278 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



no trace of any transmission from ancestors of in- 

 born fear or recognition of such a universal natural 

 enemy as the snake. Even the few cases mentioned 

 by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell as forming the exception 

 to the rule indicated have probably an explanation 

 which goes to confirm the general result of the 

 experiments as a whole. 1 



Whence, therefore, comes this most powerfully 

 developed instinct of fear of natural enemies which is 

 undoubtedly almost universally present at an early 

 age under certain conditions in all the individuals 

 of wild species ? T will proceed to the answer. 



I turn now to my own experiments, which were 

 conducted over a long period of time and in which 

 care was taken to exclude disturbing influences. 

 They are in many respects even more remarkable 

 than those just referred to. I experimented with a 



1 The exceptions mentioned by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell were 

 some of the higher monkeys and a few of the more intelligent 

 passerine birds. These appeared to Dr. Chalmers Mitchell to 

 show the same instinctive recognition of snakes that most human 

 beings are said to display. As the result of my own observa- 

 tions in South Africa, I have the strongest doubt as to whether 

 there is in the human child any fear of snakes which represents 

 inborn heredity recognizing an ancestral enemy. What is 

 however present from an earlier age in the child is simply the 

 intelligent brain which distinguishes in the unusual appearance 

 and movements of the snake a suggestion of exceptional power 

 and danger. I feel sure that it is the same explanation and 

 not inborn heredity recognizing an ancestral enemy which applies 

 to the behaviour of the more intelligent passerine birds and the 

 higher monkeys as mentioned by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell. 



