MEXTAI.ITV Ol- THK HORSE. II5 



have a correhiled action for the definite piiiposc of o])enin^ 

 the door. But it seems we are confronted with a difticulty, 

 for when this was first thnie tliere was no idea preexisting the 

 action, and the action was for no definite purpose, and of 

 course was not instinctixe in this case; he hap]~)ened to lift 

 the hitch as he was nosing about after a morsel of kx'd, and 

 the door was pushed open !>>■ the movements of his lips, but 

 he manifested no desire to come out tmtil I encouraged him 

 to do so. There seems to be a \'erv close association (^f events 

 in the memory of the horse, and probaldy on subsecpient 

 occasions the memor\- of the Hipping u]) of the latch was 

 associated with the accom])lishment of an idea to leax'e the 

 stall, with no knowledge of the relation of the lifting of the 

 latch to means of attaining this end. When I remove the 

 latch and place a sliding bar (ju the door, purposely made 

 much easier for him to mani]nilate, it never occurs to him to 

 take such action, though I move it back and open the door 

 in his i)resence numert)us times. 



It is b\- the analysis of sutdi little commonplace occur- 

 renc-es as these going on about us e\-ery day, that we can best 

 stud\- the mental operations of these animals and judge for 

 ourseh'es as to whether the\' tlo or ilo not reason. In this 

 contemplation we may well leaxe out of ct)nsideration the 

 astonishing performances of trick animals, such as perform- 

 ing elej^hants, "educated horses," etc. ( )n the same stage 

 upon which we see these mathematical and ])atriotic horses 

 perform, we also see men pick coins from the air, and cause 

 rabbits to jump out of silk hats ; all deception of no scien- 

 tific interest except as an instance of clever training. 



The special development for fiight in the horse is a protec- 

 tive one coordinating with his emotion of fear. The little, 

 fcjur-toed ancestor of the horse had little to fear from the Car- 

 nivora contemporary with him in that far-off beginning of 

 the Age of Mammals, Init as beasts of prey became more for- 

 midable and the character of the land surface changed, the 

 ancestral horses developed anatomit\al characters adapting 



