30i 



KNOWLEDGE 



[April 10, 1885. 



THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE. 



By Ada S. Ballix. 



VII. 



G1 ESTURES expressive of volition are, as I observed in 

 r my introiluctory article, common both to man and 

 the lower animals. 



Those who have observed the habits of animals will recall 

 instances in which they have witnessed gestures voluntarily 

 performed for the purpose of communicating a wish to 

 another of the animal's own species or a distinct species. 

 Some interesting evidence bearing on this subject has been 

 collected and published by Mr. Romanes in his valuable 

 ■work on " Animal Intelligence,'* from which I quote the 

 following cases ; — 



Mr. Blackman tells him of a cat which, " whenever it 

 wanted to go out, would come into the sitting-room and 

 make a peculiar noise to attract attention ; failing that 

 mode being successful, it would pull one's dress with its 

 claw, aijd then having succeeded in attracting the desired 

 attention, it would walk to the street-door and stop there, 

 making the same cry until let out." I believe such cases 

 as this are not at all uncommon, but one still more remark- 

 able is communicated by a correspondent of whose good 

 faith Mr. Romanes is certain. 



A cat and parrot were very good friends, and lived in 

 harmony in a kitchen. " One evening there was no one 

 in the kitchen. Cook had goue upstairs and had left a 

 bowl full of dough to rise by the fire. Shortly after the 

 cat rushed up after her, mewing and making what signs 

 she could for her to go down ; then she jumped up and 

 seized her apron, and tried to drag her down. As she was 

 in such a state of excitement, cook went and found Polly 

 shrieking, calling out, flapping her wings, and struggling 

 violently, ' up to her knees ' in dough, and stuck quite fast. 

 Ko doubt, if she had not been rescued she would have sunk 

 into the morass and been smothered." A similar example, 

 of which a dog was the hero, is related by Dr. Beattie. A 

 gentleman named Irvine was crossing the Dee when it was 

 frozen. About the middle of the river the ice gave way 

 beneath him, but he kept himself from sinking by placing 

 his gun across the hole. His dog " made many fruitless 

 efforts to save his master, and then ran to a neighbouring 

 village, where he saw a man, and with the most significant 

 gestures pulled him by the coat, and prevaUed on him to 

 follow. The man arrived on the spot in time to save the 

 gentleman's life." Books of anecdotes about animals are 

 full of similar instances. Mr. A. Percy Soiith writes to 

 Mr. Romanes about a cat whom he punished when her 

 kittens misbehaved. After a little time she began to train the 

 youngsters, and " she swore at them and boxed their ears, 

 until she taught the kittens to be clean," and D'Osbonville 

 observed certain monkeys in the wild state administer 

 corporal punishment to their offspring. They w-ould watch 

 the little ones at their play, wrestling and chasing each 

 other ; but if any grew spiteful the mothers would spring 

 up, seize them by the tail with one hand, and correct them 

 severely with the other. 



A complicattd series of gestures comprised in my first 

 and second class is described by Mr. James Forbes, F.R.S,, 

 in his " Oriental Memoirs " as having been observed in 

 monkeys : — " One of a shooting-party under a banian-tree 

 killed a female monkey, and cariied it to his tent, which 



* This Tolame is an excellent text-book for the subject on which 

 it is written, and in this and the next article I shall quote from it 

 freely. The various eases, however, will be used for the most part 

 in illustration of points quite different to those in relation to which 

 Mr. Eomanes employs them. 



was soon surrounded by forty or fifty of the tribe, who 

 made a great noise and seemed disposed to attack their 

 aggressor. They retreattd when he presented his fowling- 

 piece, the dreadful effect of which they had witnessed, and 

 appeared perfectly to understand. The head of the group, 

 however, stood his ground, chattering furiously ; the sports- 

 man who, perhaps, felt some little degree of compunction 

 for having killed one of the family, did cot like to fire at 

 the creature, and nothing short of firing would suffice to 

 drive him off. At length he came to the door of the tent, 

 and finding threats of no avail, began a lamentable moan- 

 ing, and, by the most expressive gesture, seemed to beg 

 for the dead body. It was given him ; he took it sorrow- 

 fully in his arms, and bore it away to his expecting 

 companions." 



In connection with my present subject, the example of 

 "The Hospital Dog" will probably rise in the minds of 

 my readers. This dog managed very clearly to explain 

 what he wanted to the authorities of Charing-cross Hos- 

 pital ; and the following account of his behaviour was 

 communicated by the secretary, Mr. Arthur Reade, to the 

 Daili/ Telegraph of December 9th last : — "About half-past 

 ten last night the porter heard a dog whine outside the 

 hall-door of the hospital. He opened it, and a rough 

 terrier limped in, squatted on the mat, and held up his 

 right forepaw. The porter, seeing that the limb was 

 injured, fetched the house-surgeon. . . . The house- 

 surgeon dressed it, and the dog immediately testified his 

 gratitude by licking his hand and barking loudly." 



Many gestures performed by animals constitute, as it 

 were, a bridge between gestures expressive of volition (my 

 second-class) and those which convey cognitions (my third 

 class). 



Ants, according to Sir John Lubbock's experiments, 

 appear able to communicate the fact that they have found 

 treasure to great or small amount, but not to describe the 

 exact locality of it ; perhaps, however, a sign meaning 

 " follow me " is repeated until a number sufficient for the 

 work are collected together, and the discoverer then leads 

 them in triumph to the goal. They communicate by means 

 of their antenme, and are certainly able to announce the 

 fact of a disaster. It is possible, however, that their powers 

 of communication are chiefly, if not wholly, limited to 

 gestures expressive of emotion, or will, as the " follow me " 

 sign. Hague, having killed a few ants, saw their com- 

 panions running hither and thither about the scene of 

 calamity, " stopping at times and elevating their antennae 

 with a movement suggestive of wringing them in despair."* 

 They exhibit many signs of excitement and fright. It 

 seems improbable that ants can communicate many ideas ; 

 but their life is social to an extent far surpassing that of 

 any other animal but man ; from which we may infer that 

 their means of communication is superior to that of any 

 other animal but man. 



Othercreatures, however, act in concert. Miss Birdf speaks 

 of three crows who had vainly attempted to tear a piece of 

 meat from a dog. " After a consultation they separated, 

 two going as near as they dared to the meat, while the third 

 gave the tail a bite sharp enough to make the dog turn 

 round with a squeak, on which the other villains seized the 

 meat, and the three fed triumphantly upon it on the top of 

 a wall." 



Edwards, the naturalist, once observed two tumstones 

 endeavouring to turn over the corpse of a cod-fish. After 

 labouring " at both sides alternately for half-an-hour, they 

 were joined by another of their own species," which was 



' Xature," Vol. VII., p. 43-1. 



' Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," Vol. II., p. 150. 



