120 Journal of Comparative Neurology and PsyeJiology. 



the self group. A wooden leg or a thorn in the flesh may as- 

 similate itself closely to the self of normal experience, self be- 

 ing, of course, a relative or variable term the center of which 

 alone is fixed. 



Now let any circumstance deprive us, let us say, of any 

 "a'" in the series of constants and there at once arises what we 

 may call a feeling of hiatus. If this is true of stimuli in gen- 

 eral, it is no less true of many stimuli that are called social. 

 The habitutal reaction to the expected resistance is a large part 

 of our daily activity and holds the germ of social response. If 

 the very trivial nature of the following illustrations can be for- 

 given they will illustrate what is meant better than psycholog- 

 ical discussion. 



The writer has two horses which for years have been 

 driven, housed and fed together. All habitual activities have 

 been coordinated by necessities growing out of their environ- 

 ment. Originally the animals (mares) regarded each other with 

 distrust and even hostility. Even after years, their intercourse 

 is always aggressive. One steals the other's feed and is at- 

 tacked for it. There is a continual "nagging." Usually one 

 acquires the ascendency and all that is necessary is a show of 

 teeth on the part of one to cause flight or submission on the 

 part of the other, which, nevertheless, is in a state of constant 

 rebellion. 



Now should one animal be left in the stable with a manger 

 full of hay and the other driven away, the stay-at-home is rest- 

 less and uneasy, declines to eat and neighs continually. The 

 animal driven away strives to turn back, is nervous and neighs 

 and starts out of the road on coming in view of any horse in the 

 distance. Each, as we say, "misses" the other. What is the 

 explanation ? Evidently the simplest explanation is that a 

 large segment has been knocked out of self. A whole group 

 of activities (resistances and the like) have been removed. The 

 equilibrium of habitual activity has been disturbed. For weeks 

 every act has been tacitly or by unconscious implication put 

 forth in view of a presence which could be relied upon to react - 

 in certain ways. Hitherto the horse never ate, drank or pulled 



