42 The Descent of Man 



of course, mean to deny that the dog is superior in mental 

 activity to the fish, or the jackdaw to the toad. But we 

 mean that, considering the vast period of time that must (on 

 Mr. Darwin's theory) have elapsed for the evolution of an 

 Orang from an Ascidian, and considering how beneficial in- 

 creased intelligence must be to all in the struggle for life, it 

 is inconceivable (on Mr. Darwin's principles only) that a 

 mental advance should not have taken place greater in 

 degree, more generally diffused, and more in proportion to 

 the grade of the various animals than we find to be actually 

 the case. For in what respect is the intelligence of the ape 

 superior to that of the dog or of the elephant ? It cannot 

 be said that there is one point in which its psychical nature 

 approximates to man more than that of those four-footed 

 beasts. But, again, where is the great superiority of a dog 

 or an ape over a bird ? The falcon trained to hawking is at 

 least as remarkable an instance of the power of education as 

 the trained dog. The tricks which birds can be taught to 

 perform are as complex and wonderful as those acted by the 

 mammal. The phenomena of nidification, and some of those 

 now brought forward by Mr. Darwin as to courtship, are fully 

 comparable with analogous phenomena of quasi-intelligence 

 in any beast. 



This, however, is but a small part of the argument. For 

 let us descend to the invertebrata, and what do we find ? — a 

 restriction of their quasi-mental faculties proportioned to 

 their constantly inferior type of structure ? By no means. 

 We find, e.g. in ants, phenomena which simulate those of an 

 intelligence such as ours far more than do any phenomena 

 exhibited by the highest beasts. Ants display a complete 

 and complex political organisation, classes of beings socially 

 distinct, war resulting in the capture of slaves, and the 

 appropriation and maintenance of domestic animals (Aphidet^) 

 analogous to our milk-giving cattle. 



