28 The Animal Mind 



darts backward, the movement is not a mere rebound; it 

 implies energy contributed by the animal's own body. But 

 just so an explosion of gunpowder is not the equivalent in 

 energy of the heat of the match, the stimulus. Similarly it 

 is possible to think of the response made by animals to external 

 stimuli as involving nothing more than certain physical and 

 chemical processes identical with those existing in inanimate 

 nature. 



If we find that the movements made by an animal as a re- 

 sult of external stimulation regularly involve withdrawal from 

 certain stimuli and acceptance of others, it is natural to use 

 the term " choice " in describing such behavior. But|if con- 

 sciousness is supposed to accompany the exercise of choice in 

 *J this sense, then consciousness must be assumed to accompany 

 /, '''the behavior of atoms in chemical combinations.) When 

 hydrochloric acid is added to a solution of silver nitrate, the 

 atoms of chlorine and those of silver find each other by an 

 unerring " instinct" and combine into the white precipitate of 

 silver chloride, while the hydrogen and the nitric acid simi- 

 larly "choose" each other. Nor can the fact that behavior 

 in animals is adapted to an end be used as evidence of mind ; 

 for " purposive" reactions, which contribute to the welfare 

 of an organism, are themselves selective. The search for 

 food, the care for the young, and the complex activities which 

 further welfare, are made up of reactions involving "choice" 

 between stimuli; and if the simple "choice" reaction is on a 

 par with the behavior of chemical atoms, so far as proof of 

 consciousness goes, then adaptation to an end, apparent pur- 

 posiveness, is in a similar position. 



Thus the mere fact that an animal reacts to stimulation, 

 even selectively and for its own best interests, offers no evi- 

 dence for the existence of mind that does not apply equally 

 well to particles of inanimate matter. Moreover, there is 



