260 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



therefrom; and the separate consideration of the sev- 

 eral qualities of an object. It will be sufficient for 

 the present purpose to take a few of the more simple 

 acts of animal intelligence, and test them by the or- 

 dinary standards by which human reasoning is meas- 

 ured and determined. 



Anecdotes of the intelligent conduct of animals are 

 innumerable. They are not only constantly appearing, 

 and arresting attention, but a sufficient number of in- 

 stances to illustrate the subject are within the personal 

 knowledge of every individual. It will not be neces- 

 sary, therefore, to seek a large number of cases, or to 

 choose such as are the most remarkable. Such only 

 will be selected as tend to illustrate particular forms 

 of reasoning. 



It is said that a dog, when attempting to track his 

 master by the scent of his footsteps, will, if he finds 

 the road branching, turn up one branch, and failing to 

 find his scent, will then return and go up the other 

 without putting his nose to the ground. It shows he 

 drew the inference that because he did not take the 

 one branch, he must necessarily have taken the other. 

 The act being conceded, the interpretation given be- 

 comes an unavoidable conclusion. 



Again, a dog will open a gate with his paw, a self- 

 taught act. From the fact that he applied the means 

 to effect the end, the inference arises necessarily that 

 he understood the connection between the means and 

 the end. This is, pure and simple, a case of reason- 

 ing; and, more than that, a kind of reason which can 

 only be predicated of a thinking principle. The fol- 

 lowing artifice for catching fish, resorted to by the 

 tiger of the Amazon, is related by Herndon. It in- 



