INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE I 35 



helpless companion. Every species has a language 

 peculiar to itself, by means of which all the indi- 

 viduals that compose it are able to converse with 

 each other, to impart their love, their pains, their 

 fears, and their desires. They, like man, when 

 driven to extreme mental and physical suffering, as 

 a last resort, will deliberately commit suicide. 

 Many sad instances are on record of domestic 

 animals, forsaken or abused in such a cruel manner 

 that they have voluntarily drowned or starved 

 themselves to death. 



If it were necessary I could give numerous well- 

 authenticated illustrations to prove each of the 

 mental actions I have attributed to animals, but as 

 most persons have seen and read a sufficient num- 

 ber to be convinced that the statements are correct, 

 it would be a useless undertaking. I have heard 

 related by truthful persons so many marvelous 

 acts of the lower animals, and have seen so many 

 myself, that I am ready to believe almost anything 

 I hear or read on the subject. They build houses 

 and provide homes, and live in separate families. 

 They are capable of education, and a few species 

 learn to articulate the language of man. They 

 converse with each other in their own language by 



