64 MAN AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



Individuality and Action Patterns 



Up to a certain point the activating environment of 

 most motor beings is the same, and to that extent their 

 structure, their "life," their action patterns (response 

 to identical stimuli), are the same. Animals, for in- 

 stance, breathe the same air, eat approximately the 

 same food, suffer from the same microorganic inva- 

 sions, are influenced by the same elements of climate. 

 It is not surprising, therefore, to find them exhibiting 

 the same general details of structure for respiration, 

 circulation, digestion, reproduction ; the same organs 

 of secretion and elimination ; of taste, smell, sight and 

 hearing; the same quality of epithelial covering for 

 internal organs ; and the same chemical reactions in 

 response to foreign proteins and inorganic substances 

 in the body. These common structures, responding 

 identically to identical stimuli, represent the extent 

 to which self-preservation and species preservation de- 

 pend upon the same elements. Variations in structure 

 correspond to variations in the activating environment, 

 the most important structural changes being the result 

 of the requirements for survival in the conflict with 

 other organisms. 



In like manner it is as a result of the environmental 

 stimuli in human relations that the action patterns of 

 man have come to differ from those of other more closely 

 allied animals, that difference being most plainly 

 marked in a more highly evolved brain and central 

 nervous system, in which are held the patterns for 

 vast numbers of complex self-preservative actions un- 

 known to other animals. 



