XIV 

 GATHERED BY THE WAY 



I. THE TRAINING OF WILD ANIMALS 



I WAS reminded afresh of how prone we all are 

 to regard the actions of the lower animals in 

 the light of our own psychology on reading &quot; The 

 Training of Wild Animals,&quot; by Bostock, a well- 

 known animal-trainer. Bostock evidently knows 

 well the art of training animals, but of the science of 

 it he seems to know very little. That is, while he is a 

 successful trainer, his notions of animal psychology 

 are very crude. For instance, on one page he speaks 

 of the lion as if it were endowed with a fair mea 

 sure of human intelligence, and had notions, feel 

 ings, and thoughts like our own ; on the next page, 

 when he gets down to real business, he lays bare its 

 utter want of these things. He says a lion born and 

 bred in captivity is more difficult to train than one 

 caught from the jungle. Then he gives rein to his 

 fancy. &quot; Such a lion does not fear man ; he knows 

 his own power. He regards man as an inferior, with 

 an attitude of disdain and silent hauteur.&quot; &quot;He 

 accepts his food as tribute, and his care as homage 

 due.&quot; &quot;He is aristocratic in his independence.&quot; 

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