XXII THE PROBLEM OF INSTINCT 501 



At the end of the first chapter, which gives a popular 

 sketch of the facts which demand explanation or verifica- 

 tion, Professor Morgan says : — 



' ' We may now sum up what has been advanced in the foregoing 

 discussion, and say that, from the biological point of view, instincts 

 are congenital, adaptive, and co-ordinated activities of relative com- 

 plexity, and involving the behaviour of the organism as a whole. 

 They are not characteristic of individuals as such, but are similarly 

 performed by all like members of the same more or less restricted 

 group, under circumstances which are either of frequent recurrence 

 or are vitally essential to the continuance of the race. . . . They are 

 to be distinguished from habits which owe their definiteness to 

 individual acquisition and the repetition of individual perfor- 

 mance." 



And after having described the various actions of 3'oung 

 birds antecedent to experience, our author summarizes 

 some of the conclusions to be drawn from the observa- 

 tions as follows : — 



"1. That which is congenitally definite as instinctive behaviour is 

 essentially a motor response or train of motor responses. Mr. Her- 

 bert Spencer's description of instinct as compound reflex action is 

 thus justified. 



"2. These often show very accurate and nicely adjusted 

 congenital or hereditary co-ordinations. 



"3. They are evoked by stimuli, the general type of which is 

 fairly definite, and may, in some cases, be in response to particular 

 objects. Of the latter possibility we have, however, but little satis- 

 factory evidence. 



"4. There does not seem to be any convincing evidence of 

 inherited ideas or knowledge (as the term is popularly used) ; that is 

 to say, the facts can be equally well explained on the view that what 

 is inherited is of the nature of an organic response. 



' ' 5. Association of ideas is strong, and is rapidly formed as the 

 result of individual acquisition. 



"6. Acquired definiteness is built, through association, on the 

 foundation of congenital responses, which are modified, under 

 experience, to meet new circumstances. 



" 7. Acquired definiteness may pass, through frequent repetition, 

 into more or less stereotyped habit. " 



Having thus given the author's standpoint and his main 

 conclusions from a body of well-observed facts, we will 

 pass on to his treatment of those activities of adult 

 animals which are generally classed as instinctive. 



