v.— MISCELLANEOUS. 



Art. XXIX. — The Animal Mind as a Factor in Organic 



Evolution. 



By Charles W. Purnell. 



]_Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 6th September, 



1899.'] 



In the manifold discussions which have taken place upon the 

 subject of evolution, and the consideration of the factors con- 

 cerned in the development of the animal from a simple to a 

 complex being, but little importance has been attributed to 

 the action of the animal mind upon the development of the 

 animal body. Those who accept Darwin's views of the opera- 

 tion of natural selection, and those who consider that natural 

 selection plays a comparatively insignificant part in the de- 

 velopment of the animal kingdom, alike seem to regard the 

 animal as the unconscious sport of outward circumstances, 

 and conclude that an animal such as the elephant has been 

 evolved from a simpler type by surrounding conditions acting 

 upon its physical structure, which has thus become moulded 

 to suit its altered environment. The mind of the animal, 

 even in the case of animals gifted with a high order of intelli- 

 gence, is not assigned any part in the drama of evolution, 

 with one exception — viz., that sexual desires have produced 

 sexual decorations, and particularly the decorative plumage of 

 birds, although this is not undisputed. 



The foregoing is the view of evolution held by British 

 naturalists, at all events ; and I ascribe it to the fact that, 

 when Darwin published his " Origin of Species," which really 

 first awakened the world to the importance of the doctrine of 

 evolution, it was not conceded, as it is now, that animals — at 

 any rate, those of the higher orders — possess true minds, 

 and the " instincts of animals" were regarded as something 

 fundamentally different from human intelligence. 



The only scientific writer of note who has claimed for 

 animal intelligence any direct share in the moulding of the 

 animal frame is the late Professor Cope, of the United States, 

 who, in his work on " The Origin of the Fittest," writes, 



