^42 Present-day rationalism 



trying to hide themselves at the bottom of the watei* 

 to escape their enemies. Both form and habit have now 

 become perpetuated and hereditary. 



For a hen to scratch up the ground is a reasonable 

 procedure. It was a direct act Of reason in the first that 

 did it. Experiments prove that it is now instinctive in 

 chickens ; as Mr. Reid shows in the following instance. 

 " Without any opportunities of imitation when kept quite 

 isolated from their kind, chickens begin to scrape when 

 from two to six days old. Generally, the condition of 

 the ground was suggestive." Some chickens were hatched 

 on a carpet, where they were kept for several days. 

 " They showed no inclination to scrape, because the stimu- 

 lus supplied by the carpet to the soles of their feet was of 

 too novel a character to call into action the hereditary in- 

 stinct ; but when a little gravel was sprinkled on the carpet, 

 and so supplied the appropriate or customary stimulus, the 

 chickens immediately began their scraping movements." ^ 



In this case, therefore, we have a primary act of 

 Reason to start with. It becomes an Instinct in the 

 race ; which is then performed by Reflex Action. 



Dogs bury bones. Such an act is due first to reason- 

 ing powers, with the object, presumably, of keeping them 

 hidden from other dogs, so that they may eat them on 

 some future occasion. This has now become a hereditary 

 habit. Even a puppy in a room has been watched trying 

 to bury a biscuit in the corner, first, by scratching at the 

 boards to make a hole ; then after placing the biscuit 

 where it imagined the hole to be, it tried to bury it by 

 pressing it down with its nose. It came away apparently 

 quite satisfied with the result. Any "common-sense" 

 was conspicuous by its absence. 



'Experiments of Dr. Allen Thomson, F.R.S., op. cit., note, p. 159. 



