baboon. The little American monkey, who was a warm friend of this
keeper, lived in the same large compartment, and was dreadfully afraid
of the great baboon. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw his friend in
peril, he rushed to the rescue, and by screams and bites so distracted
the baboon that the man was able to escape, after, as the surgeon
thought, running great risk of his life.
Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities connected
with the social instincts, which in us would be called moral; and I
agree with Agassiz (16. De l Espece et de la Classe, 1869, p. 97.)
that dogs possess something very like a conscience.
Dogs possess some power of self-command, and this does not appear to be
wholly the result of fear. As Braubach (17. Die Darwin sche
Art-Lehre, 1869, s. 54.) remarks, they will refrain from stealing food
in the absence of their master. They have long been accepted as the
very type of fidelity and obedience. But the elephant is likewise very
faithful to his driver or keeper, and probably considers him as the
leader of the herd. Dr. Hooker informs me that an elephant, which he
was riding in India, became so deeply bogged that he remained stuck
fast until the next day, when he was extricated by men with ropes.
Under such circumstances elephants will seize with their trunks any
object, dead or alive, to place under their knees, to prevent their
sinking deeper in the mud; and the driver was dreadfully afraid lest
the animal should have seized Dr. Hooker and crushed him to death. But
the driver himself, as Dr. Hooker was assured, ran no risk. This
forbearance under an emergency so dreadful for a heavy animal, is a
wonderful proof of noble fidelity. (18. See also Hooker s Himalayan
Journals, vol. ii. 1854, p. 333.)
All animals living in a body, which defend themselves or attack their
enemies in concert, must indeed be in some degree faithful to one
another; and those that follow a leader must be in some degree
obedient. When the baboons in Abyssinia (19. Brehm, Thierleben, B. i.
s. 76.) plunder a garden, they silently follow their leader; and if an
imprudent young animal makes a noise, he receives a slap from the
others to teach him silence and obedience. Mr. Galton, who has had
excellent opportunities for observing the half-wild cattle in S.
Africa, says (20. See his extremely interesting paper on
Gregariousness in Cattle, and in Man, Macmillan s Magazine, Feb.
117