264 EDUCATION OF ANIMALS BY MAN. 



or assuming what his wishes or intentions would or might 

 have been ; or perhaps simply through force of habit, and as 

 the effect of discipline when the same circumstances arise 

 acting in the same way. 



Habit in relation to education is a subject of much in- 

 terest as it is illustrated, for instance, by the life-lasting 

 results of systematic and judicious training in the form of 

 military or other discipline. Such is its effect in fighting 

 elephants in India purposely rendered ferocious that they 

 obey their mahouts ' even in the utmost height of their fury.' J 

 A runaway tame elephant that was captured among a herd of 

 wild ones eighteen months after its escape, being ordered to 

 lay down, * immediately obeyed the familiar word of com- 

 mand and became perfectly tractable.' 



Another that had been at large for fourteen years, ' on 

 being recaptured, remembered her former driver, and in- 

 stantly lay down at his order' (Macaulay). But the result 

 is even more familiar and equally well-marked in the old 

 cavalry charger when it hears again, after a long absence 

 from the army, the trumpet call. The effect of its early 

 training is seen even in panics or stampedes. 



The results of man's training, whether for good or evil, 

 are most frequently and readily illustrated in the dog, cat, 

 horse, elephant, monkey, pig, bear; and in various birds, 

 such as the parrot, parroquet, and cockatoo, and the song 

 birds ; and even in fleas. They may be seen or studied almost 

 at any time in the menageries, hippodromes, or circuses of 

 all kinds that perambulate the country, or that are stationary 

 in large cities, such as London, Edinburgh, or Dublin. The 

 wonderful feats of trained animals of bands of dogs, for 

 instance may occasionally be seen on a smaller scale, but 

 not less instructive form, in the street stages of itinerant 

 musicians, especially on the Continent. The last exhibition 

 I have myself seen of this kind was on a public promenade 

 in Leipsic. 



Man's education of other animals is frequently by pay- 

 ment for results a principle that nowadays regulates so 

 much of our own national education. 



1 ' Scotsman,' November 22, 1875. 



