THE EVOLUTION OF INSTINCT 137 



tivity congenital variations in certain directions might never 

 have risen to the point at which they would be of service. 

 Unless supplemented by acquired modifications they may 

 never have attained a selective value. We might say then 

 that it is the activities of the organism which to a consider- 

 able degree determine the selective value of its congenital 

 variations. As Baldwin remarks, "Congenital variations, 

 on the one hand, are kept alive and made effective by their 

 use for adjustments in the life of the individual; and, on the 

 other hand, adaptations become congenital by further pro- 

 gress and refinement of variation in the same lines of function 

 as those which their acquisition by the individual called 

 into play. But there is no need in either case to assume 

 the Lamarckian factor. In cases of conscious adaptation, 

 we reach a point of view which gives to organic evolution a 

 sort of intelligent direction after all; for of all the variations 

 tending in the direction of an adaptation, but inadequate 

 to its complete performance, only those will be supplemented 

 and kept alive which the intelligence ratifies and uses." 



It is in the evolution of instinct, if anywhere, that the factor 

 of organic selection would appear to be especially potent. 

 The practical outcome of its operation is much the same 

 as if the effects of experience were actually inherited, and we 

 are thus enabled to explain, in terms of selection, phenomena 

 which at first appear to furnish strong evidence for the 

 transmission of acquired characters. 



While we may recognize the value of the theory of organic 

 selection, it is not clear that we should regard it as a new 

 factor in evolution. It cannot, in strictness, be regarded as 

 a compromise between Nee-Darwinism and Neo-Lamarckism. 

 Rather it is one of the ways in which natural selection may 

 be conceived to act. It consists of the selection of those 

 congenital variations which facilitate the acquirement of 



