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THE 



AQUARIUM 



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until they have attained full growth if 

 the live food is available. They ean be 

 raised upon finely powdered prepared 

 foods, but do not grow as rapidly. 



American aquarists are using Xipho- 

 phorus Helleri more and more for its 

 beautiful coloration and its hardiness. 

 Because of this fact the species is now 

 much cheaper than formerly, and they 

 are being bred with success everywhere. 



Reason and Instinct. 



W. a. I'OYSER, Hammond, Ind 



THE preeminent characteristic of 

 man, is the power to reason. In 

 the past it has been the inclination to 

 refer certain activities of animals to 

 instinct, reserving the quality, Reason, 

 to man alone. That animals do reason 

 is now generally accepted. Man, as well 

 as the lower animals has his instincts, 

 but very few of them are apparent, for 

 he is able to bring most of them under 

 control by the power of his reason. 



Much uncertainty exists as to what 

 constitutes reason, the general tendency 

 being to confuse it with instinct, and to 

 ponder where one begins and the other 

 ends. That state of the mind by which, 

 regardless of all instruction or experi- 

 ence, animals are unfailingly directed 

 to do spontaneously whatever is required 

 for the welfare of the individual, or the 

 propagation of the species, is instinct. It 

 has been characterized as "a kind of 

 organized memory," and as "inherited 

 memory." Reason or intelligence in con- 

 trast, is founded on experience. Reason 

 has been said to differ from instinct 

 only in being conscious. Instinct is un- 

 conscious reason, and reason is con- 

 scious instinct. It is instinct that causes 

 a fish, or a bird, to construct a nest of 

 the same type and material as other in- 

 dividuals of its species, and its progeni- 



tors, but it is reason that leads it to 

 make a structure differing radically from 

 the usual form. 



There is the widest possible diverg- 

 ence between reason and instinct, the 

 former being an exercise of the will, 

 while the latter is independent of it. 

 Instinct begins at birth, but reason is a 

 subsequent development of the mind. 

 The power of reasoning in animals is, 

 of course, developed to a far less degree 

 than in man. It is by the superiority 

 of our reason, that we maintain our 

 supremacy over animals. 



Almost any animal can be taught to 

 subject its natural instinct to its reason. 

 The wonderful feats that animals have 

 been taught to perform, and the develop- 

 ment of memory exhibited by many, 

 attest this assertion, and, I think, prove 

 that they are endowed with something 

 more then mere instinct. The difference 

 between the intelligence of a tramp and 

 a mathematician, would in all probabil- 

 ity, be greater than that between the 

 tramp and his dog. 



Fish are not considered to possess 

 much reason. Some facts, however can 

 be adduced by every aquarist, as evi- 

 dence in favor of at least arudimentaiy 

 development of reason. Who has not 

 had fish, that at the approach of a 

 human being, would come forward to 

 the front of the tank instead of showing 

 alarm, and hiding among the plants? 

 Here then, is an example of the instinct 

 which urges them to flee, being over- 

 come by reason, which tells them to 

 approach, as they may be fed. Low as 

 the eel is in the scale of piscine life, 

 occupying the very lowest family of 

 the Anguillidine Apodes, they have been 

 known to become so tame in aquaria as 

 to take food from the fingers. A mem- 

 ber of one of our societies recently 



