THE HISTORY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 127 



or frame each letter. Thus actions, originally con- 

 scious and intended, easily become reflex ; often re- 

 peated the brain leaves their control to the lower cen- 

 tres. We often say, " I did not intend to do that ; I 

 could not help it." We forget that this excuse is our 

 worst condemnation. It is a confession that we have 

 allowed or encouraged a habit to wear a groove from 

 which the wheels of our life cannot escape. The es- 

 sential characteristic of reflex action is therefore that 

 from beginning to completion it goes on indepen- 

 dently of consciousness. 



2. Instinct. This is a much-abused word. It is 

 frequently applied to all the mental actions of animals 

 without much thought or care as to its meaning. Let 

 us gain a definition from the study of a typical case 

 lest we use the word as a cloak for ignorance or 

 negligent thoughtlessness. Watch a spider building 

 its wonderful geometrical web. The web is a work of 

 art, and every motion of the spider beautifully adapted 

 to its purpose. But the spider is not therefore neces- 

 sarily an artist. Let us see of how much the spider is 

 probably conscious, remembering that our best judg- 

 ment is but an inference. We have good reason to 

 believe that she is conscious of the stimulus to action, 

 hunger. She may be, probably is, conscious of the 

 end to be attained to catch a fly for her dinner. 

 She seems conscious of what she is doing. In all 

 these respects this differs from reflex action. But she 

 is probably unconscious of the exact fitness of the 

 means to the end. We do not believe that she has 

 adopted the geometrical pattern, because she has dis- 

 covered or calculated that this will make the closest 

 and largest net for the smallest outlay of labor and 



