ORGANIC EVOLUTION — MENTAL 145 



efifoii;. In common but erroneous parlance, we perform 

 them instinctively. Mr. Lewes supposes that some of 

 this acquired facility in performance is bequeathed by 

 successive parents to successive offspring, whereby it is 

 accumulated during generations to such an extent that 

 the remote descendant has inborn the facility which 

 the remote ancestor acquired only with effort and 

 difficulty. In this manner, according to him, do 

 actions, at first intelligent and accompanied with 

 mental effort, become ultimately mechanical and in- 

 stinctive, passing first through a border-space where 

 they are neither quite instinctive nor altogether intelli- 

 gent, but partake of the nature of both. 



But setting aside for a moment the conclusion we 

 have arrived at, that acquired traits are not trans- 

 missible, this theory totally fails to account for the 

 formation of many important instincts. For instance, 

 many insects at the ends of their Eves lay their eggs in 

 a particular place, and in a particular way, some in 

 such a manner as to cause the aggregate of eggs to 

 resemble an inedible substance, e. g. a twig. The action 

 is performed only once, and at a time when the eggs 

 have ceased in any true sense to be integral portions 

 of the parent organism. Under the circumstances, not 

 only can no facUity in performance be acquired by the 

 individual, but, even were it acquired, none could be 

 transmitted. Yet Mr. Lewes' theory of the formation 

 of instinct presupposes both the acquirement of 

 facility and the transmission of it. Therefore, while it 

 is conceivable that this instinct arose by the survival 

 of the fittest during a severe process of Natural 

 Selection, it is quite inconceivable that it should have 

 arisen through a lapsing of intelligence. Moreover, 

 were it true that instincts had such origins as Mr. 

 Lewes supposes, they should be most numerous and 

 best developed in higher animals, and intelligence 



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