26 Habit and Instinct, 



individual acquisition is under consideration, come back 

 to heredity in the last resort. This is indubitably true; 

 and it shows that the more or less definite congenital 

 activities do not by any means exhaust the hereditary 

 possibilities. All that an animal owes to heredity may, 

 indeed, be classified under two heads. Under the first head 

 will fall those relatively definite modes of activity which 

 fit it to deal at once, on their first occurrence, with 

 certain essential or frequently recurring conditions of the 

 environment, and this forms the group here termed 

 " congenital." Under the second head will fall the power 

 of dealing with special circumstances as they arise, and 

 this we may term innate capacity. The former may be 

 likened to the inheritance of specific drafts for particular 

 and relatively definite purposes in the conduct of life ; the 

 latter may be likened to the inheritance of a legacy which 

 may be drawn upon for any purpose as need arises. If 

 the need become habitual, the animal may, so to speak, 

 instruct his banker to set aside a specific sum to meet this 

 need as often as it arises. But this arrangement is a 

 purely individual matter, and no wise dictated by the 

 terms of the bequest. 



In this classification instinctive activities, as we pro- 

 pose to define them, fall under the first head. They 

 display some share of that hereditary definiteness which is 

 characteristic of what we have termed " congenital activi- 

 ties." It must be remembered, however, that, as already 

 mentioned, there is unfortunately no common and accepted 

 agreement so to define the term "instinctive." Professor 

 Wundt, indeed, divides instincts into two classes : (1) those 

 which are congenital, and (2) those which are acquired. 

 So that the distinction we are drawing will by no means 

 be accepted by him and his followers. Where opposing 

 views are in the field, it is necessary to carefully weigh the 



