94 -A Factor in Evolution 



or, in other words : What is the method of the individual's 

 growth and accommodation as shown in the well-known 

 effects of ' use and disuse ' ? Looked at functionally, we 

 see that the organism manages somehow to accommodate 

 itself to conditions which are favourable, to repeat move- 

 ments which are fortunate, and so to grow by the principle 

 of use. This involves some sort of selection, from the 

 actual modes of behaviour of certain modes certain func- 

 tions, etc. Certain other possible and actual functions 

 and structures decay from disuse. Whatever the method 

 of doing this may be, we may simply, at this point, claim 

 the law of use and disuse, as applicable in ontogenetic 

 development, and apply the phrase, ' Functional Selec- 

 tion,' 1 to the organism's behaviour in acquiring new modes 

 or modifications of adaptive function with its influence 

 on structure. The question of the method of functional 

 selection is taken up below (6, this chapter); here we 

 simply assume what every one admits in some form, that 

 such adjustments of function 'accommodations' we shall 

 henceforth call them, the processes of learning new move- 

 ments, etc. do occur. We then reach another question, 

 second : What place have these accommodations in the 

 general theory of evolution ? 



2. Effects of Individual Accommodation on Development 



In the first instance, we may note the results in the 

 creature's own private life and development. 



1 Now understood from the earlier pages. In the original paper, the term 

 ' Organic Selection ' was used (see note at foot of page 96) to include the 

 individual's functional accommodations, but later on the term was restricted 

 as in what follows. 



