532 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tions with their masters, and are nothing more than selfish auxiliaries 

 in hunting or fierce sentries of the camp or village. 



The qualities we prize in our domestic dog are those traits 

 it has acquired by education, and correspond to artificial cerebral 

 impressions not yet made fully permanent; for they are easily 

 effaced when the animal, deprived of human society, relapses into 

 savagery. This development of the dog in so remarkable a manner 

 is the result of his having been the first mammal domesticated; hence 

 man has been more occupied with him, has demanded a greater 

 variety of services from him, and has taken more lively care of his 

 moral and mental education. Other animals, on the other hand, do- 

 mesticated simply for the butcher's handling, like the ox, the sheep, 

 and the pig, have degenerated rather than gained by the association 

 with man. They have lost the qualities they acquired during their 

 ages of liberty without replacing them by others, and have fallen 

 back toward the vegetative life. 



Domestic animals sometimes acquire special educations of them- 

 selves, by the mere force of spontaneous imitation. Such are the 

 dogs which, raised by cats, have learned to lick their paws and wash 

 their face and ears, like their nurses. So several birds in a cage 

 will imitate one another's cries, and even those of mammals; and 

 parrots, as we all know, imitate the human voice. The brighter 

 birds even do this spontaneously, without special training. This 

 fact leads us to consider the faculty of language in animals, and 

 the degree of development that may be given it by education. 



It can hardly be pretended at this period that spoken language 

 forms an impassable barrier between man and animals. There are 

 many kinds of languages, and human speech does not differ essen- 

 tially from the tactile and antennal language of ants. The mode 

 of communication, indeed, varies according to the organization of 

 the animal species; but it may always be found to originate in reflex 

 actions, determined by a need, a desire, a feeling, an emotion, or an 

 idea. Spoken language, which has, scientifically, been associated 

 with the cry, the interjection, or the imitative onomatopoeia, is at 

 bottom nothing but a reflex action, a laryngeal gesture. A compari- 

 son of human and animal language is therefore legitimate, and is of 

 interest in that it shows how the latter can be perfected by exercise 

 and education. 



It is evident that the particular form of language will be imposed 

 by the organization of a species. Thus ants, organically aphonal, 

 have devised for communication among themselves the antennal 

 language, which places all the members of their city or nest in 

 intimate communication. With birds, mammals, and men it has 

 been more convenient to acquire a vocal language; but on occasion 



