Affective Tendencies 369 



of every stationary physiological condition to remain 

 constant. We shall soon see that this tendency in its 

 turn is only the direct result of the mnemonic faculty 

 characteristic of all living matter. 



This single physiological tendency of a general kind, 

 accordingly, is sufficient to give rise to a large number 

 of the most diversified particular affective tendencies. 

 Thus every cause of disturbance will produce a corres- 

 ponding tendency to repulsion with special characteris- 

 tics determined by the kind of disturbance, by its 

 strength, and by the modes of reaction tending to circum- 

 vent the disturbing factor ; and for every incidental means 

 of preserving or restoring the normal physiological con- 

 dition, there will be a quite definite corresponding ten- 

 dency such as "longing," "desire," "attraction" and so 

 forth. 



Even the instinct of self-preservation when under- 

 stood in the usual narrow sense of "preservation of 

 one's own life" is only a particular derivative and 

 direct consequence of this very general tendency to pre- 

 serve physiological invariability. For every condition 

 which would eventually lead to death first presents itself 

 as a mere disturbance, and it is only as such that the 

 animal tries and learns to avoid it. Jenning's amoeba, 

 for instance, which had been completely swallowed by 

 another amoeba, but had succeeded in getting away, did 

 not in all probability flee from a phenomenon that en- 

 dangered its life, but from a condition in its environ- 

 ment which even though a profound disturbance, was 

 nevertheless nothing but a disturbance. 



It is well known that Quinton was the first to de- 

 velop a theory that organisms tend to maintain in their 

 internal intercellular environment the same chemical 



