The Memory Idea 275 



the innervation of one centre in a series involved in successive 

 reactions produces innervation of the next, fundamental, 

 and suggested that the process of " association " whereby 

 ideas are brought into consciousness is secondary and de- 

 rived? Simply because we find the formation of motor 

 habits far down in the animal kingdom, long before there is 

 any evidence of the existence of ideas. It is interesting to 

 note that Judd has recently advanced the theory that the phys- 

 iological process underlying the ''association of ideas" may 

 involve the motor pathways (217). In any case, we may be 

 pretty sure a priori that the primary function of the memory 

 idea or image is to anticipate and prepare the way for re- 

 action to a coming stimulus. 



94. The Significance of Stimuli from a Distance 



(2) Another question that arises in connection with the 

 origin of the memory idea bears on the possible significance 

 of that increase in ability to react to stimuli from a distance 

 which we find characterizing the higher animals. An 

 important difference must exist between the stimuli from 

 objects directly in contact with an organism's body, such as 

 give rise to touch, temperature, taste, and pain sensations in 

 our own experience, and those which proceed from objects at 

 a distance, such as forms of vibratory energy and odors. This 

 difference consists in the fact that the former have a more 

 direct and instant effect upon the organism's welfare, and in 

 consequence demand more rapid reaction, than the latter. 

 A stimulus in immediate contact with an animal's body may 

 have a harmful or a beneficial influence at the moment of its 

 impact ; it may be food to be seized or an enemy to be es- 

 caped, and the seizing or escaping must be done on the instant. 

 On the other hand, if an animal possesses the power, belong- 

 ing in increasing degree to the higher animals, of reacting to 



