Literary Notices. ciii 



into play — exercise and heredity. In case of the monera the external 

 stimuli are too uniform and the duration of life too short for exercise to 

 devevelop a sense. l Heredity is, of course, out of the question. 



The first two steps in the morphological development of higher ani- 

 mals from the monera are of psychological importance. The first advance 

 is the formation of a dense external coat. Thus we have a shutting off 

 of the animal from the external world. The first step towards the recog- 

 nition of an outer world has been taken. Now the protoplasm becomes 

 more granular. Differentiation has begun and the first steps towards the 

 evolution of a nervous system have been taken. But after all this, still the 

 infusoria have not advanced far enough to have sense-perceptions. To 

 be sure, in a few cases infusoria have sensitive pigment flecks. But these 

 probably arouse feelings only. 



General Feei.incs the First Activity of Mind in the Onto- 

 genetic Development. We now stand on slippery ground. Many be- 

 lieve that man's psychical life begins at birth ; and that all his previous 

 existence was a mere vegative life. But no sharp line can be drawn be- 

 tween vegetative and animal functions. And the theory of evolution 

 leads us to believe that, as in the lower animals, so here there is a trace of 

 consciousness even at the beginning. 



The supposition that the mind appears at birth presupposes one of 

 two things. Either the mind is a product af external activities or else 

 there is a predetermined harmony which determines that the babe shall 

 be born at a certain definite time, and that that time shall be character- 

 ized by the appearance of mind. But the period of pregnancy varies in 

 different individuals, and in the same individual at different times. This 

 fact is a death blow to the predetermined harmony theory. 



Many facts have led a few to believe that consciousness is present 

 long before birth. Romanes thinks that at birth man has reached a men- 

 tal development equal to that of an- adult coelenterate, C. J. Ca?-iis be- 

 lieves that at birth man is psychologically the equal of adult annelids and 

 mollusks. 



1. Weismann claims that the infusoria are potentially iiumortal and that the 

 infusoria here to-day, accident excepted, have been here ever since the beginning of 

 infusorian life It has been shown, however, that without sexual union these forms 

 do die in course of time. But even here we have the same individual, receiving addi- 

 tions from time to time, yet living on indefinitely, providing no accident occurs. It 

 seems then that "lack of time in which to accomplish the changes necessary to origi- 

 nate a sense" must be dropped. 



