202 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR 
similar acts performed by the socially linked members are in 
many cases closely connected with emotional states, there arises 
the further social link of community of feeling—that which, 
perhaps, more than anything else conduces to community of 
action and similarity of social behaviour. Occasionally 
particular sounds or special acts may, through constant and 
uniform association, indicate particular objects, such as natural 
enemies. But there does not appear to be convincing evidence: 
of any intentional differentiation of the means of communica- 
tion, or of any use of sounds for descriptive ends. 
Still, just as the instinctive imitation we considered in the 
last section may be regarded as the precursor, in the animal 
world, of the reflective and rational imitation of which we may 
watch the development in children, so may instinctive modes 
of intercommunication be regarded as supplying the foundations 
on which deliberate and intentional communication may be 
based. And here imitation will be a co-operating factor. We 
see in the early stages of the development of children’s language 
how large a share simple and direct association takes in the 
process. For a while, indeed, there seems to be this and nothing 
more. But gradually there arises a realization of a further 
import and purpose in the hitherto isolated associations. It is 
seen that they symbolize elements in that incipiently rational 
scheme of thought and things which is beginning to take form, 
in the child’s mind. The relationships which hold good within 
the conscious situations of daily life begin to occupy the focus 
of attention, and hitherto unappreciated word-sounds are per- 
ceived to stand out as signs for these relationships. Of course 
the relationships * are implicit in the conscious situations of 
the higher animals and of infants. Only by reflection can 
they become explicit, and rivet the attention. Something is 
needed to bring them into prominence and focus the mental 
eye upon them. And descriptive intercommunication supplies 
this need. If a description, even the simplest, is to be 
apprehended or presented to the apprehension of others, then 
* Compare chap. xiii, on “The Perception of Relations,” in my 
“Introduction to Comparative Psychology.” 
