The Strange Instincts of Cattle. 34 r 



fellow they oppose themselves to the law of their 

 being, to the whole body of instincts, primary and 

 secondary, and habits, which have made it possible 

 for them to exist together in communities. It is, 

 I think, by reflecting on the abnormal character of 

 such an action that we are led to a true interpre- 

 tation of this " dark saying of Nature." 



Every one is familiar with Bacon's famous pas- 

 sage about the dog, and the noble courage which 

 that animal puts on when " maintained by a man ; 

 who is to him in place of a God, or melior natura ; 

 which courage is manifestly such as that creature, 

 without the confidence of a better nature than its 

 own, could never attain." Not so. The dog is a 

 social animal, and acts instinctively in concert with 

 his fellows ; and the courage he manifests is of 

 the family, not the individual. In the domestic 

 state the man he is accustomed to associate with and 

 obey stands to him in the place of the controlling 

 pack, and to his mind, which is canine and not 

 human, is the pack. A similar " noble courage," 

 greatly surpassing that exhibited on all other occa- 

 sions, is displayed by an infinite number of mammals 

 and birds of gregarious habits, when repelling the 

 attacks of some powerful and dangerous enemy, or 

 when they rush to the rescue of one of their 

 captive fellows. Concerning this rage and desperate 

 courage of social animals in the face of an enemy, 

 we see (1) that it is excited by the distressed cries, 

 or by the sight of a member of the herd or family 

 flying from or struggling in the clutches of an 

 enemy ; (2) that it affects animals when a number 

 of individuals are together, and is eminently con- 



