Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/157

Rh effort. 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 instinctive, passing first through a border-space where they are neither quite instinctive nor altogether intelligent, but partake of the nature of both.

But setting aside for a moment the conclusion we have arrived at, that acquired traits are not transmissible, this theory totally fails to account for the formation of many important instincts. For instance, many insects at the ends of their lives 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 ho facility 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 origans as Mr. O Lewes supposes, they should be most numerous and best developed in higher animals, and intelligence L