268 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 
animals, I think it will be more instructive to consider 
the subject from this point of view, and in doing so, the 
psychic will be first taken into account. 
I.—TuHE Dog. 
AS soon as a puppy is born, it is capable of cries, 
crawling, and sucking, and if we except those concerned 
with the vital or vegetative functions, these about cover 
all its possible movements. Up to the period when 
the eyes open there are no new movements. Every one 
of these can be produced experimentally as reflexes, 
and the question is: Are they naturally of this char- 
acter? They improve from day to day, but that is a 
feature of all reflexes, even the best organised (as 
swallowing), though it has hardly been adequately 
recognised. 
As pointed out in my paper on the functional 
development of the cerebral cortex, the latter is 
absolutely inexcitable at birth, and for a good many 
days after—indeed, not till about the period of the 
opening of the eyes—and as I find the white matter 
also inexcitable at birth, there seems to be no other 
view possible of these movements than that they are 
reflex, and that when the brain is called into action, 
parts lower than the cortex, or even the underlying 
medulla, in the youngest puppies, must function. 
Nevertheless, the animal at this period is progressing, 
for the improvement of these reflexes implies the more 
perfect organisation of a neuro-muscular mechanism, 
which is probably availed of later in all voluntary 
movements. 
In adult life our own movements are often carried 
out with a perfection in proportion to the degree in 
