PLAY AND INSTINCT. 65 



3. Since instincts, according to Spencer's view, al- 

 ready explained, are only complicated reflex acts, the 

 question may be excluded whether animals acting in- 

 stinctively are conscious in play of what they do. It 

 is evident, of course, that many instinctive actions are 

 accompanied by consciousness, but seeing that even the 

 instincts thus consciously practised are probably derived 

 from unconsciously perfected reflexes, it is impossible to 

 draw the line.* 



Ziegler is more cautious than Romanes and Schnei- 

 der, who attempt to find a definite boundary line between 



York, October 15, 1897, p. 585) : " These authorities justly claim that 

 the power of the individual to play a certain part in the struggle 

 for life may constantly give a definite trend and direction to evo- 

 lution, and that although the results of purely individual response 

 to external forces are not hereditary, yet indirectly they may re- 

 sult in the permanent addition of corresponding powers to the 

 species. . . . The principles involved seem to constitute a substan- 

 tial gain in the attempt to understand the motive forces by which 

 the great process of organic evolution has been brought about."] 

 The importance of this theory seems to me to depend mainly upon 

 whether the fostering of " congenital variations " in this way is of 

 sufficient " selective value," even though we grant the supposition 

 made, that the animals are kept alive by their individual accom- 

 modations. Baldwin has considered this point (Science, New York, 

 March 20 and April 10, 1896), but perhaps without giving it suffi- 

 cient prominence. It should also be borne in mind that individual 

 accommodations become through practice instinct-like ("semi- 

 automatic "), so that the necessity for the perfection of the con- 

 genital function is somewhat diminished. [Cf. the Appendix.] 



* W. Wundt (Grundziige der physiologischen Psychologie, ii, 

 582) and E. Alix (L'esprit de nos betes, Paris, 1890, p. 580) are of 

 the opinion that the reflex itself is conscious movement become 

 mechanical. Both of them connect this idea with the inherit- 

 ance of acquired characteristics. Apart from that, it is not con- 

 tradictory of what has been said, for frequently-repeated reflexes 

 are often carried on unconsciously, even when they were accom- 

 panied by consciousness when first appearing in the individual. 



