BEGINNINGS OF INTELLIGENCE 169 
entity is somehow mysteriously injected into the universe. 
It is a general rule that what is pleasant is beneficial and 
what is painful is injurious, and, therefore, by following 
its desires and aversions an animal is guided in a tolerably 
safe course. Eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty, 
seeking warmth when cold, exercise when in a state of 
vigor, and rest when fatigued, all bring a state of satisfac- 
tion or pleasure. On the other hand, eating and drinking 
after a certain stage of repletion has been reached, or at- 
taining too great a degree of warmth may be positively 
painful, the pain being correlated with carrying on these 
activities until they become injurious to the organism. 
But it is well known that this correlation is not an absolute 
one. With complex creatures like ourselves with a multitude 
of different propensities and interests it is not infrequent 
that the pursuit of what is agreeable leads to all sorts of 
unfortunate consequences, even of a purely physiological 
nature. In the lower animals where pleasure is a safer 
guide than among ourselves, what is pleasant is not always 
what is organically good. Poisonous articles may be eaten 
with apparent relish and alcoholic liquors are readily im- 
bibed even by such primitive creatures as bees and wasps 
upon their very first acquaintance with these intoxicants. 
But aside from exceptional cases, pleasure in the animal 
world is a sufficiently good index of what is beneficial that 
under conditions which ordinarily present themselves it 
seldom leads to injurious courses of action. 
The relation between the pleasant and the beneficial is, 
however, probably not a primary one, and it is not improb- 
able that it represents a connection established by natural 
selection, as was first maintained by Herbert Spencer. 
“Tf the states of consciousness which a creature endeavors 
to maintain are the correlatives of injurious actions and if 
c 
