On the Different Forms of Acquiring Knowledge. 151 



the very most the instinct of imitation cooperates in 

 the latter by the impulse which it imparts; and this 

 influence belongs to the fourth form with which we 

 shall become acquainted later on. But an infant must 

 be guided by the hands of another person, or else it 

 will take a long time in learning to walk. This never 

 occurs with animals. It has never been observed in 

 ant colonies or in herds of monkeys, that the young- 

 were guided by their mothers' hands in order to be 

 taught the art of walking. 



But all these elements are of secondary moment in 

 man and animals, compared with the chief and most 

 essential element in acquiring this art. It is the lowest 

 and simplest form of learning, the exercise of reflex 

 motions, which has its origin in instinctive impulse and 

 is actuated by muscular sensations. Young lambs frisk 

 about, because they are stimulated by their muscular 

 sensations, and thus they learn to move all the quicker 

 and steadier. The play of pups and kittens is naturally 

 explained in the same manner, as well as the gambols 

 of ants which cluster together on the surface of the 

 nest, when the first warm rays of the sun shine upon 

 them in early spring. 1 



2. The second form of learning occurs when a new 

 line of action is acquired by the independent, sensitive 

 experience of the individual. It is universally recog- 

 nized that this form of learning is not unusual in man. 

 But it is also very common with higher as well as lower 

 animals. Thus in investigating the "international 

 relations" which exist between Lomechusa, Atemeles, 



l ) See our "Vergleichetjde Studietl" (1st edition), p. 42, 



