JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 23 
law—that of selection—which affirms that the organism tends 
to select and habituate itself to such stimulations as increase 
its vitality. If, however, the organism possesses, as_ it 
undoubtedly does, this selecting power, by which it is able to 
respond to those stimulations which make for its vital develop- 
ment, and to avoid those which make for its destruction—then 
this selective function is likewise to be accounted for. 
The current explanation for this principle may be stated 
somewhat as follows: ‘The creature is suppose to be endowed 
with certain spontaneous movements—which in some way bring 
it into relation with its varying stimulations. Certain of these 
give stimulations resulting 1n pleasure while others result in 
pain, these results lingering with the organism in a form of 
memory. Here, however, it will be seen that an unaccount- 
able factor has been introduced. How is this original spon- 
taneous movement to be accounted for? ‘To this question, I 
believe, evolution can furnish no adequate answer. We have 
seen, moreover, that in accounting for the selective principle it 
is found that these chance movements result in pleasure or 
pain to the organisin. 
Coming to the principle of pleasure and pain, the follow- 
ing questions present themselves: Why does the organism 
select the one and reject the other? Why are these stimuli 
pleasurable and those painful? Why do the pleasurable 
stimuli result in the increased vitality of the organism? ‘To 
these questions HEREDITY cat give no adequate answer, since 
we must assume for the organism a starting point outside of ~ 
heredity. Evolution at this point then must end its search in 
the origin of life with the bare statement of the presence of a 
tendency on the part of the individual to ‘select pleasurable 
stimuli, which in turn are found to result in the increased 
vitality of the organism. Such a selection, however, postu- 
lates an ability on the part of the organism to retain and 
develop its vital expression, and starts, therefore, with a 
tendency to secure a beneficial and a developing experience. 
Thus it must become evident that the criterion of choice at 
the base of the ‘selective process signifies a prior inherent 
