ANIMAL LIFE AND INTELLIGENCE. 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE NATURE OF ANIMAL LIFE. 



I ONCE asked a class of school-boys to write down for me in 

 a few words what they considered the chief characteristics 

 of animals. Here are some of the answers 



1. Animals move about, eat, and grow. 



2. Animals eat, grow, breathe, feel (at least, most of 

 them do), and sleep. 



3. Take a cat, for example. It begins as a kitten; it 

 eats, drinks, plays about, and grows up into a cat, which 

 does much the same, only it is more lazy, and stops grow- 

 ing. At last it grows old and dies. But it may have 

 kittens first. 



4. An animal has a head and tail, -four legs, and a 

 body. It is a living creature, and not a vegetable. 



5. Animals are living creatures, made of flesh and 

 blood. 



Combining these statements, we have the following 

 characteristics of animals : 



1. Each has a proper and definite form, at present 

 described as " a head and tail, four legs, and a body." 



2. They breathe. 



3. They eat and drink. 



4. They grow. 



5. They also " grow up." The kitten grows up into a 

 cat, which is somewhat different from the kitten. 



6. They move about and sleep. 



