212 The Scottish Naturalist. 



out to be only an error on the part of the physiologist. 

 Agassiz argues for an immaterial principle in all animals, simi- 

 lar to that which, by its superior excellence and superior endow- 

 ments, places man so far above them. He does this on the 

 ground that they possess individuality. If this individuality 

 had been a conscious possession of animals, i.e. one they knew 

 anything about, it would have argued a psychical principle that 

 might be equal to man's, for that possession is one of man's, 

 highest prerogatives. But as the idea of individuality is only 

 an attribute that the scientist describes the animal by, as he also 

 does the crystal, it argues an immaterial, or at least a human- 

 like soul in the animal no more than it does in the stone. 



( To be continued. ) 



ILLUSTKATIONS OP ANIMAL KEASON. 



( Continued from p. 148.) 

 By W. LAUDER LINDSAY, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.L.S. 



IT is scarcely possible now-a-days to take up any Newspaper 

 or Magazine of the better class, without finding- — whether 

 or not they are looked for — incidents or Anecdotes illustrative 

 of Animal intelligence. This is a significant sign of the times, 

 showing the growing attention that is being given by the 

 general public to the Mental status of subject creatures. But,, 

 for various reasons, the paragraphs or articles devoted by news- 

 papers or magazines of all kinds to the illustration of the mental 

 endowments of the lower animals are too generally regarded as 

 ephemeral and worthless. They are far too little utilised for 

 the purposes of generalisation by those who will neither take 

 the trouble to observe Nature for themselves, nor give their 

 attention to the study of such published works as those of 

 Darwin, Huxley, Wallace, and Spencer. It is only the in- 

 dustrious and sagacious compiler, such as the Rev. J. G. Wood, 

 F.L.S., who has the sense, and takes the pains, to garner the 

 scattered grains of Newspaper science. This feeling or estimate 

 of the valuelessness of Newspaper anecdotes arises partly, from 

 their usually being anonymous, and partly from the ephemeral 

 nature of the medium in which they are presented to the 

 public. But that they, or at least many of them, deserve a 

 better fate — a more permanent record — it is the object of the 

 present article to point out. I have personally taken a con- 



