364 Animal Life and Intelligence. 



of all kinds to their mahouts with considerable force, but 

 that after a time the soft articles are handed up rapidly 

 and forcibly as before, but that hard and heavy things are 

 handed up gently. " I have purposely," he says, " given 

 elephants things to lift which they could never have seen 

 before, and they were all handled in such a manner as 

 to convince me that they recognized such qualities as 

 hardness, sharpness, and weight." 



Now, the question I wish here to ask is Do the 

 observations of Mr. Jenkins, the nature of which I have 

 indicated, afford good or sufficient reasons for supposing 

 that these animals possess abstract ideas ? And I reply 

 That depends upon what is meant by abstract ideas. If it 

 is implied that the abstract ideas are isolates; that is, 

 qualities considered quite apart from the objects of which 

 they are characteristic, I think not. But if Mr. Jenkins 

 means that elephants, in a practical way, "recognize such 

 qualities as hardness, sharpness, and weight " as pre- 

 dominant elements in the constructs they form, I am quite 

 ready to agree with him. I much question, however, 

 whether there is any conscious inference in the matter. 

 The elephant sees a new object, and unconsciously and 

 instinctively builds the element hardness or weight into 

 the construct that he forms. And he shows his great 

 intelligence by dealing in an appropriate manner with the 

 object thus recognized. But I do not think any reasoning 

 is required; that is to say, any process involving an 

 analysis of the phenomena with subsequent synthesis, any 

 introduction of the conceptual element. 



Let us consider next an observation which shows a 

 very high degree of perceptual intelligence on the part of 

 the dog. Several observers have described dogs, which 

 had occasion to swim across a stream, entering the water 

 at such a point as to allow for the force of the current. 

 And both Dr. Rae and Mr. Fothergill communicated to Mr. 

 Romanes instances * of the dog's observing whether the 

 tide was ebbing or flowing, and acting accordingly. Now, 



* " Animal Intelligence," p. 465. 



