Recent Biology 389 



quality which he has learned to expect in this author's writing — 

 great lucidity, secured at once by a simple style, long reflection, 

 and a certain persistence in making his point tell. Combined 

 with this is a balance and caution which invites the reader's 

 confidence, and leaves the impression that the writer, even in 

 the theoretical parts of his subject, can always be trusted. At 

 the same time we find that the work goes over many of the 

 same topics as the earlier books, repeats some of the same 

 instances, even repeats itself more than is necessary, and while 

 the net gain is great, — the book is one of the most important 

 in the recent literature of the problem of instinct, — yet both 

 the observations and the discussions could have been put into 

 much less space, for half the price. The volume will tend in 

 some degree to supersede the one on Animal Life and Intelli- 

 gence, since the author has now reached points of view on the 

 most important subjects, such as the relation of instinct and 

 intelligence, the inheritance of acquired characters, imitation, 

 etc., which render it impossible for workers to quote the earher 

 work as representing Professor Morgan's maturer views.-^ 



As to the essential teachings of the present book, we have 

 space to give only their most important bearings in connection 

 with recent discussion. Among recent publications on this side 

 of the water Professor Morgan makes use of the observations 

 of Professor Wesley Mills of Montreal on the instincts and 

 habits of young animals, and the experiments and conclusions 

 of the present writer reported in the work on Mental Develop- 

 ment in the Child, etc. It will be remembered that Professor 

 Morgan, in a course of Lowell lectures in Boston in 1896, 

 dwelt on the results of detailed experiments carried out by 

 him with young birds, artificially hatched and reared under 

 constant observation. The early chapters in Habit and 

 Instinct contain these experiments carried still further. The 

 substantial results are in agreement with those of Mills, and 

 go to show that many of the actions of young fowls, which 



1 Professor Morgan has now issued an entirely new work, Animal 

 Behaviour (1900), which, as he tells us, grew out of the attempt to revise 

 the volume Animal Life and Intelligence. 



