318 THE MENTAL CAPACITIES AND 



Porpoises make a prodigious slaughter among the shoals 

 of Herring, Mackerel, and other fish which periodically 

 visit our coasts. 



As to the Dolphin we have no precise knowledge, 

 but many stories have come down to us from ancient 

 times, the general purport of which seems to testify to their 

 rare docility, intelligence, and sympathetic nature. Fact 

 and fable may be here inextricably intermixed, though, as 

 Leuret suggests, it seems probable that there is some 

 basis of truth for these various stories. We stand much 

 in need, however, of some accurate modern observations 

 as to the habits and degree of Intelligence of these highly 

 interesting creatures, whose brain is so large and well 

 developed. Swainson quotes Cuvier, to the effect that 

 the Dolphin "carefully suckles and tends its young, 

 carrying them gently under its pectoral fins, sporting 

 with and continuously exercising them in swimming. 

 The male also attaches himself for life to his female 

 companion, and becomes her most zealous guardian and 

 protector." 



The Elephant is, by general consent, regarded as the 

 most sagacious of all four-footed beasts living in a state 

 of nature. It seems pretty certain, however, that this 

 estimate would not be applicable to brutes generally, in- 

 clusive of the Quadrumana. 



Like the Apes, the Elephant adds to its other sensorial 

 endowments an acute and discriminative sense of Touch. 

 Its prehensile trunk serves all the purposes to which a 

 highly sensitive hand could be applied. The Elephant 

 enjoys the further very considerable advantage resulting 

 from a prolonged length of life. When an animal which 

 already, in its early days, possesses a fair amount of intelli- 

 gence, has its experiences extended over a period so con- 

 siderable as 150 years or more, we have a right to expect 



