314 The Unity of the Organism 



vital relation between instinct and structure is C. O. Whit- 

 man. His testimony supplements Wheeler's in that it is 

 more exclusively and radically objective than is Wheeler's; 

 that is, it verges less toward the subjective- type of presenta- 

 tion and draws nearer to the bio-chemical ground work. Al- 

 though Whitman wrote relatively little on animal behavior, 

 that little seems to me to contain some of the most important 

 observations and conclusions which have been produced in 

 this branch of zoology. What I utilize is taken from his 

 address Animal Behavior. The animals upon which Whit- 

 man's chief studies were made were leeches of the genus Clep- 

 sine; a salamander (Necturus) ; and pigeons of several spe- 

 cies. Our purpose will be best served by quoting a few sen- 

 tences which go direct to the heart of the question in hand, 

 that namely of the vital connection of instinct and basal 

 physical structure. "The view here taken," Whitman writes, 

 "places the primary roots of instinct in the constitutional ac- 

 tivities of protoplasm and regards instinct in every stage of 

 its evolution as action depending essentially upon organiza- 

 tion". 8 Then, apparently to clarify and emphasize the last 

 clause about the dependence of instinct or organization, he 

 adds a footnote thus : "Professor Loeb refers instinct back 

 to '(1) polar differences in the chemical constitution in the 

 egg substance, and (2) the presence of such substances in the 

 egg as determine heliotropic, chemotropic, stereotropic, and 

 similar phenomena of irritability.' According to this view, 

 the power to respond to stimuli lies in unorganized chemical 

 substances, and the same powers exist in the adult as in the 

 egg, because the same chemical substances are present. Or- 

 ganization serves at all stages merely as a mechanical means 

 of giving definite directions to responses. 



"The view I have taken regards instinctive action as 

 organic action, whatever be the stage of manifestation. The 

 egg differs from the adult in having an organization of a 

 very simple primary order, and correspondingly simple pow- 



