88 The Recapitulation Theory and Human Infancy 



it must be said that the lack of knowledge of the probable facts 

 in either series prohibits inferences. 89 



Grouping together the less propulsive and more passive in- 

 herited psycho-physical traits under the head of "sensibilities," 

 it is to be noted that President Hall and others have called atten- 

 tion to possible recapitulations in this region. Certain hedonic 

 qualities attached to sensations of touch, smell, and taste, 

 especially, are thought to require an ancestral explanation, 

 one reason for this being the probable degeneration of these 

 senses and their old-time greater importance. This is not an 

 unreasonable attitude, for the protection afforded by the evolv- 

 ing higher senses might well permit the carrying down of useless 

 remnants of the kind. Instincts, intelligence, and modes of 

 action under the guidance of sight and hearing, would doubtless 

 be more directly subject to natural selection. There is, however, 

 a lack of convincing evidence of any predominance of such traits 

 with the young as such, and until this is forthcoming there is no 

 need of appealing to recapitulation for an interpretation of such 

 cases as may seem truly vestigial to adults. 



Baldwin's acceptance of recapitulation was due in part to his 

 belief in its unimpaired standing in biology as late as 1906, to 

 the idea that it was logically required as an effect of heredity, 

 and to the parallel he found between the great epochs of psycho- 

 physical evolution in the race and comparable epochs in individual 

 mental development. 411 It is true Baldwin noticed very signi- 

 ficant departures from a faithful psycho-physical recapitulation, 

 some of which have been referred to in the present discussion. 

 Indeed they might well seem to his reader much more impressive 

 than the arguments he adduced in support of the theory. Bald- 

 win's first two reasons for a modified acceptance of recapitula- 

 tion have been sufficiently discussed. Without following his 

 analysis in detail we may consider briefly his empirical support 

 of the theory in terms of current ideas of psycho-physical evolu- 

 tion and development. The students of comparative psychology 

 have agreed fairly well upon the main outlines in the evolution 

 of behavior. The series of epochs in this evolution is represented 

 as follows : The period of the tropisms ; that of the reflex and the 

 essentially unmodifiable instinctive behavior; that of very grad- 



Compare Thorndlke, op. cit., p. 256. 



* Mental Development, Chap. I. Development and Evolution, Chap. I. 



