Yi SELF-CONTROL IN A DOG 285 



It follows from my view of instinct, as I shall show more 

 fully hereafter, that we cannot always draw a dividing line 

 between the voluntary exertion of intelligence or reason — 

 between action depending on immediate reflection — and 

 instinct. Those who take the lowest possible estimate of 

 the mental life of animals will not admit the former at all, 

 although both intelligence and reason are necessary ante- 

 cedents of the latter. Some of the cases already mentioned 

 show the difliculty of distinguishing between intelligence 

 and reason on the one hand and instinct on the other, as well 

 as the self-evident difficulty of distinguishing intelligence 

 from reason. The ants who by the sacrifice of their own 

 lives built a bridge across the stream for the benefit of the 

 community possessed certainly reasoning instincts ; but this 

 particular case of self-sacrifice must have been due to the 

 direct voluntary exercise of reason, because it must have 

 been an exceptional case. Here, therefore, the application 

 of the general reasoning instinct depended on conclusions 

 drawn by reflections made at the moment. 



"Whether ants, when they carry their pupse, accordino- to 

 the temperature, towards the centre or the surface of their 

 nest, act on instinct or reflection, and whether they or the 

 bees act by the former or the latter in numerous other such 

 instances, we cannot from the nature of the case decide. 

 But countless facts prove that here as in the case above con- 

 sidered, instinct and reflection supplement and alternate with 

 one another, or else that reflection operates principally or 

 exclusively. 



A theological friend of mine who studies attentively the 

 mental powers of his dog, an animal of no particular breed, 

 resembling a jackal in size and form, tells me the followino- 

 story about him : The dog, who is extremely active, pug- 

 nacious, and courageous, was persecuted for weeks by a 

 butcher's dog of about the same size, apparently from envy 



