326 BEHAVIOR OF THE LOWER ORGANISMS 



which do not show, in their younger stages at least, a few such ineffectual 

 movements. 



Baldwin suggests that the same process may go farther than this, 

 in the following way: After the development, under the influence of 

 a certain reaction method, of structures fitted to carry out that method, 

 another congenital variation may occur, by which energy will be dis- 

 charged directly into this apparatus, in the way necessary for perform- 

 ing the accustomed reaction, without any previous trial. It is urged that 

 after the apparatus has been developed, the further variation required 

 would probably be slight and not unlikely to occur. The organisms 

 having this variation must react more readily and rapidly than those in 

 which a trial is required, hence they might be selected. Thus in time 

 in the entire race the reaction would be limited to this particular method. 

 There seems to be no theoretical difficulty as to the occurrence of such 

 a variation ; if it occurs, development would doubtless take place in the 

 way set forth, provided the environment remain sufficiently constant. 

 But perhaps there would be little difference in reality between the be- 

 havior of such an organism, and one which had merely developed such 

 structures as to make difficult any kind of reaction save one. The latter 

 would still reserve the capability of developing other reactions, under 

 changed circumstances, while the former would not. 



The guidance of natural selection by the actions of the individuals 

 that we have illustrated above, is what has been called "organic selec- 

 tion." The latter is evidently merely an exposition of how natural 

 selection acts, not anything additional to natural selection, or differing 

 from it in principle. For a general discussion of the questions which 

 it involves, reference should be made to J. Mark Baldwin's "Develop- 

 ment and Evolution." 



Is natural selection, thus guided by individual accommodation, suf- 

 ficient to account for the progress of the race in behavior? It is clear 

 that natural selection cannot account for the origin of anything; only 

 that can be selected which already exists. All the potency of behavior 

 and of everything else that exists must lie in the laws of matter and 

 energy, — physical and chemical, and possibly vital laws. Whatever 

 the part assigned to natural selection, the superlative importance of 

 these laws remains ; they must continue the chief field for scientific inves- 

 tigation. All that natural selection is called upon to explain is the fact 

 that at a given time such and such particular manifestations of these 

 general laws exist, rather than certain other manifestations. In the field 

 of behavior it is called to explain only the fact that this particular organ- 

 ism now behaves in this particular way, rather than in some other one 

 of the infinite number of possible ways. Can it explain this? 



