The Inner Organs of Expression 145 



acquired characters is imitation. We say imi- 

 tation is instinctive rightly enough, if we 

 mean mental reactions. But are there any 

 bodily imitations acts that the body per- 

 forms by mere contact without any asso- 

 ciation of ideas ? A generation ago the 

 scratching of newly born chickens and a host 

 of similar acts would have been accounted 

 for in this way, but in most, if not all cases, 

 a better explanation is now given. Our outer 

 bodies have passed the stage in their develop- 

 ment in which imitation is an available means 

 of adjustment; but the mechanism of imita- 

 tion is inherited by the inner body and is 

 made active through mental association which 

 affords acquired characters, a method of propa- 

 gation that otherwise would be lacking. 



A second agent of acquired characters is 

 fear. The world was for ages filled with huge 

 monsters which spread death and desolation. 

 In weaker organisms fear made escape the best 

 method of survival. Man belonged in this 

 class, and for ages fear must have dominated 

 him until it became an ingrained feeling which 

 affected every tissue. But in the end man 



