as P. Huber (18. Les Moeurs des Fourmis, 1810, p. 150.) has clearly
shewn, recognised their fellow-ants belonging to the same community
after a separation of four months. Animals can certainly by some means
judge of the intervals of time between recurrent events.
The IMAGINATION is one of the highest prerogatives of man. By this
faculty he unites former images and ideas, independently of the will,
and thus creates brilliant and novel results. A poet, as Jean Paul
Richter remarks (19. Quoted in Dr. Maudsley s Physiology and Pathology
of Mind, 1868, pp. 19, 220.), who must reflect whether he shall make
a character say yes or no to the devil with him; he is only a stupid
corpse. Dreaming gives us the best notion of this power; as Jean Paul
again says, The dream is an involuntary art of poetry. The value of
the products of our imagination depends of course on the number,
accuracy, and clearness of our impressions, on our judgment and taste
in selecting or rejecting the involuntary combinations, and to a
certain extent on our power of voluntarily combining them. As dogs,
cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds (20. Dr.
Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. i. 1862, p. xxi. Houzeau says that his
parokeets and canary-birds dreamt: Etudes sur les Facultes Mentales
des Animaux, tom. ii. p. 136.) have vivid dreams, and this is shewn by
their movements and the sounds uttered, we must admit that they possess
some power of imagination. There must be something special, which
causes dogs to howl in the night, and especially during moonlight, in
that remarkable and melancholy manner called baying. All dogs do not do
so; and, according to Houzeau (21. ibid. 1872, tom. ii. p. 181.), they
do not then look at the moon, but at some fixed point near the horizon.
Houzeau thinks that their imaginations are disturbed by the vague
outlines of the surrounding objects, and conjure up before them
fantastic images: if this be so, their feelings may almost be called
superstitious.
Of all the faculties of the human mind, it will, I presume, be admitted
that REASON stands at the summit. Only a few persons now dispute that
animals possess some power of reasoning. Animals may constantly be seen
to pause, deliberate, and resolve. It is a significant fact, that the
more the habits of any particular animal are studied by a naturalist,
the more he attributes to reason and the less to unlearnt instincts.
(22. Mr. L.H. Morgan s work on The American Beaver, 1868, offers a
good illustration of this remark. I cannot help thinking, however, that
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