2o8 MENTAL EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS. 



denominate all actions which occur below this line (howsoever 

 compound) reflex, while reserving the term instinctive for 

 habitual actions (howsoever simple) into which there enters 

 this element of consciousness. And in doing this I feel 

 certain that I am not merely imparting clearness to our 

 classification, but also following the dimly intended meaning 

 of the term instinct as ordinarily used. No one thinks of 

 sneezing, or of the convulsions produced by tickling, as 

 examples of instinctive actions ; yet they are " compound 

 reflex actions " to a degree of compounding not easily 

 paralleled, and certainly much more so than any of the non- 

 psychical adjustments which are given by Mr. Spencer as 

 illustrations of instinct. 



These illustrations have reference to polyps and creatures 

 with rudimentary eyes, wherein the reactions to stimuli 

 described appear to me, as I have said, in no way to deserve 

 to be called instinctive. Eor instance, he shows how it is 

 possible that without survival of the fittest and without 

 intelligent adjustment, " psychical states being habitually 

 connected, must, by repetition in countless generations, 

 become so coherent that the special visual impression will 

 directly call forth the muscular actions by which prey is 

 seized. Eventually, the sight of a small object in front will 

 cause the various motions requisite for the capture of prey." 

 But even in this, the most extreme case supposed, if there is 

 not and never has been any consciousness concerned, the 

 complex adjustment is in no way distinguishable from a 

 reflex action. When I observed jelly-fish crowding into the 

 path of a sunbeam shining through a darkened tank, and saw 

 that they did so in order to follow the crustaceans on which 

 they feed and which always seek the light, I described the case 

 as one of reflex action, the development of which had no doubt 

 been largely assisted by natural selection ; and I should still 

 regard it as a misnomer to call it a case of instinct. For, on 

 the one hand, such cases are not nearly so complex in the 

 neuro-muscular machinery which they betoken as are many 

 or most of the reflex actions exhibited by the higher animals, 

 and, on the other hand, if we were to call them instincts, so 

 also should we require to call every other case of reflex action. 

 It is, indeed, impossible, as I said at the commencement of 

 these chapters on Instinct, always in particular cases to draw 

 the line between instinct and reflex action ; but, as I like- 



