Chap. II. MENTAL POWEES. 39 



exactly similar actions instinctively performed by the 

 lower animals ; in this latter case the capacity of 

 performing such actions having been gained, step by 

 step, through the variability of the mental organs and 

 natural selection, without any conscious intelligence on 

 the part of the animal during each successive genera- 

 tion. No doubt, as Mr. Wallace has argued, 5 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, 

 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 exhi- 

 bited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens, 

 lambs, &c„ when playing together, like our own children. 

 Even insects play together, as has been described by 

 that excellent observer, P. Huber, 6 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 pal- 

 pitate, the sphincters to be relaxed, and the hair to 

 stand on end. Suspicion, the offspring of fear, is emi- 

 nentlv characteristic of most wild animals. Courage 



5 ' Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection,' 1870, p. 212. 



6 ' Kecherches sur les Mceurs des Foumris,' 1810, p. 173. 



