152 Terminology and Criticisms 



6. OrtJioplasy :'^ the directive or determining influence 

 of organic selection in evolution. 



7. OrtJioplastic Iiifluaiccs : ^ all agencies of accommoda- 

 tion {e.g., organic plasticity, imitation, intelligence, etc.), 

 considered as directing the course of evolution through 

 organic selection. 



8. Tradition : the handing on of acquired habits from 

 generation to generation (independently of physical he- 

 redity). 



9. Social Heredity:'^ the process by which the indi- 

 viduals of each generation acquire the matter of tradition 

 and grow into the habits and usages of their kind. 



§ 2. Criticisms of Organic Selection^ 



It is fortunate that both in Professor Wesley Mills' 

 article in Science, May 22, and also in a personal letter 

 to the writer, he accepts the class of facts emphasized in 

 the foregoing, and admits their importance (having him- 

 self before pointed out the imperfection of instinct)*; 

 the point of difference between us being in their interpre- 

 tation with reference to the inheritance of acquired char- 



1 Used in the papers reprinted above. 



2 See the last note. Professor Lloyd Morgan thinks this term unnecessary. 

 It has the advantage, however, of falling in with the popular use of the 

 phrases * social heritage ' and * social inheritance.' On the other hand, 

 ' tradition ' seems quite inadequate ; as generally used it signifies that which is 

 handed on, the material. However, we may often employ * social transmission ' 

 (see p. 80). 



^ From Science, November 13, p. 724 (an informal communication). 



* The phrase ' half-congenital,' referred to by Professors Mills and Bumpus, 

 was used as expressive ratlier than as a suggestion in terminology ! Yet the 

 equivalent * halb ' is used in the German — so halbbewusst (subconscious), etc. 

 See Mills, The Nature and Development of Animal Intelligence, in which 

 (Part IV.) he reprints his Ittlcrs and those of others. 



