246 MENTAL FACULTIES sec. 



fly was a consequence of innate instinct, like tliat of itself 

 and brethren towards the millet seed. 



In the present year I have again made similar experiments 

 on chickens, and with more care. I took two chicks away 

 from the hen into my own care immediately after they were 

 hatched, and wrote down exactly their behaviour under the 

 experiments I made on them. I wdll distinguish the two 

 in the folio winf^ accordino- to their colour as the brown and 



o o 



the white. There is no need to insist that when I began to 

 study them they knew nothing of the world, that they had no 

 previous experiences whatever, but I am compelled to point 

 out the impossibility of doubt with regard to this on account 

 of the hie^h degree in which thev exhibited the faculties 

 acquired by their ancestors. I was extremely surprised by 

 their actions, and confess I should have considered them 

 incredible if I had not observed them myself. They are 

 alone sufficient to demonstrate the inheritance of acquired 

 characters as an incontrovertible fact, and to show what a 

 tremendous importance belongs to this inheritance, especi- 

 ally where mental acquirements are concerned, and what 

 importance belongs to instinct in the life of animals. 



I proceed now to the description of my observations, only 

 remarking that the white chicken was from the first some- 

 what behind the brown in the exercise of its faculties. 



After they were hatched, I kept the little creatures warm 

 during the night in a basket with some wadding near the 

 stove, and on the second day of their life I placed them on 

 a board, on which millet and crushed buckwheat had been 

 placed. 



To my very great surprise the brown one pecked at once 

 at the millet grains, without having its attention in any way 

 directed to them : and indeed at the first attempt it touched 

 a grain with as much certainty as if it had pecked at millet 

 for ever so long. But it did not succeed in taking up the 



