50 THE HUMANIZING OF THE BRUTE. 



the bird soaring over them is not inimical, thus also do 

 cows on entering a meadow for the first time distinguish 

 most exactly between nutritious and poisonous herbs. 

 Experiments begun by Linne have brought out 

 the fact, that of all herbs within their reach cows se- 

 lect about 276, whilst about 218 are passed by; and 

 precisely those 276 correspond to the cow's organism, 

 whilst as experience proved many of the other 218 are 

 of a poisonous character. If, therefore , the exterior sen- 

 ses alone are not sufficient to explain the facts, will the 

 interior sense give us a satisfactory answer to the 

 question, how animals are enabled with such unfail- 

 ing certainty to distinguish between the beneficial and 

 harmful? Will an interior sense (sensus communis) 

 suffice to explain that wonderful sagacity of animals, 

 by which they choose their proper nourishment, by 

 which they adopt the most appropriate means of de- 

 fence and propagation? If the animal's interior sense 

 is exactly the same as that of man, then, indeed, we 

 must confess that the phenomena put before us are al- 

 together inexplicable; for the interior sense of man 

 as such, without the guidance of reason, is not suffi- 

 cient even to preserve us from the greatest dangers. 

 The child in the forest smiles, when it takes the 

 poisonous berry; and its tender life is preserved only 

 by the care of a loving mother, who is endowed with 

 reason, until its own dormant intellect is active and 

 begins to be its guide. Must we then fall back on an in- 

 tellect to explain facts otherwise inexplicable in the 

 instinctive actions of animals! Must we defend 

 Brehm's ridiculous dolls? If so, we must go farther 

 than Brehm went, and ascribe to animals an intelli- 



