ADAPTIVENESS. 



CHAPTEE XX. 



GENEEAL ADAPTIVENESS. 



INSTANCES or illustrations are simply innumerable in the 

 lower animals of their power or faculty of adaptation to cir- 

 cumstances ; of accommodation to new, unforeseen, accidental, 

 unusual, or exceptional conditions ; of appropriateness of be- 

 haviour to time and place ; of the use of proper and the best 

 means to an end; of spontaneous modification of action. 

 This adaptability the range of which is as great as its cha- 

 racter is sometimes remarkable this determination of action, 

 by external conditions, which may readily be artificially pro- 

 duced for experimental purposes by man, implies or includes 

 the operation of a number of important mental qualities or 

 aptitudes, such as the following : 



1. Ingenuity, contrivance, cleverness, or inventiveness in 

 device or design, in the variation of the means of accomplish^ 

 ing an object, including fertility of resource, which again 

 involves originality, both in conception and execution. 



2. Definite purpose, object, aim with intention, delibera- 

 tion, firmness, resolution, perseverance, and force of will to 

 attain it. 



3. Capability of surveying and comparing, one with 

 another, each of a series of diverse means, and of judging 

 and selecting the most suitable, 



