178 The Ottawa Naturalist. 



THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



By Wesley Mills, M.A., M.D., 

 Professor of Physiology in McGill University, Montreal. 



As the term evolution means literally an unfolding, it is 

 convenient and comprehensive for the purpose in view, whether 

 it be employed in its more literal signification or in the sense 

 that has become attached to it by the modern doctrine of 

 evolution as set forth by Darwin and other writers of recent 

 times. 



Darwin himself believed as thoroughly in mental evolution as 

 in organic evolution; that is to say, he held that the non-corpor- 

 eal or psychic (this term being employed to cover all qualities 

 not physical whether purely intellectual or relating to will, feeling, 

 etc.) qualities of animals were as much related by genetic descent 

 as their corporeal features. The characteristics of the human 

 mind for example, arc to bs explained, according to this great 

 investigator, by man's descent from forms of life lowerinthe scale, 

 in the same way as his corporeal nature. To illustrate, Darwin 

 believed that we are in a position to understand the dog much 

 better if we recognize his origin from wild forms such as the 

 jackal, wolf, etc. 



As regards man's psychic nature, however all evolutionists do 

 not hold to Darwin's view. 



Alf.R. Wallace, who enunciated the doctrine of organic evolu- 

 tion at the same time as Darwin, held that all the qualities of 

 man's mind could not be accounted for in this way, though he 

 thought such an explanation adequate for the corporeal structure 

 of man. 



The majority of evolutionists are of opinion, however, that the 

 doctrine of descent of higher from lower forms does explain 

 both the physical and psychic nature of animals, with all their 



