COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



the transition from the one kind of life to the 

 other. It is the lowly beginning from which 

 higher forms of psychical activity arise/ 



Now in reflex action, as it is exemplified alike 

 in the rhythmical movements ofour heart, lungs, 

 stomach, and other viscera, and in the con- 

 traction of a polyp's tentacle when food comes 

 against it, we see a series of nervous discharges 

 which are automatically directed along certain 

 definite transit lines. The lines of least resistance 

 have become permanently organized in the ani- 

 mal structure, and they are transmitted, with the 

 accompanying capacities of action, from genera- 

 tion to generation. Here we see " indissolubly 

 connected psychical states existing where there 

 are perpetually repeated experiences of the ex- 

 ternal relations to which they answer." 



The phenomena o^ instinct are more distinctly 

 psychical than those of reflex action. " While 

 simple reflex action is common to the internal 

 visceral processes and to the processes of ex- 

 ternal adjustment, instinct is not. There are no 

 instincts displayed by the kidneys, the lungs, the 

 liver : they occur only among the actions of that 



^ [While Fiske would probably still maintain his thesis at 

 this point, the modern controversy as to the heredity of 

 acquired characters has rendered these reasonings as to the 

 origin of instinct more doubtful than they were to the evolu- 

 tionists of Fiske' s day. See James, Principles of Psychology, 

 vol. ii. chapter xxviii.] 



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