INTRODUCTION. 33 



in the breasts of individuals and of very many and 

 is only prevented from bursting out by these restrain- 

 ing forces has, unfortunately, been sufficiently shown by 

 terrible outbreaks of violence, both private and public, 

 under special circumstance?. Long centuries of peace and 

 of usages, or political and social arrangements, directed to 

 tho common peaceful happiness and prosperity of all, will 

 alone be able gradually to eradicate this terrible propensity 

 or instinct of man's nature, largely developed by the inheri- 

 tance of thousands of years, and thereby create a better and 

 a happier world than the present. But a longer pursuit of 

 this theme and of the weighty thoughts surrounding it would 

 lead us too far beyond the scope of this work ; before 

 passing to this we will, therefore, only say a few words on 

 the importance of information on animal intelligence to those 

 Societies for the Protection of Animals, now so fortunately 

 established and flourishing. These societies are one of the 

 fairest signs of the humanity that rules to-day, although, on 

 the other hand, it seems sad that they should still be needful, 

 when six hundred years before Christ, the thoughtful creed of 

 Buddha taught the same principles, and preached gentleness 

 and kindness to animals no less than to man ; nay, it even 

 made it one of the duties of the faithful to build hospitals, 

 not only for sick men but for sick animals. Christendom 

 and Christian philosophy started from an entirely different 

 point, making a division, a tearing apart, of soul and body, 

 of man and animals, and necessarily thence arrived at prin- 

 ciples of harshness and cruelty towards the latter. But the 

 very existence of these societies proves that the better con- 

 science of man struggles against such views : it proves that 

 man does not see in animals mere breathing and vivified 

 machines, driven by instinctive propensities, but that he 

 recognises in these his brethren ; to put it shortly, men to- 

 day are better than their religion. 



The results of these societies would, however, be much 

 greater if knowledge of animals and of their intellectual life 

 were fuller and better. Unfortunately, this knowledge, both 

 in respect to wild and tame animals, is still very poor and 

 imperfect, partly because very few have the opportunity of 

 themselves studying and observing animals, partly because 

 the perverted views of philosophers on the subject have 

 turned people's heads. Those who know animals really and 



