246 MEN7\4L FACULTIES sec. 



fly was a consequence of innate instinct, like that of itself 

 and brethren towards the millet seed. 



In the. present year I have again made similar experiments 

 on chickens, and with more care. I took two chicks away 

 from the hen into my own care immediately after they w'ere 

 hatched, and wrote down exactly their behaviour under the 

 experiments I made on them. I will distinguish the tw'o 

 in the folio win f^ according- to their colour as the brown and 

 the wdiite. There is no need to insist that when I bei^an to 

 study them they knew^ nothing of the world, that they had no 

 previous experiences whatever, hut I am compelled to point 

 out the impossibility of doubt with regard to this on account 

 of the high degree in which thev exhibited the faculties 

 acquired l.>y their ancestors. I w^as extremely surprised by 

 their actions, and confess I should have considered them 

 incredible if I had not observed them mvself. Thev are 

 alone sufficient to demonstrate the inheritance of acquired 

 characters as an incontrovertible fact, and to show what a 

 tremendous importance belongs to this inheritance, especi- 

 ally wdiere mental acquirements are concerned, and wdiat 

 importance belongs to instinct in the life of animals. 



I proceed now to the description of my observations, only 

 remarking that the wdiite chicken was from the first some- 

 what behind the brown in the exercise of its faculties. 



After they ^vere hatched, I kept the little creatures warm 

 during the night in a basket wdth some w^adding near the 

 stove, and on the second day of their life I placed them on 

 a Ijoard, on wdiich millet and crushed buckwheat had been 

 ])laced. 



To my very great surprise the brown one pecked at once 

 at the millet grains, without having its attention in any way 

 directed to them ; and indeed at the first attempt it touched 

 a grain with as much certainty as if it had pecked at millet 

 for ever so long. But it did not succeed in taking up the 



