208 LESSONS FROM NATURE. [CHAP. VII. 



given in this chapter, we may feel quite sure. Mr. Darwin s 

 speculation as to the dog is utterly gratuitous, since we need 

 never introduce an unlikely cause for any phenomenon when 

 one known to exist, the dog s sentient nature, is sufficient 

 to explain the phenomenon in question. As to the Aus 

 tralian, experience shows us how very slight powers of arith 

 metic may coexist with very distinct reflections on the 

 problems of human existence. 



Again, Mr. Darwin says :* &quot; Who can say what cows iVel, 

 when they surround and stare intently on a dying or dead 

 companion ? That animals sometimes are far from feeling 

 any sympathy is too certain ; for they will expel a wounded 

 animal from the herd, or gore or worry it to death.&quot; It is 

 such passages as these which make the task of criticism so 

 painful ; yet the gravity of the issue leaves no alternative, 

 though I am anxious to keep the expression of disapproval 

 within the narrowest possible limits consonant with justice. 



To exaggerate the emotions of brutes and give them an 

 intellectual appearance is, however, a necessity o! Mr. Darwin s 

 position, since (as we saw in our fifth chapter) he makes first 

 gregariousness and then social sympathy the origin of our 

 power of moral perception. 



And here a caution may well be given against the am 

 biguity which may lie hid in the terms &quot; gregarious &quot; and 

 &quot; social.&quot; 



It must never be lost sight of that in a &quot; gregarious 

 habit &quot; there is no moral element. First, because the mental 

 powers of brutes are not equal to form reflective, deliberate 

 judgments ; and, secondly, because all the facts, however 

 mutually beneficial may be their action, may be explained 

 without the intervention, on their part, of reason. The 

 word &quot; social &quot; is ambiguous, since gregarious animals may, 

 metaphorically, be called social, and man s social relations 

 may be regarded both as to the material benefits they 

 occasion and also morally. Having then first used the 



* Op. tit. p. 76. 



