REALM OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS 



dren when these lie, naked and dying, below the 

 nest from which the infant usurper has ejected 

 them. 



It would not be good for the race of any kind 

 of small birds, if they bestowed attention upon 

 any of their newly-hatched young that chanced 

 to fall out of the nest. The chance of rearing the 

 unfortunate youngster would be exceedingly re- 

 mote; and if one of the parents should undertake 

 the task of covering it at night both would prob- 

 ably fall victims to prowling vermin. So nature 

 has made a rule that when a newly-hatched bird 

 falls out of its nest a very rare occurrence, per- 

 haps, unless a young cuckoo aids its exit no at- 

 tention shall be wasted upon it. 



Thus I have taken the question whether ani- 

 mals other than man can have human feelings 

 and emotions upwards from the Sensitive Plant, 

 the sea-anemone, the wasp, and the ant to the 

 bird, finding the answer " No " in every case, and 

 will conclude, for the present, with an instance 

 among the mammals. 



These, as being almost identical with ourselves 

 in general structure and habits, naturally resem- 

 ble us more closely in conduct: but what civilized 

 human mother can contemplate without revulsion 

 the idea that, simply because some more power- 

 ful creature had looked into her nursery, and per- 

 [49] 



