"THE MIND IN THE MAKING"
(Continued)
By James Harvey Robinson
(Published by Harper and Brothers) We know of blind animal rage, of been given to the question of man's sidering that the "good" and the "res-
(Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Bros.) striking, biting, scratching, howling, original, uneducated, animal nature; pectable" is usually s'ynonymous with
. . i1ur Animal Heritage. .The Na- end snarlifnof irrational fears and ig- what resources has he as a mere cre- the ancient routine, and the old have
ture of Cviization" nominious flight. We share our senses ature independent of 'any training that always been there to repress the
THere are four' historical layers with the higher animals, -have eyes results from being brought up in some young? Such heavy words of approval
underlying the minds of civilized men ld ears, noses and tongues much sort of civilized community? The as- "venerable," "sanctified," and "re--
-the animal mind, the child mind, the like theirs; heart, lungs, and other question is difficult to formulate sat- vered" all suggest great age rather
savae mind, and the. traditional civi- viscera, and four limbs. ""Phey have isfactorily and still more difficult to than fresh discoveries. As it was in
lizes g mind. ,We are al animals and brains which stand them in good answer. But withqut attempting to the beginning, is now and ever shall'
zer can cease to be; wea amal hil- stead, although their heads are not list man's supposed natural "in- he, is our protest against being dis-
nre at nur most impressinableage so good as ours. But when one speaks atincts" we must assume that civili- turbed, forced to think or to change,
and can never get over the effects of of the animal mind- he should think zation is built up on his original pro- our habits. So history, namely change,
that; our human ancestors have lived of still other resemblances between pensities and impulses, whatever they has been mainly due to a small number
in savagery during practically the brute and ncan. may be. These probably remain near-- of "seers," really gropers and monr
whole existence of the race, say five All animals learn-even the most ly the same from generation to gen- keyers-whose native curiosity outran
hundred thousand or a million years, humble among them may gain some- j eration, The idea formerly held that that 9f their fellows and led them to
and the primitive human mind is ever thing from experience. All the higher the civilization of our ancestors affects escape here and there from the sanc-
with us; finally, we are all born into animals exhibit'curiosity under certain our original nature is almost com- tified of their time.
an elaborate civilization, the constant circumstances, and it is this impulse pletely surrendered. We are all born The seer is simpi( an example of a
pressure of which we can'by no means which underlies -all human science. wrholly uncivIlized. * *** - variation biologically, such as occurs
escape, a * a .. Moreover, some of the higher animals, *h*l * Man started at a cultural in all species of living things, bch
We may grow beyond these under- especially the apes aitl monkeys, are zero and had to find out everything; animal and vegetable. But the un-
lying minds and In the light of new much given to fumbling and groping: or rather a very small number of pe- usually large roses in our gardens, the
knowledge we may criticize their find- They are restless, easily bored, and culiarly restless and adventurous iwifter horses of the herd, and ,the
ings and even persuade ourselves that spontaneously experimental. They it the work. The great mass cleverer wolf in the phck have no
we have successfully transcended therefore make discoveries quite un- ity has never had anything 'means of influen'cing their fellows as
them. But if we are fair with our- consciously, and form new and some- to do with-the increase of intelligence. a result of their peculiar superiority.
selves we shall find that their hold on times profitable habits of action. If, except to act as its medium of trans- Their offspring has some chance of
_ - us is really inexorable. We can only by mere fumbling, a monkey, cat, or fusion and perietuation. Creative in- sharing to some degree this pr-emi- .
transcend them artificially and pre- dog happens on a way to secure food, telligence is confined to the very few, nence, but otherwise things will go
cariously and in certain highly favor- this remunerative line of conduct'will but the many can thoughtlessly avail on as before. Whereas the singular
able conditions. Depression, anger, "occur" to the creature when he feels themselves . of the more obvious variation represented by a St. Fran-
fear, or ordinary irritation will speed- hungry. That is what Thorndike has achievements of those who are ex- cis, a Dante, a Voltaire, or a Darwin
ily prove the insecurity of any struc- named learning by "trial and error." ceptionally highly endowed. * * * may permanently, and for ages to fol-
ture that we manage to rear on our It might be;ter be called "fumbling Professor Giddings has recently, low, change somewhat, the character
fourfold foundation Such fundamen- and success, for it is the success thain asked the question, Why ihas there and ambitions of inni 7erable inferior
tal and vital preoccupations as re- establishes the association. * * * been any history? Why, indeed, con- (Continued on Page 4)
ligion, love, war, and the chase stir A creature which lacked curiosity and
impulses that lie far bhk in human had no tendenc y to ' fumble could
history and which effectually repudi- never have developed civilization and
ate the cavilings of ratiocination.* * h man intelligence.
* We are all descended from the Rut. why did man alone of all the
lower animals with not only an animal animals become civilized? The reason
0ody, but with an animal -mind. And ns pot far to seek, although it has er -
Ihi ani:imal body and animal mind often escaped writers ou the subject. . I
're the original foudations on which All animals gain a certain wisdom
cven the most subtle and refined in- with age and experience, but the ex-
tellectual life must perforce rest. perience of. one ape does not profit
We are ready to classify certain of another. Learning among the ani-
our most essential desires as brutish mals below man is individual, not co-
--hunger and thirst; the urgeince of operative and cumulative. *. * ^
sleep, and especially sexual longing. Of late, considerable tention has
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