44 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part. I. 



absence of five years and two days. I went near the sta- 

 ble where he lived, and shouted to him in my old manner; 

 he showed no joy, but instantly followed me out walking 

 and obeyed me, exactly as if I had parted with him only 

 half an hour before. A train of old associations, dormant 

 during five years, had thus been instantaneously awakened 

 in his mind. Even ants, as P. Huber 12 has clearly shown, 

 recognized their fellow-ants belonging to the same com- 

 munity 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, independently of the will, 

 former images and ideas, and thus creates brilliant and 

 novel results. A poet, as Jean Paul Richter remarks, 13 

 "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 invol- 

 untary 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 combina- 

 tions, and to a certain extent on our power of voluntarily 

 combining them. As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all 

 the higher animals, even birds, as is stated on good au- 

 thority, 14 have vivid dreams, and this is shown by their 

 movements and voice, we must admit that they possess 

 some power of imagination. 



Of all the faculties of the human mincl, it will, I pre- 

 sume, be admitted that Reason stands at the summit. 



12 'Les Mccurs des Fourmis,' 1810, p. 150. 



13 Quoted in Dr. Maudsley's 'Physiology and Pathology of Mind,' 

 1868, pp. 19, 220. 



14 Dr. Jerdon,' Birds of India,' vol. i. 1862 p. xxi. 



