The Inner Organs of Expression 147 



the appearance of a similar. Are there any 

 primitive animal functions that act in this way ? 

 If there are, reasoning may be the development 

 of one of them. 



Recoil from the dissimilar and the accept- 

 ance of the similar is an elementary tendency 

 starting with life. The tiny amoeba will ap- 

 proach foreign substance and recoil from it 

 if it is dissimilar ; it will repeat this act until it 

 is brought into contact with a similar substance, 

 and then it will absorb it. Recoil from dissim- 

 ilars and the approach of similars are element- 

 ary animal functions. Fear is the psychic 

 expression of this bodily recoil ; curiosity is 

 the psychic expression of approach. Concepts 

 coming through the senses act on the mind 

 through these agents as physical contact acts 

 on the bodies of simple organisms. What 

 more in essence is reasoning than this ? I per- 

 ceive no new element. Rather does reason 

 seem to be the primary rhythm of the body 

 which, having lost its external expression in 

 many complex regenerations of the outer body, 

 has become clarified in its internal expres- 

 sion, and expresses itself psychically as reason. 



