http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1623972

Niederen Organismen ihre Reizphysiologie und Psychologie

"The present work was designed primarily as an objective description of the known facts of behavior in lower organisms, that might be used, not only by the general reader, but also as a companion in actual laboratory experimentation. This description, comprising Parts I and II of the present work, on the Protozoa and lower Metazoa, respectively, was made as far as possible independent of any theoretical views held by the writer; his ideal was indeed to present an account that would include the facts required for a refutation of any of his own general views, if such refutation is possible. As originally written, this descriptive portion of the work was more extensive, including, besides the behavior of the Protozoa and Coelenterata, systematic accounts of behavior in Echinoderms, Rotifera, and the lower worms, together with a general chapter on the behavior of other invertebrates. The work was planned to serve as a reference manual for the behavior of the groups treated. But the exigencies of space compelled the substitution of a chapter on some important features of behavior in other invertebrates for the systematic accounts of the three groups last mentioned. The conclusions set forth in Part III are the result of a deliberate analysis of the facts presented in a description which had been made before the conclusions had been drawn. Since the book is written primarily from a zoological standpoint, it would be appropriate in some respects to entitle it "Behavior of the Lower Animals." But the broader title seems on the whole best, since the treatment of unicellular forms involves consideration of many organisms that are more nearly related to plants than to animals"--Preface (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

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