6 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



with Spencer, " the surplus vigour in more highly de- 

 veloped organisms, exceeding what is required for im- 

 mediate needs, in which play of all kinds takes its rise, 

 manifesting itself by way of imitation or repetition of 

 all those efforts and exertions which are essential to 

 the maintenance of life/' * 



In review I may here enumerate the essential points 

 so far made: 



1. The higher animals being able to provide them- 

 selves with better nourishment than the lower, their 

 time and strength are no longer exclusively occupied 

 in their own maintenance, hence they acquire a super- 

 abundance of vigour. 



2. The overflow of energy will be favoured in those 

 cases where the higher animals have need for more di- 

 versified activities, for while they are occupied with 

 one, the other special powers can find rest and reinte- 

 gration. 



3. When, in this manner, the overflow of energy 

 has reached a certain pitch, it tends to discharge. 



4. If there is no occasion at the moment for the 

 correlative activity to be seriously exercised, simply imi- 

 tative activity is substituted, and this is play. 



There can be no doubt that the conception of play 

 thus set forth is very plausible, but its inadequacy can 

 easily be demonstrated. Should play indeed be univer- 

 sally considered as the imitation of serious activities, 

 for which there may be inclination but no opportunity? 

 There is, of course, no doubt that imitation is of the 

 greatest importance in much play, and I shall often 

 have occasion to refer in the sequel to the imitative im- 

 pulses. Nevertheless it is true that the conception of 



* On the Origin of Music, Mind, xvi (1891), p. 376. 



