PLAY AND INSTINCT. 33 



section on " Associations of Volition," * where he seeks 

 to show that such instinctive acts are acquired by in- 

 dividuals rather than inherited. In his companion work, 

 The Emotions and the Will, he teaches, too, that hered- 

 ity only explains the simple movements that can be at- 

 tributed to reflex action. The development of these to 

 complicated instinctive acts, he says, depends on the in- 

 dividual performance of the animal./)* 



Alfred Russel Wallace was formerly another op- 

 ponent of the idea of instinct. He differed from Bain in 

 denying to the word its application to even simple reflex 

 action. " It is sometimes absurdly stated that the new- 

 born infant i seeks the breast,' and this is held to be a 

 wonderful proof of instinct. No doubt it would be if 

 true, but, unfortunately for the theory, it is totally 

 false, as every nurse and medical man can testify. Still, 

 the child undoubtedly sucks without teaching, but this 

 is one of those simple acts dependent upon organization 

 which can not properly be termed instinct any more than 

 can breathing or muscular movement." % 



Wallace believed, moreover, as Bain does, that in- 

 stinctive acts must be learned by each individual. This 

 appears most clearly in his brilliant essay on The Phi- 

 losophy of Birds' Nests.* 



* A. Bain, The Senses and the Intellect, third edition, London, 

 1868, p. 409. 



f A. Bain, The Emotions and the Will, third edition, London, 

 1880, p. 53. Bain records observations of a newborn lamb to show 

 that the so-called instinctive capabilities were acquired by it. But 

 this should be compared with Hudson's notice of wild sheep : he 

 often saw these stand on their feet five seconds after birth, and 

 when one minute old run after the mother. The Naturalist in La 

 Plata, p. 109. 



X A. R. Wallace, Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selec- 

 tion, p. 206. * Loc. cit. y p. 211 f. 



