ACTIONS OF ANIMALS EXPLAINED 



they would avoid thwacks, to obey the drover's 

 voice; so they obey it still, automatically.. 



I have taken these nine questions one by one, as 

 a fair sample of the obstacles which those who 

 have not investigated this subject from a scientific 

 point of view, encounter when they try to realize 

 that there may be a wide gulf between the emo- 

 tions of men and those of other animals. 



We have been so accustomed by mental habits 

 ingrained in the race in the days before the great 

 truth of evolution was discovered, to interpret 

 nature from the human point of view, that we find 

 great difficulty in adjusting our mental vision to 

 the new perspective which scientific accuracy de- 

 mands. 



It is especially in connection with the behavior 

 of favorite horses, dogs, and cats that we find it 

 difficult to realize that they act unconsciously. 

 Yet every creature has the natural instinct to 

 do the best that it can for itself and therefore 

 it is natural that horse, dog, or cat should repay 

 us for the supply of food and for other acts of 

 kindness by evident liking for our company and 

 for our caresses. This is the ordinary limit to the 

 friendly relations subsisting between horses, dogs, 

 or cats and their human owners; and there is 

 nothing whatever in it which cannot at once be 

 understood as the working of an animal's natural 



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