I 



THE EVOLUTION OF MIND 



one group of ideas or movements from follow- 

 ing the other. The discharges are made in- 

 stantly, and along with a minimum duration of 

 nutritive change there is a minimum of con- 

 sciousness. The combinations become perma- 

 nently organized in the brain structure, and in 

 becoming permanently organized they become 

 instinctive or automatic. 



We may now also begin to understand why 

 it is that in man the organization of instincts, 

 primary and secondary, is continued through the 

 early years of life, while in the other animals 

 the majority of the instincts are already organ- 

 ized at birth. The distinction is not an abso- 

 lute one, as many of the higher vertebrates, 

 both birds and mammals, and in a marked de- 

 gree the anthropoid apes, cannot take care of 

 themselves immediately after birth, though they 

 soon become able to do so. The lower we de- 

 scend the animal scale, the more completely 

 organized is the psychical life of the newly born 

 organism. The reason is obviously to be found 

 in the greater speciality and complexity, and 

 the consequent relative infrequency, of the co- 

 ordinations made by the highest animals, and 

 especially by man. When, for example, we put 

 forth the hand to grasp an object, the muscular 

 adjustments are as instinctive as those of the 

 fly-catcher pouncing on an insect ; " volition 

 being concerned merely in setting the process 

 ^3 



