422 Animal Depravity. [October, 
Alcoholic excitement is not one of the prevailing vices of 
brutes, from the satisfactory reason that they are under the 
operation of a natural Maine Law.* Two cases of 
drunkenness, in a cow and a sow respectively, are on record. 
Both these occurred in Scotland. It is only fair to surmise 
that the offending animals, like some of their two-legged 
compatriots thought fit, in the words of Hudibras, to :— 
‘* Compound for sins they were inclined to, 
By damning those they had no mind to.” 
A later instance of undeniably “beastly” drunkenness 
is given in the ‘‘ Greenock Advertiser.” Two rats got 
‘that fou” in the shop of a spirit merchant in the town 
by dint of consuming the dribblings from a barrel of 
strong ale, and were killed before they could stagger off to 
their holes. 
It is generally known that most of the Quadrumana, 
when thrown among human society, learn very readily to 
like a glass of strong liquor,—a fact which should go far to 
establish their title to a place on the right side of the 
“‘oulf.” It is no less certain that some of the less reputable 
monkeys are captured by leaving near their haunts vessels 
filled with a kind of beer. They come, drink and become 
drunken, and in that state commit the very venial error of 
mistaking the negro, who comes to lead them into captivity, 
for one of their own species. 
From alcoholism we are naturally led to the love of the 
narcotics, as tobacco, opium, Indian hemp, coca, and the 
like. That man has a widely-spread craving for these so- 
called ‘“‘keys of paradise,” has been sufficiently shown. 
But apes, also, in captivity have been known to indulge in 
the ‘‘ weed” with evident relish. Imitation, say you ? 
Probably enough; but has imitation no part in the spread of 
these minor vices among mankind? Nine smokers out of 
ten first take to the pipe or the cigar from the tendency— 
common alike to man and brute—of doing what others 
do. A love for tobacco in the solid form, also, is not pecu- 
liar to man. At a tavern in Bradford there flourished some 
years ago a goat, whose exploits in tobacco-chewing were not 
unknown to fame throughout the “land of woollen.” A 
frequenter of the house occasionally won money from 
strangers, by betting that ‘‘ himself and another” would 
eat a pound of tobacco in ten minutes. If the wager was 
accepted he would order in a pound of ordinary shag tobacco, 
* This is not literally true. Alcohol, in small doses, is being detected im 
natural produ¢tions, in which man has had no part. 
