THE SURPLUS ENERGY THEORY OF PLAY. 17 



reation theory, on the contrary, finds in the very acts 

 restoration of the powers that are approaching exhaus- 

 tion. There they are wastefully cast off; here, thriftily 

 stored away. Is it not remarkable that the same object 

 can present itself to the observer in ways so contrary? 

 A closer examination, however, shows that in this case 

 the contradiction is only apparent. In fact, the two 

 ideas can in many cases be so developed that they appear 

 as different aspects of the same conception mutually ex- 

 planatory of each other. When, for example, a student 

 goes to have a game of ninepins in the evening, he thus 

 tones up his relaxed mental powers at the same time that 

 he finds a means of relieving his accumulated motive 

 impulses, repressed during his work at the desk. So it 

 is the same act that on the one hand disposes of his 

 superfluous energy, and on the other, restores his lost 

 powers. This is true in all cases when play can be con- 

 sidered as recreation. The recreation theory is thus, 

 so far as it has any value at all, not contradictory, but 

 rather supplementary to the Schiller-Spencer idea of 

 play. An exhaustive criticism of the recreation theory, 

 in so far as it claims to explain play, I do not consider 

 necessary in a book treating of the play of animals. For 

 it must be evident to any one, on reflection, that this idea, 

 which may be very effective in a limited sphere, could 

 not be justifiably expanded for application to the whole 

 field of play. It occupies too much the standpoint of 

 the adult who seeks recreation in a " little game " after 

 the burden and heat of the day. That play can furnish 

 recreation is not questioned, only that the necessity for 

 recreation originates play. That the young dog romps 

 with his fellows because he feels the need of recreation 

 no one will seriously affirm. Evidently the advocates of 

 the recreation theory, as a rule, know very little about the 



