Association Areas of the Brain 133 



away both birds together. This was the only 

 known instance of this dog ever having wilfully 

 injured any game. Darwin adds : " Here we have 

 reason, though not quite perfect, for the re- 

 triever might have brought the wounded bird 

 first, and then returned for the dead one, as in 

 the case of the two wild ducks." 1 



Behaviour such as that displayed by these 

 dogs certainly indicates something more than 

 mere automatic or instinctive action, and which 

 is attributable to work accomplished through 

 means of the living substance of the association 

 areas of the animal's brain. We rest this belief 

 on the fact, that if these parts of the brain are 

 destroyed while the animal's basal ganglia re- 

 main, such an animal's intelligence and memory 

 for all it had previously learnt are abolished ; 

 but its instinctive powers still continue and 

 become manifest in instinctive behaviour. 



It is impossible to draw a hard and fast line 

 between instinctive and intelligent processes, 

 the molecular structure of the living substance 

 constituting the association areas of the neo- 



1 The Descent of Man, by Charles Darwin, Vol. I., p. 48, 

 edition 1871. 



