78 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



apperception should not be regarded as only a move- 

 ment idea, for if that were all it is, animals, at least, 

 would seek to imitate every motion they see, and we 

 might expect to see a child at once begin a swaying 

 motion on beholding a pendulum, instead of reaching 

 for the ball of it, as it does." * 



Spencer also, James, and Strieker, regard the imita- 

 tive impulse as an inherited instinct, and I think it is 

 safe to trust these psychologists, f 



The imitative impulse is thus found to be an instinct 

 directly useful in the serious work of life among most, 

 and presumably among all, of the higher gregarious ani- 

 mals. Its simplest manifestation is the taking to flight 

 of a whole herd as soon as one member shows fear. J A 

 more particular case is seen among certain domestic 

 animals that blindly follow a leader — a fact well known 

 to the crafty Panurge in Eabelais's grotesque romance, 

 when during the voyage he wants to play a joke on the 

 owner of a flock of sheep.* This phenomenon, which 

 may be explained by the principle of division of labour 

 (for in this way one animal can watch for the whole 



* Der mensjchliche Wille, p. 811. 



+ Sully's g^round for combating this view (The Ilnman Mind, 

 1892. vol. ii, p. 218). namely, that imitation first appears in a child's 

 fourth month, is. of course, no argument against tlie heredity of 

 the impulse. [Baldwin has published a special criticism of the 

 arguments against the instinct-view of imitation, loc. cii.; and 

 Bain, who formerly did not accept the instinct-view, has recently 

 adopted it. Of. Baldwin. Mind, January, 1894, p. 52; and Bain, 

 Senses and Intellect, fourth edition, p. 441.] 



X According to Wallace, the white back of many animals is a 

 signal of danger for inciting their comrades' imitation in flight. 

 Darwinism, pp. 217 ff. 



* He persuaded the owner to sell him a sheep, chose the bell- 

 wether, and threw him overboard, whereupon the whole flock 

 jumped after him and were drowned. 



