ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 39 



warrants about animals in general may be left largely to the 

 discretion of the reader. As I shall later say, it is probable 

 that in regard to imitation and the power of forming associations 

 from a lot of free ideas, the anthropoid primates are essentially 

 different from the cats and docs. 



The reasons why I say ' animals ' instead of * dogs and cats 

 of certain ages ' are two. I do think that the probability that 

 the other mammals, barring the primates, offer no objections to 

 the theories here advanced about dogs and cats, is a very strong 

 probability, strong enough to force the burden of proof upon 

 any one who should, for instance, say that horse-goat psychology 

 was not like cat-dog psychology in these general matters. I 

 should claim that, till the contrary was shown in any case, my 

 statements should stand for the mammalian mind in general, 

 barring the primates. My second reason is that I hate to burden 

 the reader with the disgusting rhetoric which would result if 

 I had to insert particularizations and reservations at every step. 

 The word ' animal ' is too useful, rhetorically, to be sacrificed. 

 Finally, inasmuch as most of my theorizing will be in the line 

 of denying certain relatively high functions to animals, the evi- 

 dence from cats and dogs is sufficient, for they are from among 

 the most intelligent animals, and functions of the kind to be 

 discussed, if absent in their case, are probably absent from the 

 others. 



Reasoning or Inference. 



The first great question is whether or not animals are ever 

 led to do any of their acts by reasoning. Do they ever con- 

 clude from inference that a certain act will produce a certain 

 desired result, and so do it? The best opinion has been that 

 they do not. The best interpretation of even the most extraor- 

 dinary performances of animals has been that they were the re- 

 sult of accident and association or imitation. But it has after 

 all been only opinion and interpretation, and the opposite theory 

 persistently reappears in the literature of the subject. So, al- 

 though it is in a way superfluous to give the coii-p dc grace to 

 the despised theory that animals reason, I think it is worth while 

 to settle this question once for all. 



