Sketch of an Organismal Theory of Consciousness 311 



and "objective," must be regarded as meeting the require- 

 ments of this sketch so far as the first member of the series 

 is concerned ; and the relation between instinct and physical 

 organization will now receive attention. The evidence of 

 vital connection here is so abundant and clear-cut, and the 

 views of competent observers are so unanimous that the sub- 

 ject can be disposed of quite summarily. Probably the most 

 indubitable single block of evidence comes from nest-building 

 and cocoon-spinning insects. Many of the facts from this 

 field have been so much exploited for the very purposes to 

 which w r e now invoke them that a few quotations from and 

 remarks upon the writings of naturalists generally acknowl- 

 edged for learning and judicious thinking will suffice. 



We turn first to W. M. Wheeler, and take to begin with, 

 words which he in turn quotes from Bergson : "As Bergson 

 says," we read, " 'It has often been remarked that most in- 

 stincts are the prolongation, or better, the achievement, of 

 the work of organization itself. Where does the activity of 

 instinct begin? Where does that of nature end? It is im- 

 possible to say. In the metamorphoses of the larva into the 

 nymph and into the perfect insect, metamorphoses which 

 often require appropriate adaptations and a kind of initia- 

 tive on the part of the larva, there is no sharp line of de- 

 marcation between the instinct of the animal and the organiz- 

 ing work of the living matter. It is immaterial whether we 

 say that instinct organizes the instruments which it is going 

 to use, or that the organization prolongs itself into the in- 

 stinct by which it is to be used.' And Wheeler continues : 

 "The spinning of the cocoon by the larval ant is a good 

 example of the kind of instinct to which Bergson refers. 

 From one point of view this is' merely an act of development, 

 and the cocoon, or result of the secretive activity of the seric- 

 teries and of the spinning movements of the larva, is a pro- 

 tective envelope. But an envelope with the same protective 

 function may be produced by other insect larvae simply as a 



