THE MAMMALIA— MAN AND BEASTS. 



55 



Dog, at a tolerable distance from each other, and that the Dog kept continually 

 movinff round the circle. When giving an answer he carried successively to his 

 master all the letters which composed the proper word or phrase, and he did the same 

 thing with the card on which a visitor thought. The manoeuvre, as far as the Dog 

 was concerned, resolved itself merely to bringing objects. We can easily suppose 

 that the animal, passing slowly from letter to letter, and touching each piece with his 

 muzzle, would go on until his master would make the sign which meant '* Fetch it." 

 The Dot' would immediately seize that particular letter and bring it to his master, 

 and thus entire sentences might be formed without any understanding of their mean- 

 ing on the part of the Dog. It was curious to find out the sign which the master 

 had invented for the Dog, and it was considered by M. Feuillet, librarian to the 

 Institute, and several other members of the Acadcmie des Sciences, to consist in a 

 gentle tick of his nail ; for it was observed that the master usually kept one of his 

 hands covered by the other, or behind his back, or else in his pocket, to conceal the 

 motion. On listening very attentively, they heard this sound every time that the 

 bog passed by the letter necessary to form the required word. It would be im- 

 portant to know the plan of instruction adopted by the master in teaching the Dog to 

 .obey a sound almost imperceptible to an unpractised ear; but this it was his interest 

 to conceal with the utmost care. 



An insUnce is related by ]\I. Arago, the celebrated astronomer, which induced him 

 to bebeve that Dogs know the difference between justice and injustice (du juste et 

 de I'injuste), yet we cannot help thinking that the facts do not quite warrant the in- 

 ference drawn by that eminent Natural Philosopher. Several years ago, when about 

 four leagues from Montpellier, he was detained by a storm in an indifferent country 

 inn. Nothing could be had for dmner except a single fowl, and this was ordered to be 

 placed on the spit. The spit was attached to a large hollow wheel into which the 

 Dogs were made to enter, and to turn it round by their weight and motion. One of 

 the Dogs was in the kitchen, and the innkeeper attempted to seize him ; but the 

 animal hid himself, showed his teeth, and refused to go into the wheel at the com- 

 mand of his master. U. Arago, surprised at this, inquired the cause ; he was 

 answered, " The Dog knows it is his comrade's turn." The '* comrade" was sent 

 for at his request, and as soon as the animal arrived, at the first sign made by the 

 cook, he entered the wheel and turned it round for about ten minutes. Wishing now 

 to try the first Dog, the philosopher stopped the wheel, and ordered them to put 

 the animal in which had formerly refused. This Dog being now convinced, actjording 

 to M. Arago, that his turn had arrived, at once entered the wheel, and continued 

 there till the fowl was roasted. 



A similar anecdote is related of four black Matin Dogs which turned the wheel in 

 the Jesuits' College of La Fleche. These Dogs, it was said, always knew their turn of 

 service, and invariably revolted, as if against an evident injustice, whenever they wero 

 ordered into the wheel out of their proper course. M. du Petit- Thouars, who pass- 

 ed La Fleche in 1767, after the Jesuits were expelled, had this story told of the 

 Colleo-e Doffs by several inhabitants, who had witnessed the fact. 



We must, however, refuse to assign moral qualities, or the faculty of discerning 

 right from wrong, to these lower animals, if the above phenomena admit of being ex- 

 plained on the common principles of habit, or the association of ideas. When a Dog 

 has low been accustomed to perform a disagreeable office every fourth day, he will 

 come in the course of time to know his particular day of service, and a more frequent 

 demand will naturally excite his resentment. To assign moral qualities to the lower 

 animals is a very popular error, and we are inclined to suspect that these eminent 

 philosophers allowed themselves to be deceived by the ambiguous language of the 

 country people. It is a common circumstance to see a Dog, after having committed 

 some fault for which he has often been punished, enter the room slowly and sneak 

 into a corner; some one then observes, " He knows he has done wrong. In 

 this case, the Dog only infers that the same action will be followed by the same 

 pmiishment; or, in other words, he reasons from analogy. But this is far from en- 

 tithn<i' him to the rank of a moral being, or one capable of distinguishing right from 

 wron"-; and it is plainly unphilosophical to multiply the Mental powers of animals, 

 if the ordinary operations of intelligence arc sufficient to explain all the facts hitherto 

 authenticated. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE MAMMALIA COXTINCED. 

 Individual modifications are seldom transmitted to posterity — Connate modifica- 

 tions generally are transmitted — Varieties in the external forms of Wild and 

 JDomesticated Mammalia, 



Although the original and constitutional powers of animals remain the same under aH 

 circumstances, we have now seen that they may undergo some very considerable mo- 

 difications. It has also been shown that, in many instances, these acquired charac- 

 ters are transmitted to posterity. The latter conclusion has been doubted by several 

 Naturalists, who are inclined to consider these acquired characters as resulting- either 

 from the principle of Imitation, the influence of situation, or a combination of these 

 causes. It has been asserted that no modification, induced after birth in the intelli- 

 gent powers or instincts of an animal, is capable of being transmitted to its offspring, 

 and that all transmitted powers must be connate, that is^ imparted with the vital ex- 

 istence. With the human race there must always be an extreme difficulty in ascer- 

 tdning how far those hereditary characters, so often observed to prevail in particular 

 families, are the result of physical constitution or of Imitation and situation * but it 

 is abundantly evident that the acquired properties of the lower animals are sometimes 

 transmitted to posterity. Tho races of Rabbits which wholly lose their Instinct of 

 burrowing fiom confinement; — the young Foxes of thickly-peopled countries which 

 inherit the acquired cunning of their parents; — the young Pointers w^ich set game 

 naturally and without any previous instruction;. — and the excessive timidity of young 

 Lap-Dogs, whose parents have been long in the company of timid females; are in- 

 stances of this fact. Further, we have, in the docility of those races which have long 

 been domesticated, an evident proof that the modifications of the earlier-tamed ani- 



mals were transmitted to posterity, while the Apes of Sumatra, which have not this 

 transmitting power, are wholly incapable of yielding domestic races. 



It must, however, be carefully observed, that animals do not transmit to their 

 posterity all their acquired modifications. On the contrary, it is only a very small 

 number of acquired habits or alterations which are thus transmitted to their descen- 

 dants. Nearly all those arts which a well-trained Dog has acquired perish with the 

 individual, and the process of education has to be recommenced with the pup. The 

 reverse takes place with the other kind of modifications which are properly connate, 

 or born with the animal; for the latter are very frequently inherited by their descen- 

 dants, and the instances of their not being so transmitted are by no means numerous. 

 Thus, the artificial modifications of Instincts and Intelligence sometimes become here- 

 ditary; but connate modifications usually are so. The latter is remarkably the case 

 in Blan. " We see," says Dugald Stewart, "one race, for a succession of genera- 

 tions, is distinguished by a genius for the abstract sciences, while it is deficient in 

 vivacity, in imagination, and in taste; another is no less distinguished for wit, gaiety, 

 and fancy, while it appears incapable of patient attention or of profound research." We 

 have many remarkable instances of the transmission of connate varieties, in the intel- 

 lectual quahties of the several races of Dogs. No care or education will induce those 

 qualities in the stupid Greyhound, which we find in the intelhgcnt and docile Water- 

 Spaniel. 



Some species have an inherent tendency to produce these connate modifications of 

 intelligence; but unless care is taken to preserve them free from foreign admixture, 

 they soon become blended in the mass of average talent usually found in the species. 

 Hence connate modifications of Intellect may be either original or transmitted. 

 The first stupid Greyhound, as well as the first intelhgcnt Water- Spaniel, might have 

 been descended from a pair of average talent; and these qualities, which were on- 

 ginal connate modifications when they first appeared, have become transmitted con- 

 nate modifications in our present races. 



But the changes which the Mammalia are capable of undergoing are not confined 

 solely to their Intelligent powers. We see that their external forms are also modified, 

 and that this sometimes happens to a degree so great, as to render it a matter of con- 

 siderable difficulty to ascertain whether the animals, so altered by circumstances, be- 

 longed originally to the same or to different species. These changes are induced by 

 causes which may affect the individual only, or they may also alter the Offspring. 

 The same law is observed in the changes of external form as in the modifications of 

 Intelligence and Instinct ; and while the individual varieties which are induced after 

 birth are but rarely transmitted to posterity, the connate varieties give rise to most 

 of those permanent alterations which distinguish the several races. 



** We see no instance of connate variety," observes Dr Prichard, " however 

 trifling, which does not manifest a tendency to become hereditary and permanent in 

 the race. Mliite animals with red eyes produce offspring resembling themselves, 

 and the stock will retain its character permanently as long as no intermixture is suf- 

 fered to take place. The progeny of black animals have the sable hue of their 

 parents. On this account, black Rams are always killed in this country, and never 

 suffered to remain with the flocks. In other countries black Sheep are preferred, 

 and are bred up, while the white, when that variety springs up, are destroyed; ac- 

 cordingly, the general colour of the flocks is black. All the other varieties, as is well 

 known, have a tendency to hereditary transmission. Wc may observe, that the dis- 

 position to variation is more frequently shown in some species than in others, and 

 requires the agency of less powerful causes to excite it into action. The tendency to 

 hereditary descent also is different, both among the animal and vegetable species. For 

 in some species of the latter class, varieties are observed to reappear in the plants 

 produced from the seed, and to continue constantly in the stock, resembling in this 

 particular the nature of animal varieties. On the other hand, some species of animals 

 approach to the capricious character of the vegetable kinds, and the variations which 

 arise in them evince little tendency to become permanent." 



It may be proper to recall to the memory of the student, the definition already 

 given of the term Species, All animals are said to be of the same species, when 

 they are descended one from another, or from common parents, or from others re- 

 sembling them as much as they resemble each other. On the other hand, all those 

 differences which are found among animals, sprung from the same original stock, are 

 termed Varieties. 



The most superficial characters are always the most liable to variation: The 



colour of the hair depends greatly on the quantity of the Hght, — the thickness of the 

 fur upon the degree of heat,- — the size and corpulence of the animal upon the 

 quantity of food, jointly with the degrees of temperature and moisture. Often the 

 variations of colour are wholly connate, and can be traced to no external cause. 



Among the wild animals, these variations are very much limited by the natural 

 propensities of the animals themselves, as they never wilUngly ramble to a great dis- 

 tance from those localities where they find a convenient supply of all the things 

 necessary for the maintenance of their species. Their migrations are therefore 

 limited by the circumstances which unite all these conditions. Thus, the Wolf and 

 the Fox inhabit every latitude from the frigid to the torrid zones, yet they scarcely 

 undergo any alteration, through all the changes of chmate, except a greater or less 

 degree of beauty and richness in their fur. The variations are still less amonc those wild 

 animals, especially Carnassiers, which are confined within a small geographical range. 

 A thicker mane forms the sole difference between the Hysena of Persia and that of 

 Morocco. These variations would be confined within still narrower limits, if the 

 wild animals were at liberty to choose their own localities. But from the earliest 

 ages, they have been hunted by Jlan, or by the more formidable Carnassiers, and ex- 

 iled from their native haunts. Some have been driven into xmfavorable situations ; 

 those possessed of a sufficient flexibility of form have extended their range to remote 

 distances, while the others were left no other retreat but the pathless deserts border- 

 ing on their native country. There are no species which, Uke Blan, have established 

 themselves in every country. A great number are confined to the tropical parts of Asia 

 and Africa, others solely to the warm districts of America. Some are seen onlv in 

 the Arctic regions; another animal world opens before the voyager towards the 

 South pole. Blany islands have their own pecuHar creation; and even some chains 



