ANIMAL AND RATIONAL INTELLIGENCE 167 



between man and the higher mammals in their 

 mental faculties, 1 we recognise this contrast. Con 

 sistency here will lead to important results. While, 

 however, Darwin makes the contrast conspicuous 

 when defining the limits within which he undertakes 

 to lead proof, he unfortunately does not adhere to 

 these limits in course of his argument. Such 

 adherence on the part of an observer so disciplined, 

 and so exact in statement, would have yielded large 

 help in the discussion. He has, however, at least 

 suggested the essential conditions of our inquiry. 

 Yet these conditions are well-nigh obliterated in his 

 own treatment of the question, immediately after he 

 has passed from their announcement. Thus, one of 

 his first statements concerns animals very low in the 

 scale, namely, that their mental powers are much 

 higher than might have been expected. 2 Keference 

 is next made to animals of many kinds, including 

 birds, when it is alleged that individuals differ 

 greatly in every mental characteristic. Forthwith, 

 he touches the problem concerning the manner in 

 which the mental powers were first developed in 

 the lowest organisms, declaring this as hopeless an 

 inquiry as how life itself first originated. Im 

 mediately thereafter he passes to animal Instinct. 

 Founding on the observations of Pouchet, 3 he says, 

 Those insects which possess the most wonderful 

 instincts are certainly the most intelligent, while in 

 the invertebrate series, fishes and amphibians are 

 described as the least intelligent members. 4 



1 The Descent of Man, p. 66. 2 7^. p . 66. 



3 Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 1870, p. 690. 



4 The, Descent of Man, p. 67. 



