CONTACT CEPTORS 69 



the apprehension of objects in the distant environment 

 and the orientation of the animal as a whole toward or 

 away from them, in accordance with their significance 

 in the life of the individual or the species. Such are the 

 ceptors for sight, hearing and smell, by which the 

 animal perceives its enemies, its prey or its mates, 

 and by which it is enabled to conduct itself in relation 

 to an environment otherwise unknown to it. Distance 

 ceptors involve the action of the whole organism rather 

 than its local parts, as is the case with contact ceptors, 

 and expedite the motor acts which are ultimately con- 

 summated by means of impulses received through the 

 contact ceptors. Thus the sight and the smell of food 

 lead to its acquisition, and incidentally to a more speedy 

 acquisition than would follow were the animal deprived 

 of distance ceptors and forced to blunder blindly about 

 on the chance of coming in contact with food. The 

 advantage to the organism of thus being able to react to 

 objects at a distance goes far toward achieving the sur- 

 vival of the species. 



Like the contact ceptors, the distance ceptors, on ade- 

 quate stimulation, give rise to a discharge of energy for 

 an adaptive reaction. Stimulation of the contact cep- 

 tors, however, leads to short, quick discharges of energy 

 for local motor acts which involve a comparatively small 

 part of the organism, while stimulation of distance 

 ceptors usually inaugurates a continuous expenditure 

 of energy for a long series of physical and chemical re- 

 actions involving the organism as a whole and consum- 

 ing large stores of energy. For example, stimulation 

 of the contact ceptors of the hand of a child who plays 

 with fire will cause a momentary discharge of energy 



