80 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



advance. His hair stood up, he showed his teeth, and 

 displayed an ugliness of temper that greatly alarmed 

 her. He had never acted so before and no amount of 

 coaxing or soft words made the slightest impression upon 

 him. She was in despair what to do, when suddenly it 

 occurred to her, as a last resource, to show Leo the baby. 

 She unwound the shawl and held the baby out at arm's 

 length to the dog. The dog's manner changed at once — 

 he removed himself from the path, began to frolic and 

 caper about in great glee, and the nursemaid with her 

 precious charge passed on. The explanation of his con- 

 duct was this : Leo had constituted himself a guard 

 when the baby went out, and when the maid turned 

 about to come home, having wrapped and so hidden the 

 child in the shawl, the dog supposed the baby had been 

 left behind and would not let the girl advance until she 

 had produced it. 



It is needless to enumerate more cases in evidence of 

 the existence of something more than mere instinct in 

 animals. Most of the incidents which I have narrated 

 cannot be explained upon the theory of instinct ; for in- 

 structive actions are actions performed by successive 

 generations, in obedience to hereditary impulses which 

 cannot be controlled. They are involuntary to this ex- 

 tent that while the animal knowingly performs them, he 

 is urged on to their performance by transmitted tenden- 

 cies which his will has not set in motion, and which 

 when his environment is unchanged remain the same. 

 That with an altered environment or sudden emergencies 

 they can and do change, evidences the possession of that 

 intelligence which is claimed for them. If they did not 

 possess this power they would not infrequently be 

 placed in situations, when a rigid adherence to inherited 

 practices would result in their destruction. It is because 

 they are able with more or less facility to adapt them- 

 selves to altered conditions that they survive. This 



