ACTIONS OF ANIMALS EXPLAINED 



gregarious animal, whose ancestors lived for ages 

 in herds accustomed to act in unison upon a warn- 

 ing given, the dominant instinct of the horse is to 

 obey its leader blindly and unquestioningly. By 

 domestication and training the horse is taught to 

 transfer this allegiance to man, whose guidance it 

 will follow into the roar of battle as unhesitatingly 

 as its wild ancestor would have followed its leader 

 over a precipice. 



Sometimes, indeed, when a number of horses 

 are together, the old wild instinct to obey the 

 leadership of their own kind will reassert itself in a 

 disastrous stampede, when in a moment all their 

 acquired obedience to man is thrown to the winds, 

 and even the well-trained mounts of a whole 

 cavalry corps will rush headlong through the 

 crowded camp, injuring themselves and everything 

 that they encounter, just in the old way when the 

 beat of flying hoofs told their ancestors that 

 helter-skelter, follow-my-leader flight over the 

 open plain was the only way to escape from the 

 pursuing wolves. 



In this respect the dog is a more reliable " friend 

 of man," because his natural instincts are, h'ke 

 ours, those of a hunting animal, involving much 

 more complex obedience and assistance to the 

 leaders of the pack. 



And this throws a very interesting light upon 

 [69] 



