260 
HAROLD’S DISCUSSIONS. 
ostrich are well developed, but its wings, which are 
used for balancing only, have lost their power to carry 
the bird. It depends for safety no longer on flight, 
but seeks to escape by running away. 
According to the Lamarckian theory the skin, the 
senses, and the brain itself are the result of activity 
induced by surrounding conditions. Some things act 
so as to be a benefit to an animal, others so as to be 
harmful. The former are courted and the latter are 
to be avoided. As soon as the lowest type of living 
matter begins to move, it needs means by which to 
become conscious of its surroundings so as to dis¬ 
tinguish the harmful from the beneficial. Hence the 
need of touch. This sense the little ameba seems to 
possess, for it flows away from the pricking pin. 
But to recognize the hurtful things only when 
they touch us would afford late protection. The 
faster we move the farther away we must detect the 
