INSTINCT AND REASON. 61 



he was not sufficiently tall to reach as far as the 

 key of the door, he liiing on to a rope, balanced 

 liimself, and, after a few swings, very quickly 

 reached the key. His keeper, who was rather 

 worried by so much exactitude, one day took occa- 

 sion to make three knots in the rope, which, hav- 

 ing thus been made too short, no longer permitted 

 the orang-outang to seize the key. The animal, 

 after an ineffectual attempt, recognizing the na- 

 ture of the obstacle which opposed his desire, 

 climbed up tlie rope, placed himself above the 

 knots, and untied all three. The same ape wish- 

 ing to open a door, his keeper gave him a bunch 

 of fifteen keys ; the ape tried them in turn till he 

 had found the one which he wanted. At another 

 time a bar of iron was put into his hands, and he 

 made use of it as a lever. Similar instances of 

 comparatively high reasoning powers in dogs, 

 horses, elephants, pigs, parrots, foxes, cats, and 

 donkeys have been collected in numbers of late 

 years, and published with excellent authenticating 

 letters in various scientific journals and transac- 

 tions. Cases of the sort are, of course, totally 

 different in kind from the mere instincts, however 

 admirable, of the beaver, the ant, the cuckoo, and 

 the bower-bird. These instincts are always 

 directly connected with the inherited habits and 

 mode of life of the race, and are the same for all 

 its members in all circumstances ; whereas the oc- 



