THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 509 



is very small ; we do not think he knows he is doing anything 

 wrong when he kicks his stable down once or twice a week, or 

 when he ' runs away,' but he understands that he should not 

 refuse a jump, and a horse careless in his walk or trot knows 

 exactly what every stumble will be followed by, and anticipates 

 matters accordingly. Strength of will most animals lose as the 

 result of domestication. They become mere reflex machines 

 or automata, but there are notable exceptions ; for instance, 

 the ass, mule, and occasionally the horse. The so-called stupidity 

 of the ass and provoking obstinacy of the mule are not indica- 

 tions of want of intelligence ; on the other hand, they show a 

 determination of purpose and strength of will, which, if more 

 deeply marked and combined with aggressiveness, would keep 

 them as free from civilisation as the zebra. The majority of 

 horses, on the other hand, have no great strength of will ; they 

 can be rendered docile and tractable, they will gallop until they 

 drop, work at high pressure when low would suffice, can never 

 apparently learn the obvious lesson that it is the ' willing horse ' 

 which suffers, and that the harder they work the more they get 

 to do. All this is due to defective intelligence and a want of the 

 higher faculties ; they cannot reason* like the dog or elephant, 

 and are more flexible than the ass or mule. Some horses show 

 signs of reasoning and are capable of grasping a position. A 

 load so heavy as to be beyond the limit of his power, or from 

 some other cause, has taught him to refuse to work ; to use the 

 familiar expression, he ' jibs,' he has learned to disobey, he has 

 learned his own strength, and the comparative powerlessness of 

 his master, and this through an exercise of reason. In other 

 words, the horse which refuses to wear himself out in the service 

 of man is one possessing too much intelligence and strength of 

 will for a slave ; a ' jibber ' is an intelligent and not a stupid 

 horse. As a rule the intelligence and affection of the horse only 

 exist in books and the imagination of those who have the least 

 to do with him ; whatever region of the brain affection is located 

 in, it does not occupy much space in the equine. Taking the 



exist in them. The expression on a dog's face when he has done something 

 he knows to be wrong, or, at any rate, which he knows is against the rules 

 laid down for his life, conveys a conception of the existence of moral 

 sense. 



* Exception may be taken to the employment of the term ' reason.' 

 To reason is impossible without general concepts, and in the absence of 

 speech general concepts are difficult to suppose. Nevertheless, the term 

 is convenient, especially as the writer considers that the more intelligent 

 of the lower animals possess what in them amounts to reasoning power. 



The absence of speech suggests that animals have no power of inter- 

 communication. The question cannot be discussed here, but those con- 

 cerned in closely watching the habits of animals must frequently feel that 

 communication between them is not impossible. 



