THE PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ANIMALS 115 



disease have been made the subject of considerable 

 speculation and some valuable research, but the 

 subject is vast, and will unfold but slowly till our 

 knowledge of many things is greatly increased. 



Much depends on the philosophical or scientific 

 attitude of the worker, as to the views he holds on such 

 a subject, or the interpretations he puts on observed 

 facts. 



Nevertheless, to him who can lay aside prejudices 

 sanctioned, it may be, by ages of belief it is possible 

 to see that old interpretations fail, and that problems 

 of the mind, which the world has either ignored or 

 grappled with in vain, must be attacked from new 

 standpoints. 



History and Objects of the Present Research. 



In consequence of the foregoing and many other 

 convictions, some ten years since, -I suggested to the 

 students of the Faculty of Comparative Medicine and 

 Veterinary Science of M'Gill University the desirability 

 of forming a Society for the study of Comparative 

 Psychology, more especially for the study of the psychic 

 nature of those animals with which they would be 

 professionally most brought into contact. During this 

 period, more than formerly, I myself bred and reared 

 large numbers of the smaller of the domestic animals 

 and pets with a view of understanding them in all 

 their varied aspects. 



The longer, however, I continued my studies, the 

 more I became convinced that, as in every other case 

 to succeed best, one must begin at the beginning. 

 Accordingly I have for a few years kept full, and I 

 hope accurate, notes of the development, psychic and 

 physical, of individuals belonging to several different 

 groups of the above-mentioned animals. 



