Section IV., 1903 [ 189 ] Trans. R. S. C. 



XIII. — Some Aspects of the Development of Comparative Psychology. 

 By Wesley Mills, M.A., M.D., Etc. 



Professor of Physiology in McGill University, Montreal, Canada. 

 (Read May 19, 1903.) 



It is probabl}' most satisfactory in. every way if an address is to 

 be general, that it shall have its foundation in the line of research 

 which has most engaged the author for a number of years past. In 

 harmony with this principle it was open to me to choose some subject 

 bearing either on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, 

 or one dealing with animal intelligence. To have treated the former 

 in a way satisfactory to myself, would have implied considerable 

 illustration and the use of the lantern, which could likely not be carried 

 ■out without breaking in on an evening, and that was more than I 

 cared to ask the section to do. Hence the selection of — Some Aspects 

 of the Development of Animal Intelligence, as the topic of this 

 address, the treatment of which must, in the nature of the case be 

 incomplete. 



It is no doubt true that man is more dependent on his environ- 

 ment than any other animal, if we restrict that term to the material 

 world about us, but the very expression "'■' Every man is the product of 

 his age," conveys the truth that the greatest genius can get only so 

 far beyond the average thought of his time. As Darwin long ago 

 pointed out, the most important factor in. man's environment is man 

 himself. One has scarcely emerged from infancy before the accumu- 

 lated forces of the ages in human traditions and knowledge begin to 

 mould the developing human being, and determine what he shall be. 

 So that, be as independent and original as anyone may, he is still in a 

 sense a product of his environment. Of anything analogous to this 

 among the lower animals there is little, consequently in taking account 

 of the state of comparative psychology as it is to-day, and the steps 

 by which it has been brought to its present development, one cannot 

 for a moment lose sight of the general trend of thought and the whole 

 sum of forces that we term environment. If it be a fact, as it is, that 

 men ta-day regard animals in a wholly different light from that of the 

 Middle Ages and long after, it is because our general philosophy of life 

 and our point of view have greatly changed. 



Art is in an especial way the reflection of the thought and feeling 

 of the time, and one cannot but know the indifference with which the 

 old masters treated nature and especially animals; they were with them 



