74 THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN REASON. ' 



'ideation' can recepts attain without the aid of con- 

 cepts ? . . . How far can mind travel without the aid 

 of language ? " He then applies himself to answer 

 this question by relating various anecdotes of animals. 



In considering the value of such relations, we should 

 ever remember to what very curious lengths instinct 

 may go in insects, and how numerous and complex are 

 the responsive actions which may take place even in 

 ourselves in the absence of consciousness.* We should 

 recollect how we every now and then have experienced 

 a sort of " malaise'^' which has been relieved by finding 

 something which was missing from its place, although 

 we were not conscious of the cause of the malaise (the 

 absence of the object) till the shock experienced on our 

 having automatically found it, has called our attention 

 to the matter. We ourselves have frequently experi- 

 enced this when one of the many objects we habitually 

 carry in our pockets has been unconsciously transferred 

 from one to another. We can, as every one knows, do 

 many things automatically and without consciousness, 

 which we often perform with full consciousness. This 

 fact makes it probable that similar actions may take 

 place in animals, and another fact is also very significant: 

 this is the notorious circumstance that persons deprived 

 of one of their senses often have their remaining senses 

 made more acute. It is also commonly affirmed that 

 some savages, who have little intellectual activity, have 

 much keener powers of seeing, hearing, and, perhaps, 

 even smelling, than we have. How much greater, more 

 acute, more complex, and more far-reaching, then, may 

 * See " On Truth," pp. 183-200. 



