xiv INTRODUCTION. 



from a medical and natural history point of view, I have 

 studied it from first to last without any preconceived ideas 

 with no theory tp defend, support, or illustrate and 

 ready throughout, without effort or regret, to renounce any 

 belief which fact or truth might show to be scientifically 

 untenable. 



In the course of my enquiries I have amassed far too 

 large a body of notes to condense into a single volume. These 

 notes consist of (1) excerpts from my readings in books, whose 

 nature and names will be found specified in the Biblio- 

 graphy ; (2) reflections or criticisms on the statements 

 made by the authorities consulted ; (3) correspondence re- 

 sulting from the publication by authors of doubtfully correct 

 records of facts, or from the confusion of fact and fiction in 

 narrative ; (4) my own observations ; and (5) reports taken 

 down by me on the spot, or immediately after hearing them, 

 of oral descriptions given by eye-witnesses of incidents illus- 

 trative of animal sagacity. In the present volumes popular 

 as they are in their aim and limited in their size all that I 

 attempt is to outline the subject of Mind in the Lower Animals, 

 to illustrate their possession of the higher -mental faculties 

 as they occur in man, of reason as contradistinguished from 

 mere instinct. 



The work is to be regarded simply as what the French 

 call a ' memoire pour servir.' It is but a contribution and 

 introduction to the subject of which it treats, and aims only 

 at indicating to the student (1) the spirit and direction in 

 which the said subject ought to be investigated; (2) the 

 claims it has on man's attention ; (3) the desirability of 

 an exact separation of what we do from what we do not 

 already know that first condition of all true knowledge ; 

 (4) the new significance of certain facts as interpreted by 

 the light of modern science ; and (5) that facts which con- 

 trovert current popular fallacies or errors are nevertheless 

 facts. The present work offers a certain rough classification 

 of the facts of observation as already recorded, so as, it is 

 hoped, to bring out their relative importance or significance ; 

 which classification may assist the reader still further to 

 pursue the study of the subject by pointing out on the one 



