3IENTAL DIFFERENCE AND DISORDER. 247 



or mistress, of a human favourite of any kind, produces the 

 same kind of effects as the absence or loss of a mate or of 

 3'oung in other animals. The cat, horse, dog 1 , and other 

 animals show uneasiness in the absence of their usual com- 

 panions (Watson) ; and some of them refuse to eat or work 

 alone. 



The want of society is specially felt in social or grega- 

 rious animals (Brodie), who are accustomed to be constantly 

 surrounded by friends and companions ; and it is in them 

 that solitary confinement is most apt to lead as it does 

 frequently to dementia or other forms of mental derange- 

 ment, just as in man. Animals that lead a compulsorily 

 recluse life, such as 'rogue' elephants and deposed chiefs 

 among some other animals, are invariably in a morbid men- 

 tal condition, of which the usually most prominent and 

 dangerous feature is irascibility or ferocity. 



According to Buckland, horses c hate solitude, and are 

 made savage by being kept alone.' Love of company, com- 

 panionship, or societ} r sociability is indeed strongly marked 

 in the horse. Thus Pierquin gives a case of fury in a carriage 

 horse when his companion was not in harness with him ; 

 their affection, when together, being shown by their mutual 

 caresses. The effects of being kept by themselves, especially 

 in strange quarters, include, in many cases, the restlessness 

 and destructiveness of excitement; in others, the quiet of 

 abject terror. 



The results, temporary or permanent, on the mental cha- 

 racter of other highly social animals, of solitary confinement 

 has been pointed out by White and Stirling. Unhappiness 

 which is, however, the first stage towards melancholia, or 

 other forms of serious mental disturbance is, in the pigmy 

 ape and other animals, one of the minor effects of being 

 left without companionship. 



Monotony, as a factor of mental derangement in the lower 

 animals, is closely associated with, and usually inseparable 

 from, solitude and captivity. Other animals dislike mono- 

 tonous lives and occupations as much as man does ; they 

 suffer as much as he from want of novelty and variety ; they 

 have the same desire for amusement ; there is equal necessity 



