REASONING. 355 



for the rain was falling faster and faster. The big dog, to whom the 

 rain was a matter of perfect indifference, was instantly on hand and 

 tried his utmost to open the gate, but naturally without success. Al- 

 most in despair the little dog bit at the gate, at the same time springing 

 into the air in the attempt to Jump over it, when he chanced to catch 

 the string in his teeth ; it broke, and the gate flew open. Now he 

 knew the secret and thenceforth bit the string whenever he wished to 

 get out, so that I was obliged to change it. 



" That the big dog in raising the latch did not in the least hnow\\i?d> 

 the latch closed tlie gate, that the raising of the same opened it, but that 

 he merely repeated the automatic blow with his snout which had once 

 had such happy consequences, transpires from the following : the gate 

 leading to the barn is fastened with a latch precisely like the one on 

 the garden-gate, only placed a little higher, still easily within the dog's 

 reach. Here, too, occasionally the little dog is confined, and when he 

 barks the big one makes every possible effort to open the gate, but it 

 has never occurred to him to push the latch up. The brute cannot 

 draw conclusions, that is, he cannot think."* 



Other classical diferentice of man besides that of being 

 the only reasoning animal, also seem consequences of his 

 unrivalled powers of similar association. He has, e.g., been 

 called ' the laughing animal.' But humor has often been 

 defined as the recognition of identities in things different. 

 When the man in Coriolanus says of that hero that " there 

 is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger," 

 both the invention of the phrase and its enjoyment by the 

 hearer depend on a peculiarly per})lexiug power to associ- 

 ate ideas by similarity. 



Man is known again as ' the talking animal '; and lan- 



* Th Schumann : Journal Daheim, No. 19, 1878. Quoted by Stiiim- 

 pell : Die Geisteskrafte der Menscben verglicben mit deuen der Tbiere 

 (Leipzig, 1878), p. 39. Cats are notorious for the skill with which they will 

 open latches, locks, etc. Their feats are usually ascribed to their reason- 

 ing powers. But Dr. Romanes well remarks (Mental Evolution, etc., p. 

 351, note) that we ought first to be sure that tbe actions are not due to mere 

 association. A cat is constantly playing with things with her paws ; a trick 

 accidentally bit upon may be retained. Romanes notes tbe fact that tbe 

 animals most skilled in this way need not be tbe most generally intelligent, 

 but those which have tbe best corporeal members for handling things, 

 cat's paws, horse's lips, elephant's trunk, cow's horns. Tbe monkey has 

 both the corporeal and the intellectual superiority. And my deprecatory 

 remarks on animal reasoning iu tbe text apply far less to tbe quadrumana 

 than to quadrupeds. — On the possible fallacies in interpreting animals' 

 minds, compare C. L. Morgan in Mind, xi. 174 (1886). 



