326 MIND IN EVOLUTION CHAP. 



occasionally get confused, and substitute one response for 

 another. On the whole, we may say that there is a well- 

 marked stage in a child's development, falling roughly 

 between the twelfth and eighteenth months, in which 

 it responds to certain perceptions with a word, and to 

 certain words with an act. At this stage it cannot be 

 placed above the parrot, nor on the side of understanding 

 above the dog. It is well to mark out this stage in which 

 isolated words are clearly developed from the later stage 

 in which words are put together to form language proper. 

 The use of language at the level which we have been 

 considering does not as such rise above the stage in 

 which, whether by inheritance, or as the result of 

 experience, a sound or a sign produces a certain reaction. 

 It becomes Purposive only when used with intention and 

 even this would not raise it above the level of the 

 Practical Judgment. It may be strongly questioned 

 whether there is any evidence of the communication of 

 complex facts among animals. Thus, there is a well- 

 known class of dog-stories in which, for example, a little 

 dog is mauled by an enemy, and gets his big friend to 

 come and avenge him. Mr. Lloyd Morgan 1 relates such 

 a story of a little dog and his big friend Boxer. As the 

 story is told, it gives the impression that the little dog 

 must have given a dramatic recital of his wrongs, but Mr. 

 Lloyd Morgan thinks, I have no doubt rightly, that al 

 the little dog said was " Come ! " In other words, 

 the little dog was able to incite Boxer to follow him, an< 

 then to attack the enemy. Mr. Romanes 2 direct!] 

 observed a similar communication between two Sky( 

 terriers, and interprets it in the same way. Similarly, ii 

 the numerous games of animals in which somewhat subtl< 

 and complex mutual understanding is involved, 3 we need 

 not postulate any explicit interchange of ideas. One dog 

 will entice another to play by taking up the appropriate 

 attitude ; 4 one action leads to another ; the playful mood 



1 Animal Life and Intelligence, p. 344. 



2 Animal Intelligence, p. 445. 



3 See Groos, op. tit., p. 124 et seq ; also 225, 245, 253, for numerous 

 instances among birds and mammals. 



4 See, for instance, a good description in Groos, p. 124. 



