44 ESSAYS SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL. 



by what our fellow-men tell us by means of a 

 language which we have come to understand. But 

 the farther we get back in the history either of the 

 individual or the race, the larger the assumptions 

 which we have to make, and the smaller the help 

 that language can give us. It is no use catechizing 

 a child as to its psychical condition, though we may 

 watch its acts and the growth of its language, and 

 assume that these reflect the growth of its " mind." 

 When, however, in our loyalty to the comparative 

 method, we attempt to extend our inquiry to non- 

 human animals, whose conversational powers are 

 more limited than those of a child, we find our- 

 selves making larger drafts on our original as- 

 sumptions. Before, we were only guilty of " auto- 

 morphism," interpreting other people's acts by 

 ourselves ; now we are guilty of the far graver 

 crime of " anthropomorphism " i.e. interpreting 

 in terms of man the acts and movements of 

 creatures which are not human. Mr. Samuel 

 Butler extends the same method to plants : 



" In its own sphere," he says, "a plant is just as intelligent 

 as an animal, and keeps a sharp look-out upon its own 

 interests, however indifferent it may seem to be to ours." 



We are not anxious to maintain the opposite in 

 either case, but it is well to remind ourselves that 

 it is an assumption, and that the assumption 

 becomes greater, and the conclusions less scientific, 

 as we move away from the individual consciousness 



