230 INSTINCT : 



the child subsequently seizes an apple and eats it ? that 

 the cat lies in wait for the mouse ? that the bird finds its 

 proper food, and wings its way through the air ? We 

 think not. With the development of the physical parts, 

 comes, according to our view, the power to use them in 

 the ways that have preserved the race through past ages. 

 This is in harmony with all we know. Not so the contrary 

 view." 



In regard to some of those powers which only become 

 possible several days after birth, it can be clearly shown 

 that they are no more ' learned ' by the individual than are 

 those which are capable of being manifested immediately 

 after birth. Some organisms are born in a state of greater 

 maturity than others, and in those in which immaturity is 

 most marked (as in the human infant), as well as in these 

 in which it is less marked, the necessary time must elapse 

 for the several parts of the body, and especially of the 

 Nervous System, to develop, before certain truly instinc- 

 tive desires and acts are capable of showing themselves. 

 Thus only can we explain the late appearance of many 

 Instinctive Acts in animals generally, as, for instance, the 

 powers of flight shown by young, but only recently-fledged, 

 Birds who have made no previous attempts to fly. The 

 manifestation of this latter power, independently of learn- 

 ing, has also been experimentally verified by Spalding. 



He placed some young unfledged Swallows " in a small box not 

 much longer than the nest from which they were taken. The 

 little box, which had a wire front, was hung on the wall near the 

 nest, and the young swallows were fed by their parents through 

 the wires. In this confinement, where they could not even extend 

 their wings, they were kept until after they were fully fledged." 

 The birds were then liberated, and their actions carefully watched. 

 Of two young swallows which had been confined in this manner till 

 their wings had grown, Spalding says, " One, on being set free, flew 

 a yard or two too close to the ground, rose again in the direction 



