274 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



striking manner to show the uniformity of the opera- 

 tions of the mental principle throughout the animal 

 kingdom. 



VIII. Lunacy of Animals. Under the preceding 

 heads we have discussed a small number out of the 

 great body of facts which tend to establish the exist- 

 ence of a thinking reasoning principle among the 

 mutes; and also tending to show that the qualities 

 manifested by it cannot be distinguished from the cor- 

 responding manifestations of the human mind, except 

 in the degree of their strength. Cases have occurred 

 among animals where their mental powers were over- 

 thrown, and lunacy supervened, furnishing the same 

 external indications which follow the overthrow of 

 the human intellect, so that the animal has been seen 

 in both conditions, when in the full possession of his 

 faculties, and when their functions have been sus- 

 pended. Dr. Kane relates several cases in point among 

 his dogs, occasioned by the absence of light during the 

 long arctic winter while he was ice bound in the far 

 north. He remarks as follows: "The mouse-colored 

 dogs, the leaders of my Newfoundland team, have for 

 the last fortnight been nursed like babies. No one 

 can tell how anxiously I watch them. They are kept 

 below, tended, fed, cleansed, caressed, and doctored, 

 to the infinite discomfort of all hands. To-day I give 

 up the last hope of saving them. Their disease is as 

 clearly mental as in the case of any human being. 

 The more material functions of the poor brutes go on 

 without interruption; they eat voraciously, retain 

 their strength, and sleep well. But all the indica- 

 tions beyond this go to prove that the original epilepsy, 

 which was the first manifestation of brain disease 



