THE WAYS OF LIFE 205 



concluded that instincts owe their origin — not at all to 

 experience or practice, either at the intelUgent or the reflex 

 level, but wholly and solely to the sifting of germinal 

 variations. The pointing quality in pointers probably 

 started with a constitutional variation in this direction 

 (there are analogous cases among wild hunting animals). 

 Man took advantage of this and strengthened it by vigorous 

 selection, which stiU continues. Moreover, there is some 

 individual apprenticeship still. 



Many of Weismann's detailed criticisms must be kept 

 in mind whatever conclusion is arrived at ia regard to 

 the nature of instinct. He referred, for instance, to the 

 difficulty raised by those instinctive actions which occur 

 only once in a lifetime, e.g. the young bird breakiag its 

 way out of the imprisoning egg-shell, the moth escaping 

 out of an elaborate cocoon, the nuptial flight of the queen- 

 bee, the gall-wasp laying its egg with such precision in 

 the very heart of the bud of the wild rose, and so on through 

 a long list. What is done only once in a life-time cannot 

 become a habit ! 



Origin from Reflexes and Tropisms. — The result 

 of Weismann's criticism was to concentrate attention on 

 the idea of the origin of instincts as germinal variations. 

 As this view presents difficulties to many minds, let us 

 offer some illustration. Every now and then, though far 

 too rarely, we hear some one say of a child, ' he has such 

 peculiar ways of his own ', or ' she is not like other girls '. 

 That means a certain originality or idiosyncrasy, a new 

 pattern ; it is biologically regarded as the expression of 

 a germinal variation. It really represents, we make bold 

 to say, an experiment in self-expression on the part of 

 the creative germ-plasm. 



