UNSOLVED PROBLEMS. 153 



The phenomena are capable of explanation on the supposi- 

 tion that certain other animals are more sensitive than man 

 himself to the influence of, to him unknown, atmospheric 

 conditions a proposition that has been stated and discussed 

 in the chapter on ' Sensitiveness.' 



Other illustrations, varying greatly in their character, of 

 apparent foresight or prescience in the lower animals are to be 

 found in 



1. The discovery of a master's thoughts or intentions by 

 the dog or cat, including, for instance, the discovery of in- 

 tended murders or robberies. 



2. The discovery of water supply in the desert, steppe, 

 or prairie by horses, cattle, camels, frogs, baboons, as well 

 as by the blacks in the central deserts of Australia. Here 

 again the so-called instinct of the lower animal or savage 

 accomplishes that which too often baffles all the intelligence 

 of the white man. 



3. The discovery of coming ships long before they are 

 sighted by man. Thus long before a ship is sighted off the 

 coast of Tahiti she is signalled by the simultaneous crowing 

 of all the cocks on the island. ' It is next to impossible to 

 attribute the fact to a fortuitous coincidence, as it repro- 

 duces itself regularly without any exception ' ! so regularly 

 indeed that pilots, both French and native, act upon this 

 species of signal by putting off to 'sea in their canoes in 

 search of the coming vessels. So it is said, but in such a 

 case it is undesirable to attempt explanation of the alleged 

 fact until the fact itself is proved to be indubitable. 



4. Premonitions or presentiments of death, danger, or 

 misfortune, especially by the dog (Berkeley), cat, and horse. 

 These premonitions include a forewarning of coming earth- 

 quakes on the part of the ox, sheep, and horse, which take 

 alarm and betake themselves to flight and safety. They 

 also include the fear of the shambles by oxen a dread per- 

 haps arising from the smells or sights to which they are 

 there exposed. Here again we have to do probably the 

 facts being admitted simply with a greater acuteness of 

 certain of the senses, enabling other animals much earlier 



1 Constitutionnel,' November 1874. 



