PSYCHICAL EVOLUTION 143 



not draw back from the mysterious dissolutions of 

 death more earnestly than does the hare that flees 

 before resounding packs or the wild-fowl that 

 reddens the reeds with its flounderings. Bower- 

 birds build their nestside resorts, decorate them 

 with gay feathers, and surround them with grounds 

 ornamented with bright stones and shells, for 

 identically the same reason as human beings 

 design drawing-rooms, hang them with tapestries, 

 and surround them with ornamented lawns. The 

 scarlet waistcoat of the robin and the flaming 

 dresses of tanagers and humming-birds, which 

 seem, as they flash through the forest aisles, like 

 shafts of cardinal-fire, serve the same vanities and 

 minister to the same instincts as the plumage of 

 the dandy and the tints and gewgaws of gorgeous 

 dames. Art is largely a manifestation of sex, and 

 it is about as old and about as persistent as this 

 venerable impulse. How did Darwin's dog know 

 his master on his master's return from a five-years' 

 trip around the world ? Just as the boy remembers 

 where the strawberries grow and the philosopher 

 recalls his facts — by that power of the brain to 

 retain and to reproduce past impressions. Why 

 does the thinker search his soul for new theories 

 and the spaces for new stars ? For the same 

 reason that the child asks questions and the 

 monkey picks to pieces its toys. What is reason ? 

 A habit of wise men — an expedient of ants— a 

 mania the fools of all ages are free from. All 

 of the activities of men, however imposing or 

 peculiar, are but elaborations in one way or 



