DEPENDENCE ON ASSOCIATION. 101 



If we could imagine an organism possessing the 

 fundamental nervous properties described in this 

 chapter, yet coming into existence with no inherited 

 potential energy in shape of co-ordinations or tenden- 

 cies, we could understand how, during an endless 

 existence under the influence of stimuli of environ- 

 ment, it would acquire great facility of reaction to 

 its every-day surroundings. It would acquire co- 

 ordinations which would affect its entire life-activity, 

 and thus influence its manner of growth and devel- 

 opment. A change in the environment entailing 

 new stimuli would effect after a while new co-ordi- 

 nations, and lead thus to new directions of growth. 



