ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT LXV 



enevg^y to itself or subtract energy from itself; it can not create 

 or annihilate motion, but it can direct this motion in a path at 

 will; it can pursue the patli of its own choice. All this has 

 been set forth fulh' in the former work. 



All activities are controlled bv motives, ami the moTivc tor 

 sport is pleasure; but it is a pleasure of a })articular kind — it is 

 a pleasure in physical activitv. Now, we must notice that it 

 is the pleasure of the body whose structure and metabt)lisin 

 are inherited from its ancestors; hence it must be some kind of 

 an activitv consistent \\itli the inherited structure. So far, then, 

 the activity is fixed by inlieritance, liut within these fixed lim- 

 its there is still g-reatvarietN' of activities from which to choose. 

 What activit\' will the infant choose! Manifestly it will choose 

 that activitA' which is suggested bv its acts of psychosis as they 

 are developed innnediately after birth, and perhaps to some 

 extent from prenatal activities which we niay not here stop to 

 consider. The first activities which the infant animal observes, 

 if he belongs to any of the higher groups, ai-e the activities of 

 pan-nts. Thus, the infant cliild makes judgments about ])art'ntal 

 activities, and, liy the law of genesis, first strives to engage in 

 the activities which it sees in the parents. Its wants for food 

 being supplied, the food itself produces metabolic processes 

 which ramify through its organs in excess of the amount neces- 

 sarv for dig-estion. With its inheritance of organization and 

 superal)imdance of metabolic activity, it is ready to engage in 

 other activities which are first taught by the parent as activi- 

 ties of nurture, and the infant is thus led to engage in mimetic 

 activities. Connate with these are the activities of metabolism 

 itself, the seizing, swallowing", and digestion of f )od; but tiie 

 additional acti\ities in which it engag-es an' mimetic. Hence 

 it is tliat a long succession of great scholars have fullv appre- 

 ciated tliat sports depend on a superabundance of activitv. 



I'lir ]ihi\s of cliildhood are organized gradualh' to mimic 

 the activities of cIiUts. Kittens arc trained bv their mothers 

 to play at catching mice, and pup))ies are trained by their 

 mothers to \)\;\\ in mimic liattle. J*up]n' wolves plav at prowl- 

 ing, and kitten ])anthers play at fisticufi's. Kids play in racing, 



19 ETH— 01 V 



