INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



exhibition. The animal had never been taught to mount upon a 

 chair to reach the latch of the door, nor had he ever seen any 

 one do so. It must therefore have been by his own experience 

 alone that he learned to perform the act. By observing the 

 actions of his keepers, he learned that chairs could be removed 

 from one place to another. Generalising this, he inferred that 

 he could remove a chair to the door. He learned also by his own 

 experience, that by mounting on chairs and tables, he could 

 reach objects which were unattainable from the floor, and, 

 generalising this experience, inferred that he could by tlie 

 same expedient reach the latch.* 



It is impossible in cases like these to admit instinct as an 

 explanation of the phenomenon. The circumstances under which 

 such acts are performed, and the consequences which attend them, 

 are incompatible with all the conditions usually attached to the 

 faculty of instinct. 



* Milne Edwards' s Zoology, p. 256. 



160 





