iv MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 45 



between the present act and the past, on the one hand, and 

 the future on the other. 



2. We deal with conscious processes throughout then 

 in their capacity of correlating functions. But, further, 

 though consciousness is the special organ of correlation, 

 it is not even in man the sole method, and among lower 

 organisms it or its analogue is not even the most im- 

 portant method. Our task then is not merely to analyse 

 consciousness, but, more generally, to consider the kind of 

 correlation that we find in the acts of organisms and in 

 particular of men. We shall distinguish responses to the 

 environment from this point of view. There will be first 

 action in which no correlation appears, and then among 

 correlated activities there will be different types or species 

 of correlation. These will be found to differ (a) according 

 to the function of the present organic condition, and par- 

 ticularly to the way in which this condition is expressed in 

 conscious effort, (b) according to the part played by the 

 living experience of the individual or by causes acting on 

 the individual only through his experience as compared 

 with the part played by the hereditary structure. We shall 

 distinguish accordingly correlation resting on heredity, 

 correlation resting on co-present conditions and correlation 

 resting on past experience, and of each we shall find dis- 

 tinct species. 



A. NON-CORRELATED OR SPORADIC ACTION. 



3. A man subject to nervous shock and unable to control 

 himself throws his limbs about, twists his body, utters cries, 

 or swears meaninglessly. The excessive excitement pro- 

 duces general muscular contractions which have no specific 

 functions, though they may give indirect relief by draining 

 off pent-up stores of nervous energy. If we are dealing 

 with any obstacle which we utterly fail to understand, 

 action, particularly if we lose our heads, tends to relapse 

 into this convulsive meaningless form. In such a case we 

 touch bottom. We sink to the lowest level at which not 

 only all that is rational in action, but all that is adaptive 

 and useful is eliminated. We have a general discharge 



