EARLY STAGES OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT | 51 
young bird inherits a tendency to peck at small objects, espe- 
cially, in the case of some birds such as plovers or partridges, 
at small moving objects, opportunities are afforded for dis- 
crimination in accordance with the results of experience. 
Since its inherited timidity leads the chick to shrink from 
many things seen or heard, a wide range of conscious data is 
supplied. Inheritance provides the raw material of organic 
behaviour for effective consciousness to deal with in accord- 
ance with the results which are its data. 
Having thus cleared the ground and laid bare some at 
least of the assumptions which we accept as foundations on 
which to build, we may now follow up the line of treatment 
which was suggested in the first section of this chapter. 
Remembering that our aim is to understand the influence of 
consciousness on behaviour—or, in more accurate, if more 
cumbrous phraseology, the influence of certain nerve-centres 
which have for their concomitant what we have termed effec- 
tive consciousness—the questions which present themselves 
in any given case are: What is the conscious situation which 
is effective in guidance ? what elements enter into the situa- 
tion, whence are they derived, and how were they introduced ? 
how do they take effect in behaviour ? 
If it be true that, in many of the lower forms of life, con- 
sciousness or sentience, though presumably present in some 
dim form, is merely an accompaniment of organic behaviour 
without reaching the level of recognizable effectiveness ; and 
if, during the development of one of the higher animals from 
the fertilized ovum, the early stages of organic behaviour are 
in like manner merely sentient ; it follows that, when effec- 
tive consciousness enters upon the scene (who can say at 
what exact stage of evolution ?), it finds itself a partner in a 
going concern. Much organic business is being transacted 
with orderly regularity ; preparations have been made for 
more extensive operations; and energies lying dormant, or 
expending themselves aimlessly in starts and twitches, await 
the guidance which shall direct them to higher and wider 
biological ends. Or, to vary the analogy, consciousness is 
