552 Transactions of the Society. 



2. That the existence of these faculties are made manifest by 

 the utilization of foreign and extraneous materials selected by the 

 organism from out of the vast heterogeneous mass of available and 

 adaptable material composing its environment — and utilized in 

 such manner as is required by the individual needs of the organism 

 — either for the purpose of adapting itself to its special environment, 

 or for protecting itself against its special enemies or environmental 

 dangers. 



3. That a consistent evolutionist is debarred from postulating 

 a break in his evolutionary cycle (which must ex hypothesi be 

 continuous) for the purpose of introducing from outside at some 

 unspecified point a new influence of unknown origin to which he 

 gives the name Intelligence, and which, it would thus seem, makes 

 a sudden appearance as a result of new activities of the Body-cells. 



4. That the Phenomena to which I have called attention have 

 no relation to, and are not to be confounded with, Adaptations or 

 Tropisms, and I am not to be interpreted as having made any 

 claims based upon any such confusion. 



It was not to be expected, nor, accordingly, did I expect that 

 these postulates would pass unchallenged, and I should have 

 regretted the fact had they been received in disrespectful silence. 

 I take advantage of the opportunity now afforded me to make my 

 position, if possible, clearer. 



To the broad objection that none even of the Metazoa exhibit 

 any phenomena of purpose and intelligence, the reply does not 

 seem to me to be far to seek ; it must be to a great extent a matter 

 of observation and opinion, and of the correct use of terms — the 

 terms " Behaviour " and " Psychology " are now being a good deal 

 bandied back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean. The evidence 

 in refutation of such an objection has been marshalled and pre- 

 sented in a most attractive form by our late President, Professor 

 J. Arthur Thomson, in his remarkable and fascinating book, " The 

 Wonder of Life,"* a work whose convincing and scientific accuracy 

 is in no way impaired by the popular and interesting manner 

 in which the facts are arranged and put forward. One of the 



men is so great that it seems hard to draw the line and deny a similar principle of 

 Selectors determining the highly intelligent actions of such animals as beavers, 

 dogs, apes, or elephants. If so, there is no break possible until we attribute 

 Selectors to even the lowest forms of life, for consciousness and volition are not 

 attributes of a Selector. The Selector in different animals is limited to the re- 

 quirements of those animals. It devises and works in every way to meet the 

 natural conditions. ... It has no train of action ready for un-natural circum- 

 stances. It is not omniscient, but is specifically adapted." " It is useless to try," 

 writes the author, " to realize the nature of this immaterial Selector — it is as 

 much outside our physical conditions as electricity was outside the physical 

 realization of man a century ago. No known laws of matter have any relation to 

 the Selector ; we can only catalogue its powers and action." 

 * London : Melrose, 1914. 



