312 EVOLUTION OF TO-DAY. 



dent that no language is possible until intelligence 

 has reached a condition where it can conceive ab- 

 stract conceptions. It is almost equally evident 

 that as soon as this condition is reached language 

 will appear. Here, then, is a fundamental condition 

 of the mental life, of man. Can this factor or its ru- 

 diment be found in animals ? Darwin is inclined to 

 think so. A dog, he says, seeing another in the dis- 

 tance recognizes it immediately as a dog. Upon com- 

 ing closer he perceives it to be a particular friend or 

 foe. The two conceptions, Darwin says, are very dif- 

 ferent. If the dog had language he would have one 

 sign for dog in general, and another for a particular 

 friend. Or, again : a man takes his gun and calls his 

 dog, when the dog immediately perceives that they 

 are going to hunt, an idea of a class and not of a con- 

 crete object. A few such instances as these consti- 

 tute the only evidence of this power in animals. 

 But few will believe that this is sufficient to be 

 regarded as a beginning of this fundamental factor 

 of human thought. It is even improbable that any 

 thing like an abstract idea is formed in these cases. 

 Association is a simpler and equally probable ex- 

 planation. The sight of a dog recalls by association 

 other concrete dogs. The sight of the gun in the 

 master's hands recalls the former pleasures of the 

 chase, without any necessity of the idea of chase in 

 general. The conclusion here is little more than a 

 matter of opinion. Darwin, who has chiefly studied 

 animals, and who accepts from general grounds the 

 evolution of man, believes such instances sufficient 

 to indicate in animals the rudiment of the power of 



