THE PLAY OF ANIMALS 



ing wits and for learning before mistakes are too 

 costly. 



But we may go a step further. Play is more than 

 the apprenticeship to future life and work. It 

 is more than an opportunity for learning the alpha- 

 bet of life. It is one of the few opportunities 

 which allow new experiments to be made without 

 too vigorous criticism. In the real business of 

 life all sorts of novelties are very apt to be nipped 

 in the bud. Play is Nature's device for allowing 

 elbow-room for " new departures " which may form 

 part of the raw materials of progress. 



There seem to be two original forms of animal 

 play the play of movement, and the play of experi- 

 ment. Let us, first of all, consider play of move- 

 ment. 



Play of Movement 



" Most young things," Hamerton says, " appear to 

 be reservoirs of pent-up natural energy that finds 

 vent in irrepressible gambols." Insects gambol 

 in the air, birds among the boughs, dolphins in the 

 waves, and so on, endlessly each in its own way. 

 There is no use in it, except that the nerves and 

 muscles are trained for future work. The heart 

 beats more quickly, the breathing is more rapid, 

 the surface blood-vessels become larger, and the 

 player enjoys that happiness which is always the 

 reward of wholesome activity. 



Perhaps part of the meaning of this simplest form 

 of play is to be found in the connection between 

 pleasant emotion and muscular movements. Such 



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