ORGANIC MOVEMENTS 69 



the town where the friends meet, then B might ask, whether 

 he could do anything for her, he might remark that the ill- 

 ness must be attended with some danger at her age, and he 

 would say very many other things, all very specific. 



Taken as stimuli from the point of view of natural 

 science, the phrases " my brother is seriously ill " and " my 

 mother is seriously ill " differ only in a point of utmost 

 unimportance : br is pronounced in one case where m is 

 pronounced in the other. In spite of this minute difference 

 the effects of the stimuli are totally different. 



And now let us assume that the two friends are of 

 different nationalities, the one being German, the other 

 French, but that the town, where they are staying and 

 where they meet, is an English town, and that both friends 

 talk English, French and German equally well, and that 

 they are accustomed to use all three in their conversations. 

 Then A, instead of saying " my brother is seriously ill," might 

 also have said "mon frere est severement malade," or 

 " mein Bruder ist ernstlich erkrankt." What would have 

 been the effect of these variations ? Certainly the same as 

 that of the phrase spoken in English. 1 



This example shows us, that in acting the effect may 

 remain unchanged in spite of a most fundamental change in 

 the stimulus : this second result of our analysis is the exact 

 counterpart to the first. 



In acting then, there may be no change in the specificity 



1 It has been said that in these instances it is not the phrases "my brother 

 is ill," etc., that constitute the real stimulus of action, but the general 

 "mental" condition of the person addressed. But, beyond doubt, these 

 phrases are real stimuli in the true physical meaning of the word, and, 

 moreover, the general "mental " condition, i.e. what we call the "historical 

 basis " in all its essentials, could never account for these particular and specific 

 reactions at this particular place and time. 



