11 



Affirmative 



DEBATE: "CAN ANIMALS REASON?" 



Mr, T. UNDERHILL. Negative: Mr. A. IjANDER. 



An iuterestiug debate ou the somewhat diflS- 

 cult question as to whether or uo auimals pos- 

 sess i-easouiug powers, occuijied the members 

 of the Society on tlie eveniugr of the 15th iust. 

 The meeting" took place in the Reference Li- 

 Inary of the Be.i ley Institute, and Dr. Graham 

 AVilfs. the Prfsident of the Society. |)resided. 

 Mr. T. Underhill opened the debate, taking the 

 view that there was unmistakable proof the 

 animals did reason. In support of this theory 

 he quoted extracts from the works of Darwiu 

 and Huxley. The former writer, in his 

 *■ Descent of Man," puts forward a number of 

 interesting anecdotes of animals which, in his 

 opinion, gave conclusive i)roof i>f the posses- 

 sion of reasoning powers to no sTnall degree. 

 Mr. A. Lander, on the other hand, held that 

 man aluiie possesses the jiowcr of abstract rea- 

 soning. He proceeded to read :ni extract from 

 a letter written by Mr. Kay Robinson, editor 

 of Country Life, in which !u* said : "There is 

 no doubt, I think, that nil animals can draw 

 simple, reasonable inferences from past experi- 

 ence as a guide to future conduct ; but man 

 alone has the power t>f abstract reason, because 

 he alone has the gift of self consciousness wliich 

 enables him to separate himself in mind from 

 his surroundings, so as to think about things 

 in their relation to each other, ajiart from their 



immediate bearing ujion his own struggle for 

 existence as an animal." By means of a sketch 

 of the human brain, he pointed out that the 

 part of the brain which he designated the con- 

 scious mind — and which was the seat of reason 

 in man— was entirely missing in animals. He 

 maintained that many actions which were con- 

 sidered to be the result of reasoning power in 

 animals was really due to habit or was inherited 

 from their ancestors millions of years before. 

 The reason why a dog would leave a new home 

 and go back to its old master was that in it« 

 wild state dogs hunted in packs under a leader, 

 and the animal was following its instinct in 

 returning to its leader — man. Several membcLs 

 present joined in the discussion, and a numbi'r 

 of personal incidents were given, some of which 

 showed intelligence — not to speak of reasoniuLT 

 power — of a high order. At the close « f the 

 meeting Dr. Wills proposed a hearty vote of 

 thanks to Mr. Lauder and Mr. Underbill for 

 the part they had taken in the debate, and » x- 

 pressed himself as astonished at the weight rf 

 evidence brought to bear upon the matter. 

 There was, undoubtedly, something ''n the ani- 

 mal which approached so near to the human 

 miud that it would be very difficult to sepurato 

 them, and say where one began and the other 

 ended. The vote was carried unanimonslv. 



IN THE BEGINNING.^'— By W. COZENS, Esq. 



Considering the great interest attaching to 

 many of the lectures, etc., arranged by the East 

 Kent Natural History and Scientific Society it is 

 a great pity that a larger number of the citizens 

 do not avail themselves of the opportunity of 

 being present at the meetings which are held in 

 the Beaney Institute, Canterbury. Another very 

 pleasant evening was spent on April .3, when Mr.W. 

 Cozens,whoseknowledgeof geology is so well known, 

 gave a lecture entitled "In the beginning." Mr. 

 Cozens had prepared a number of charts illustrat- 

 ing the various strata of the earth's crust and 

 giving the epoch to which each belonged. He had 

 also a fine collection of specimens of strata to be 

 found in England. There were bits of rock from 

 the glacial period, gypsum, Purbeck, chalk in 

 various stages of formation, volcanic slag, etc , 

 while one of the most interesting specimens was 

 that of a bit of rock found in the sand pits at 

 Canterbury belonging to Mr. Cozens, in the heart 

 of which was embedded a shark's tooth. The East 

 Kent Coalfields were also represented — a fine bit of 

 fossilised timber, found at Tilmanstone at a depth 

 of 1,100ft. lying on the table. Mr. Cozens, when 

 dealing with the carboniferous period, remarked 

 that he was not there to boom Kent coal, but he 

 firmly believed in its possibilities. The shoi'es of 

 England were being constantly attacked by the 



ocean, and every year a tract of lind as large as 

 Gibraltar ^as lost to the country. The land 

 which was washed away went somewhere. The 

 lecturer went on to give instances where, within 

 the memory of man, enormous tracts of land had 

 been washed away, swallowing up whole cities. 

 In passing, Mr. Cozens alluded to the treasui-e 

 which was at the present time being washed up 

 along thecoast of Suffolk,and spoke of the presence 

 of a former town— Dunwich— thesite of which had 

 been beneath the waves for many centuries. Such 

 changes.interspersedby violent volcanic upheavals, 

 had been going on for thousands and millions of 

 years, and those were the means by which the 

 various layers of strata were formed. England 

 was very rich in geological specimens, and con- 

 tained nearly all the known kinds of strata. 

 Volcanic dust and slag, desert sand and stones 

 from the glacial period were all to be found. 

 Mr. Cozens then proceeded to explain the method 

 of the creation of the sun and its at*:ondant planets, 

 including our earth. There was, he said, a large 

 quantity ofluminous gases floatingin the universe. 

 These were named "nebulie," and, in course 

 of time, these gases became solid:fied. and 

 formed a huge fiery bidk— our sun. The speaker 

 went on to deal with the throwing off of variou.s 

 portions now known as the planets. As the 



