hand to unveil the mystery of the infinite unknown. “Bob,” with his increasing knowledge, might have become the ancestor of some future dog who should in some way communicate to us the secrets of the lower animal world.
These comparisons of the amount of knowledge possessed by certain lower animals and certain classes of men might be multiplied indefinitely. I have numerous authentic animal instances illustrating the advanced intelligence of dogs, cats, birds, and species in general; and there are books filled with them. Having shown that any lower animal having knowledge not possessed by certain classes of men is more learned in that respect, the question naturally arises as to the extent of the intelligence of lower animals.
We must concede in the light of modern times that the term “instinct” is no more applicable to the lower animal than to man, since it implies action without the aid of reason. Any training a lower animal acquires, or any knowledge or experience, is just as much learning in his case as it is the man who has to be similarly trained or experienced. The turkey and some other animals which have become domesticated, according to Judge John D. Caton, revert to their wild state when set free. Arctic explorers and sailors when deprived of food and the conveniences of civilization often revert to aboriginal cannibalism and the lowest forms of existence; and, beyond a doubt, if they continued to be deprived of such conveniences their descendants would be as wild, dirty, savage, and ignorant as an African Pigmy. These facts show simply that instinct is as dominant in the human race as among the lowest animals, and manifests itself under like circumstances.
The opposite must then be true in part, that the knowledge which is above and relieved from instinct is partially as dominant in the lower animal as in man. Dr. Thomas Brian Gunning, whose scientific discoveries, I believe, have given him alone among Americans a fellowship in the Royal Society of Surgeons of Great Britain, once owned one of the most learned cats known. In selecting instances[1] of this kind I prefer to relate only those which can be verified by any one, from the lips of men whose honesty and standing cannot be questioned. “Black”
- ↑ For selected instances of lofty animal intelligence, see article entitled “Cats” in Harper’s Bazar of October 25th, 1884, by the author.
