much of the intelligent work done by man is due to imitation and not to
reason; but there is this great difference between his actions and many
of those performed by the lower animals, namely, that man cannot, on
his first trial, make, for instance, a stone hatchet or a canoe,
through his power of imitation. He has to learn his work by practice; a
beaver, on the other hand, can make its dam or canal, and a bird its
nest, as well, or nearly as well, and a spider its wonderful web, quite
as well (6. For the evidence on this head, see Mr. J. Traherne
Moggridge s most interesting work, Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door
Spiders, 1873, pp. 126, 128.), the first time it tries as when old and
experienced.
To return to our immediate subject: the lower animals, like man,
manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery. Happiness is
never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens,
lambs, etc., when playing together, like our own children. Even insects
play together, as has been described by that excellent observer, P.
Huber (7. Recherches sur les Moeurs des Fourmis, 1810, p. 173.), who
saw ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like so many
puppies.
The fact that the lower animals are excited by the same emotions as
ourselves is so well established, that it will not be necessary to
weary the reader by many details. Terror acts in the same manner on
them as on us, causing the muscles to tremble, the heart to palpitate,
the sphincters to be relaxed, and the hair to stand on end. Suspicion,
the offspring of fear, is eminently characteristic of most wild
animals. It is, I think, impossible to read the account given by Sir E.
Tennent, of the behaviour of the female elephants, used as decoys,
without admitting that they intentionally practise deceit, and well
know what they are about. Courage and timidity are extremely variable
qualities in the individuals of the same species, as is plainly seen in
our dogs. Some dogs and horses are ill-tempered, and easily turn sulky;
others are good-tempered; and these qualities are certainly inherited.
Every one knows how liable animals are to furious rage, and how plainly
they shew it. Many, and probably true, anecdotes have been published on
the long-delayed and artful revenge of various animals. The accurate
Rengger, and Brehm (8. All the following statements, given on the
authority of these two naturalists, are taken from Rengger s
Naturgesch. der Saugethiere von Paraguay, 1830, s. 41-57, and from
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