ANIMAL LIFE AND INTELLIGENCE. 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE NATURE OF ANIMAL LIFE. 



I ONCE asked a class of school-boys to write down for me in 

 a few words what they considered the chief characteristics 

 of animals. Here are some of the answers — 



1. Animals move about, eat, and grow. 



2. Animals eat, grow, breathe, feel (at least, most of 

 them do), and sleep. 



3. Take a cat, for example. It begins as a kitten; it 

 eats, drinks, plays about, and grows up into a cat, which 

 does much the same, only it is more lazy, and stops grow- 

 ing. At last it grows old and dies. But it may have 

 kittens first. 



4. An animal has a head and tail, four legs, and a 

 body. It is a living creature, and not a vegetable. 



5. Animals are living creatures, made of flesh and 

 blood. 



Combining these statements, we have the following 

 characteristics of animals : — 



1. Each has a proper and definite form, at present 

 described as " a head and tail, four legs, and a body." 



2. They breathe. 



3. They eat and drink. 



4. They grow. 



5. They also " grow up." The kitten grows up into a 

 cat, which is somewhat different from the kitten. 



6. They move about and sleep. 



