THE KINDRED OF MAN. 62» 



they were not clasped in a foTid embrace, and not once during their life in the 

 garden was anything but the most perfect accord manifested between them. No 

 pretence of partiaHty in feeding, no petting of one to the exclusion of the other, 

 could excite a trace of jealousy; the slighted one would simply retire to a corner 

 and sulk, but their mutual relations were undisturbed ; resentment was all towards 

 the giver, not to the one who received. Each was at all times ready to stand by 

 the other ; probably the keeper has not forgotten the ferocious assault Eve once 

 made on him from the rear, while he was engaged in pouring a dose of medicine 

 down the throat of her companion. 



Their anger was something ludicrous; the male especially was liable to par- 

 oxysms of rage, during which he would tear his hair with both hands, hurl him- 

 self down on the floor with a perfect tempest of yells and roars, but in a moment 

 it was all over, and he was ready to make peace and accept any small attention 

 ■by way of amende. But his masculinity asserted itself more particularly when 

 danger seemed to threaten — then he was grand ; advancing inch by inch, brand- 

 ishing his arms, stopping after each step, with a stern frown, to emit a terrifying 

 roar, beseemed an impersonation of resolution and defiance — a very Ajax — but af- 

 ter all, he was only a Thersites, a more arrant little coward than he, at heart, 

 had never lived, and if his appearance did not have the desired effect, if the in- 

 truder stood his ground, the dignified approach gradually became slower, the 

 resolution ebbed away and the inevitable end was a final stop, a hasty turn and 

 an ignominious flight into the corner — generally, it is painful to say, behind 

 Eve. We could only blush, we dared not blame him ; one nearer to us far than 

 he, his namesake, under circumstances which brings the action home to each of 

 us, had done the same. 



Many experiments were made to test the mental capacity of these animals, 

 with quite fruitful results; the primary mental operations, and even some which 

 involved a greater or less combination of ideas, were performed by them with 

 facility ; indeed, it may be doubted if the undirected efforts of a human child of 

 the same age, ignorant of language, could produce results of a much higher 

 grade. 



A mirror being placed in the cage, the male, after cautiously investigating 

 the figure reflected, turned it over, and finding nothing but bare boards, he 

 placed it face downward on the floor and executed a sort of war dance on the 

 back. Having repeated this a number of times, the glass was firmly held before 

 him; he then gave it more attention, at first attempting to drive away the figure 

 he saw; at last a resemblance seemed to strike him, and after performing a varie- 

 ty of antics, seemingly for the purpose of comparison, it was quite evident that 

 he became aware of his own identity — and in this, perhaps, afforded a trace of 

 that self-consciousness which conservative philosophy allows only to the lordly 

 intellect of man. In this case it is probable that he had become accustomed to 

 see a faint image of himself reflected from the glass front of his cage. 



Perhaps, though, the most striking evidence of their power of reasoning was 

 given when a dead snake was taken into the room and shown to them. As is 



