v CONATION 59 



another edge. Here the same process is repeated. The 

 result is that individuals which have once entered the 

 drop do not leave it, and as in the course of random move- 

 ments many are constantly entering, the majority and in 

 the end all the individuals will finally be congregated 

 there, just as though they had sought the drop deliber- 

 ately. 1 Both these illustrations are instructive. The 

 second one shows that what appears as an act definitely 

 directed towards a particular end is in fact achieved by an 

 indirect process of successive movements, some of which 

 are inhibited while others are persisted in the process 

 known generally as Trial andError. 



Paramecium's action then does not seem as though 

 directed to a definite result apart from the conditions in 

 which it finds itself. On the other hand, when it is 

 unpleasantly situated or confronted with an obstacle, its 

 actions do appear to be in a manner directed to the 

 avoidance of the obstacle and the resumption of its 

 normal course. Now it is just conceivable that in this 

 case the reactions are a series of reflexes, but as a 

 minimum we must suppose a persistent state of the 

 organism, which, under certain disturbing influences, 

 maintains a series of reactions and repeatedly varies them 

 until a new situation is achieved. This differentiates the 

 case from that of the cough, which continues till the 

 crumb is expelled, for that is a single reflex indefinitely 

 repeated. Here we have as a minimum varying reflexes 

 with rejection and selection. The internal state which 

 governs them may or may not correspond to the kind of 

 consciousness which we have when we make an effort, but 

 it arises under corresponding circumstances and has an 

 exactly corresponding effect. In accordance with our 

 criteria, therefore, we are justified in speaking of it in the 

 same terms. 2 



1 Jennings, 48-58. 



2 Cf. Jennings on the Amoeba, p. 22. The entire reaction method may 

 be summed up as follows : The stimulus induces movements in various 

 directions as defined by internal causes. One of these directions is then 

 selected through the fact that by subjecting the animal to new conditions 

 it relieves it from stimulation. 



