DISCUSSIONS ON INSTINCT 289 



were in accord, constituting a sort of trinity in unity ; 

 there was, nevertheless, a great lack of harmony which 

 seemed to be owing to the somewhat important defect 

 that their views were not endorsed by Nature. 



Now, to my surprise, Prof. Baldwin claims that I 

 have missed the real point, which he takes to be that 

 an instinct may be only "half congenital," and cites 

 this drinking of chicks; but, according to the above 

 quotation, drinking is not instinctive at all, so that it 

 looks as if the shoe was on the other foot. 



Inl894,in a paper read before theEoyal Society Canada, 

 on " The Psychic Development of Young Animals," pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the Society for 1895, and 

 a copy of which was forwarded to Prof. Baldwin, I 

 emphasised the conception that instinctive acts are 

 never perfect at first, or, as Prof. Baldwin would prefer 

 to say, are only partially congenital, though whether 

 such an expression as " half congenital " is a valuable 

 addition to the English language I doubt. Now, it 

 would be strange that I should alter my own views 

 without noting the change, and miss the point in a 

 matter which I was, I think, the first to emphasise; 

 in fact, I have, in this very correspondence in Science, 

 urged this view the imperfection of instincts. If 

 Prof. Baldwin, and those he professes to interpret, will 

 grant that eating and drinking in chicks are instinctive ; 

 that both alike are imperfect at birth ; that, congenitally, 

 the chick is in the same condition to all intents and 

 purposes as regards eating and drinking, he will, I 

 believe, be in accord with the facts, and we shall all 

 agree that the much-overlooked imperfection of instincts 

 is well illustrated by the subjects under discussion, but, 

 I should like to add, universal in its application, though 

 in varying degree, the imperfection being in some cases 

 not very obvious to our inadequate observation. 



T 



