SYMPATHY 305 



recognised by the smell that it belongs to their own nest. 

 There are many instances of the higher birds and mammals 

 exhibiting sympathy and pity not only towards their own 

 kindred but also to animals of other species and even different 

 orders. Darwin l quotes many cases of blind birds fed by 

 their companions, also that of a dog who never passed a cat 

 who lay sick in a basket, and was a great friend of his, without 

 licking it. He also tells 'of a little American monkey in the 

 London Zoological Gardens who rescued his keeper, to whom 

 he was warmly attached, from the savage and dangerous 

 attack of a baboon, by distracting the attention of the baboon 

 by screams and bites. Buchner has published many equally 

 trustworthy instances in his Liebesleben der Tiere. Dr. 

 Bouchinet - does not hesitate to regard such examples of 

 sympathy of animals with the sufferings of others as forming 

 the first beginnings of the healing art. 



Just as the sympathy of animals outstripping that of man 

 may morally be ranked so high, their love for their offspring 

 may, from a biological standpoint, be ranked even higher, be- 

 cause it contributes far more to the preservation of the species. 

 This parental affection, especially the mother's love for her 

 young, is first seen in a very humble order of Invertebrates, the 

 starfish ; it is even more marked among the articulates where 

 the spiders carry about their ova until the young are hatched. 

 Field-crickets and earwigs actually cover their hatched larvae 

 with their bodies. Exceptionally strong is the parental affection 

 of Vertebrates, and it increases as we ascend the animal scale j 

 the male stickleback strives his hardest to keep the brood to- 

 gether in the nest until they have grown to a certain size. There 

 are, however, frequent breaks in the chain through the animal 

 kingdom, for many lay their eggs or bear their young and 

 trouble themselves no further about them. But the solicitude 

 of birds for the welfare of their young has always been pro- 

 verbial ; it is found among the mammals in no less degree, 

 reaching its highest expression among apes and men. 



The question, whether man is alone capable of moral feel- 

 ings, or whether they are present in the higher animals also, has 



1 Darwin, loc. cit., i., p. 157. 



2 Bouchinet, Des Etats Primitifs de la Midecine, Paris, 1891. 



2O 



