VIII 

 WHAT DO ANIMALS KNOW? 



A FTER the discussion carried on in the f orego- 

 .jLJL ing chapters touching the general subject of 

 animal life and instinct, we are prepared, I think, to 

 ask with more confidence, What do animals know ? 



The animals unite such ignorance with such 

 apparent knowledge, such stupidity with such clev 

 erness, that in our estimate of them we are likely 

 to rate their wit either too high or too low. With 

 them, knowledge does not fade into ignorance, as 

 it does in man; the contrast is like that between 

 night and day, with no twilight between. So keen 

 one moment, so blind the next ! 



Think of the ignorance of the horse after all his 

 long association with man; of the trifling things 

 along the street at which he will take fright, till he 

 rushes off in a wild panic of fear, endangering his 

 own neck and the neck of his driver. One would 

 think that if he had a particle of sense he would 

 know that an old hat or a bit of paper was harmless. 

 But fear is deeply implanted in his nature; it has 

 saved the lives of his ancestors countless times, and 

 it is still one of his ruling passions. 

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