

 the main factor to which the human species owes its 

 supremacy in the struggle for existence. 



In considering the origin of intelligence one is 

 naturally led to the subject of; the relation of in- 

 telligence to instinct. Formerly it was the custom 

 to contrast these two faculties as if they represented 

 diametrically opposed types of activity. Instinct was 



