last will be the case more frequently in respect of exterior
organisation--as, for example, with the weapons or working organs of
animals--while to the former must be referred the molecular condition
of brain and ganglia which bring about the perpetually recurring
elements of an instinct such as the hexagonal shape of the cells of
bees. We shall presently see that by individual character we mean
the sum of the individual methods of reaction against all possible
motives, and that this character depends essentially upon a
constitution of mind and body acquired in some measure through habit
by the individual, but for the most part inherited. But an instinct
is also a mode of reaction against certain motives; here, too, then,
we are dealing with character, though perhaps not so much with that
of the individual as of the race; for by character in regard to
instinct we do not intend the differences that distinguish
individuals, but races from one another. If any one chooses to
maintain that such a predisposition for certain kinds of activity on
the part of brain and body constitutes a mechanism, this may in one
sense be admitted; but as against this view it must be remarked -

1. That such deviations from the normal scheme of an instinct as
cannot be referred to conscious deliberation are not provided for by
any predisposition in this mechanism.

2. That heredity is only possible under the circumstances of a
constant superintendence of the embryonic development by a purposive
unconscious activity of growth. It must be admitted, however, that
this is influenced in return by the predisposition existing in the
germ.

3. That the impressing of the predisposition upon the individual