180 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



associative connection between the " antecedent state 

 of feeling " and the act itself firmly established by fre- 

 quent repetition, the force of imitation would not be 

 operative. 



Against this definition the just and obvious objec- 

 tion is that imitation preferably selects what is new 

 and unusual for its model, as the phenomena of fashion 

 illustrate daily. When we see two people greet one 

 another in the manner that we are accustomed to, we 

 are not impelled to imitate them, though the associa- 

 tive connection is perfect. But if a leader of fashion 

 displays a new way of lifting his hat, there are hundreds 

 who can not resist the temptation to hold their hats, too, 

 like warming pans, before them, or doing whatever the 

 new mode demands. Further, this theory would make 

 imitation a much stronger impulse in adults, whose 

 associations are established, than in children, while the 

 contrary is the fact. Nor does it explain any better 

 the powerful influence of imitation in teaching the 

 child new and unpractised movements of the limbs and 

 vocal organs. Thus, when James Mill says — " All men 

 have a greater or less propensity for imitation. This 

 propensit}^ is very strong in most children, and to it is 

 due in large measure the rapidity with which they ac- 

 quire many things, for example, the propensity to imi- 

 tate sounds helps them to learn to talk quickly. . . . 

 Children learn to stammer and to squint by imitating 

 their companions, and we all know how common it is for 

 young people to adopt the manners and expression of 

 those with whom they associate " — he seems to me to 

 prove by his own illustration that the exercise of imi- 

 tative impulse does not use tracts learned by association, 

 but rather inborn ones; in other words, that it is not 

 acquired but inherited ; it is an instinct. This is Her- 



