d
across which a current may pass merely as a matter of structure. Just
why certain synapses should be thus connected is the whole question
of heredity. Two factors seem to affect the functional contact of a
synapses,--first, proximity of the neurone ends, and second, some
sort of permeability which makes a current travel on one rather than
another of two neurones equally near together in space. This
proximity and permeability are both provided for by the structure and
constitution of the nervous system. It should be noted that the
connection of neurones is not a one-to-one affair, but the
multiplicity of fibrils provided by original nature makes it possible
for one afferent to discharge into many neurones, and for one
efferent neurone to receive the current from many neurones. Thus the
individual when born is equipped with potentialities of character,
intellect and conduct, because of the pre-formed connections or
tendencies to connections present in his nervous system.

"_Types of Original Responses._--These unlearned tendencies which
make up the original nature of the human race are usually classified
into automatic or physiological actions, reflexes, instincts, and
capacities. Automatic actions are such as those controlling the
heart-beats, digestive and intestinal movements; the contraction of
the pupil of the eye from light, sneezing, swallowing, etc., are
reflexes; imitation, fighting, and fear, are instincts, which
capacities refer to those more subtle traits by means of which an
individual becomes a good linguist, or is tactful, or gains skill in
handling tools. However, there is no sharp line of division between
these various unlearned tendencies; what one psychologist calls a
reflex or a series of reflexes, another will call an instinct. It
seems better to consider them as of the same general character but
differing from each other in simplicity, definiteness, uniformity of
response, variableness among individuals, and modifiability. They
range from movements such as the action of the blood vessels to those
concerned in hunting and collecting; from the simple, definite,
uniform knee-jerk, which is very similar in all people and open to
very little modification, to the capacity for scholarship, which is
extremely complex, vague as to definition, variable both as to
manifestation in one individual and amo