26 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



an expression of the general belief and not as that of a 

 single individual. 



It does not explain in the least how the instinct origi- 

 nated, for at the beginning it could not be "an inherited 

 habit, the result of education." It is still more inexplica- 

 ble when we remember that so few individuals were taught 

 to point. Moreover, educational properties are not trans- 

 mitted; if so, the constant training which dogs have received 

 in domestic life, for innumerable generations, would be 

 inherited; that they are not can readily be seen when com- 

 paring the behavior of a dog which has been reared in and 

 about the house, from puppyhood, with that of one which 

 has been reared exclusively in a kennel. Other educational 

 acts which are constantly taught to all dogs are not inher- 

 ited; therefore, why should an act taught to a few dogs 

 become instinctive in a breed of dogs ? It is against all 

 experience that an educational act taught to one genera- 

 tion should be transmitted to succeeding generations. The 

 horse, through many centuries, has been given a thorough 

 education, one which included a much larger percentage of 

 the breed than does the education of Setters; yet the colts 

 of to-day have to be educated precisely in the same manner 

 as their parents were. Thus if one educational quality 

 became instinctive by education, why did not all other edu- 

 cational qualities, which were equally or more uniformly 

 taught, also become instinctive ? This merely shows an 

 inconsistency in the position; but even without this, it is 

 untenable, otherwise the teachings of naturalists must give 

 way to the speculations of those who have given the matter 

 superficial consideration. 



Darwin, in "The Origin of Species," when speaking of 

 instinct, says : 



Domestic instincts are sometimes spoken of as actions which have become 

 inherited solely from long-continued and compulsory habit; but this is not 

 true. Again, as in the case of corporeal structure, and conformably to my 

 theory, the instinct of each species is good for itself, but has never, as far as 

 we can judge, been produced for the exclusive good of others. 



In other words, an animal never has an instinct for the 

 benefit of some other animal; instincts being directly for 



