The Strange Instincts of Cattle. 341 
fellow they oppose themselves to the law of their 
being, to the whole body of instincts, primary and 
secondary, and habits, which have made it possible 
for them to exist together in communities. It is, 
I think, by reflecting on the abnormal character of 
such an action that we are led to a true interpre- 
tation of this ‘* dark saying of Nature.” 
Every one is familiar with Bacon’s famous pas- 
sage about the dog, and the noble courage which 
that animal puts on when “ maintained by a man ; 
who is to him in place of a God, or melior natura ; 
which courage is manifestly such as that creature, 
without the confidence of a better nature than its 
own, could never attain.” Not so. The dog isa 
social animal, and acts instinctively in concert with 
his fellows; and the courage he manifests is of 
the family, not the individual. In the doinestic 
state the man he is accustomed to associate with and 
obey stands to him in the place of the controlling 
pack, and to his mind, which is canine and not 
human, is the pack. A similar “ noble courage,” 
greatly surpassing that exhibited on all other occa- 
sions, is displayed by an infinite number of mammals 
and birds of gregarious habits, when repelling the 
attacks of some powerful and dangerous enemy, or 
when they rush to the rescue of one of their 
captive fellows. Concerning this rage and desperate 
courage of social animals in the face of an enemy, 
we see (1) that it 1s excited by the distressed cries, 
or by the sight of a member of the herd or family 
flying from or struggling in the clutches of an 
enemy ; (2) that it affects animals when a number 
of individuals are together, and is eminently con- 
