THE EVOLUTION OF INSTINCT 137 
tivity congenital variations in certain directions might never 
have risen to the point at which they would be of service. 
Unless supplemented by acquired modifications they may 
never have attained a selective value. We might say then 
that it is the activities of the organism which to a consider- 
able degree determine the selective value of its congenital 
variations. As Baldwin remarks, “Congenital variations, 
on the one hand, are kept alive and made effective by their 
use for adjustments in the life of the individual; and, on the 
other hand, adaptations become congenital by further pro- 
gress and refinement of variation in the same lines of function 
as those which their acquisition by the individual called 
into play. But there is no need in either case to assume 
the Lamarckian factor. In cases of conscious adaptation, 
we reach a point of view which gives to organic evolution a 
sort of intelligent direction after all; for of all the variations 
tending in the direction of an adaptation, but inadequate 
to its complete performance, only those will be supplemented 
and kept alive which the intelligence ratifies and uses.” 
It is in the evolution of instinct, if anywhere, that the factor 
of organic selection would appear to be especially potent. 
The practical outcome of its operation is much the same 
as if the effects of experience were actually inherited, and we 
are thus enabled to explain, in terms of selection, phenomena 
which at first appear to furnish strong evidence for the 
transmission of acquired characters. 
While we may recognize the value of the theory of organic 
selection, it is not clear that we should regard it as a new 
factor in evolution. It cannot, in strictness, be regarded as 
a compromise between Neo-Darwinism and Neo-Lamarckism. 
Rather it is one of the ways in which natural selection may 
be conceived to act. It consists of the selection of those 
congenital variations which facilitate the acquirement of 
