398 COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY 



The mistakes and variations of instinct are indications 

 that animals have something more a limited range of 

 that principle of Intelligence so luminous in man. No 

 precise line can be drawn between instinctive and intel- 

 ligent acts ; all we can say is, there is more freedom of 

 choice in the latter than the former ; and that some ani- 

 mals are most instinctive, others most intelligent. Thus, 

 we speak of the instinct of the ant, bee, and beaver, and 

 the intelligence of the elephant, dog, and monkey. In- 

 stinct loses its peculiar character as intelligence becomes 

 developed. Ascending from the worm and oyster to 

 the bee, we see the movements become more complex in 

 character and more special in their objects ; but instinct 

 is supreme. Still ascending, we observe a gradual fad- 

 ing away of the instincts, till they become subordinate to 

 higher faculties will and reason. We can predict with 

 considerable certainty the actions of animals guided by 

 pure instinct; but in proportion as they possess the 

 power of adapting means to ends, the more variable their 

 actions. Thus, the architecture of birds is not so uniform 

 as that of insects. 156 



We must credit brutes with a certain amount of obser- 

 vation and imitation, curiosity and cunning, memory and 

 reason. Animals have been seen to pause, deliberate, 

 or experiment and resolve. The elephant and horse, 

 dog and monkey, particularly, participate in the rational 

 nature of man, up to a certain point. Thinking begins 

 wherever there is an intentional adaptation of means to 

 ends ; for that involves the comparison and combination 

 of ideas. Animals interchange ideas : the whine of a 

 dog at the door on a cold night certainly implies that he 

 wants to be let in. Bees and ants, it is well known, con- 

 fer by touching together their antennae. All the higher 

 animals, too, have similar emotions : as joy, fear, love, 

 and anger. 



