the narratives that record his attachment to his master's grave. They accept the story, as usually given, in all its essentials; and they are correct in so doing. Again, the discussion recently carried on by Pouchet and other authors -as recorded in the Animal World '-as to hedgehogs spiking apples with their quills shows that there is the greatest possible difficulty sometimes in ascertaining the exact truth in current stories about common animals. Assertions on the one hand are controverted, or their facts denied on the other-the authors of both assertion and denial being, perhaps, equally reputable writers.

It has to be explained, lastly, that the value of anecdotes is apt to be greatly over-estimated. Apart altogether from the fact, already pointed out, that every man, woman, or child may speedily observe a sufficient number of facts upon which to base safe and sound conclusions as to the nature of animal instinct,' a few common, well-authenticated incidents are sufficient for the same purpose--quite as valuable as a larger number, and infinitely more valuable than a host of anecdotes unsupported by proper evidence of their authenticity. For this and other reasons I have deemed it both unnecessary and undesirable to crowd these pages with any profusion of illustrative anecdotes or quotations, which would have the disadvantage of confusing the reader and distracting his attention, as well as of occupying space that is devoted, it is hoped, to better

purpose.

CHAPTER IV.

STUDY BY OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT.

By far the best way to acquaint oneself with the phenomena of mind in the lower animals is by the personal observation of animal habits. I can conceive no one so unfortunately placed as not to have opportunity of observing the behaviour of such animals as the horse, dog, cattle, sheep, or poultry, or the domestic pets, such as the cat or canary. Even blindness has not proved a barrier to observation and experiment of the most valuable kind; for Francois Huber, the famous Swiss naturalist, distinguished for his researches on bees (in which he was able to expose the errors of predecessors, who did not labour under his physical disability), was blind. Nor is poverty an obstacle to observation and enquiry; for there are, perhaps, no more sincere lovers of animals, of home pets, no keener observers of animal character, than the poor, who make real companions of their dogs, cats, and canaries, of their horses, donkeys, and pigs. The obstacles to personal observation are, therefore, merely nominal and visionary. In truth, where there's a will there's a way.'

The faculty of observation, however, requires to be cultivated or trained. The eye must be trained to the accurate notice of phenomena; the memory to the recollection of facts; the judgment to the drawing of logical inferences from facts. There has been much false observation and much false or incorrect record of facts, much false reasoning on these false facts, on the subject of what has hitherto been known as

1 As is well illustrated in Smiles's Life of a Scottish Naturalist - Thomas Edwards, the poor journeyman shoemaker of Banff.

'instinct' in animals. Instances of faulty observation, even by naturalists, are to be found in the different accounts that have been given of the habits of harvesting ants, and of the uses of its tail by the beaver. Those who are most intimately associated with the lower animals frequently fail to notice their mental peculiarities from want of the proper training of their observative and reflective powers; while they commit numerous errors of interpretation or inference from ignorance, prejudice, superstition, or the other faults specified in the chapter which treats of the proper method of enquiry' concerning the character of mind in the lower animals. Thus the most important information that has been derived or contributed on the subject of mind in the lower animals has not come from veterinarians, sportsmen, jockeys, cattle dealers, drovers, shepherds, butchers, grooms, or ostlers, but from naturalists, accustomed to the accurate observation of natural phenomena and to a proper appreciation of the value of the facts of observation. Illustrations of exact and conscientious observation, and record of facts or observations, are to be found in the writings of Charles Darwin, Houzeau, Wallace, Belt, Moggridge, Spalding, Ferrier, the Hubers, Fleeson, and many other authors, whose names are generally mentioned in these pages, or specially in the appended Bibliography. There is, perhaps, no better example to all than Audubon's study of bird habits in the forests of North America.

All that is necessary to an understanding of the nature and range of animal reason is a study of the commonest facts of observation-those which are capable of the easiest daily verification in the horse, dog, cat, canary, and other domestic animals, in almost every country under the sun. If once established or fixed by common experience, such facts can neither be overthrown nor explained away. Facts, however, must ever be carefully distinguished from inferences, or opinions based upon them, which may vary ad infinitum. The Rev. Gilbert White, of Selborne, has shown how fertile a field of observation may exist in a limited rural locality; and, in fact, a field of observation, more or less fertile, is to be found in every farm-yard,

kennel, stable, byre, or market; while it may be produced in every homestead, even in every apartment of every man's dwelling.

No doubt there are certain subjects deserving of observation that are not open to everybody, that can, on the contrary, be fitly studied by a very few persons, and these highly qualified naturalists-for instance, the mental endowments or aptitudes of the anthropoid apes. To certain classes only of the population, again, the following special fields or facilities for observation are at command:

1. Zoological gardens.

2. Menageries.

3. Annual or periodical animal shows, such as those now so common in London and elsewhere, of horses, cattle, dogs, cats, donkeys, poultry, pigeons, and song birds-the animals exhibited belonging for the most part to the same species.

4. Happy families'-another form of peripatetic popular animal show, in which different genera and species (frequently hereditary or natural enemies) are exhibited in harmonious groups; such as monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and owls.

5. Aquaria, marine and fresh-water.

6. Apiaria, vespiaria, and formicaria of all kinds.

7. Aviaries, dovecots, rookeries, and swanneries.

Zoological gardens, and more especially travelling menageries, offer the means of studying, for instance, the effects of confinement and artificial existence on animals accustomed to a free, active forest or campaign life in warmer climatesincluding the diseases, mental and bodily, that are created or aggravated by such a change in the conditions of being; the alteration of instincts or habits, of character or disposition-with circumstances-including the development of new instincts or habits, the loss of old ones, and the substitution of vices for virtues, and vice versa. They offer also great opportunities-not hitherto utilised-for the systematic study of the range of mind in the various classes of animals in the ascending or descending zoological scale. Animal shows or exhibitions are both the causes and effects

of an improved public feeling towards subject creatures; besides which, they have a distinct scientific and educational value. Dr. Dohrn, of Naples, Mr. Lloyd, of the Crystal Palace Aquarium, and Mr. Kent, of the Aquaria of Brighton and Manchester, have shown the value of marine and other aquaria in the study of the habits of fish and other aquatic animals. Happy families are most instructive and suggestive as showing man's power for good or evil over other animals, the force of discipline, their capacity for education, and their power of control of their natural propensities or passions.

Not only, however, is it possible for every man, woman, and child of average intelligence to observe and reflect upon the habits of domestic and other animals, and the nature of the phenomena which they exhibit or involve, but experiment may equally fitly and easily be instituted in order to determine the true nature, relations, and range of their socalled 'instinct.' In order to show what has been already done in this direction, and what may still be accomplished by those who have the necessary qualifications, I append a list of the chief, including the most recent, experiments on the mental endowments of animals that have come under my own notice.

1. Moggridge: on the ants of the south of France, including his interesting observations on harvesting ants;' the possibility of deceiving them by beads instead of grain; deterring or alarming them by the sight of a mere line, or of dead or dying companions.

2. Lubbock: on ants, bees, and wasps; their power of intercommunication, of way-finding; their perception of colour and sound; the influence upon them of light, of alcohol, of chloroform; their tempers, affection, and intelligence.

3. Belt: on the foraging and leaf-cutting ants of Nicaragua, and on the artificial production by corrosive sublimate of insanity in the whitefaced monkey.

4. Hague: on the ants of California.

5. Huber (Pierre): on ants in formicaria, and on caterpillars.