INTRODUCTION. 7 



of friendship for him. Yet, if Descartes be right, that is 

 exactly the absurdity committed by all those who believe 

 that their dog is faithful to them and loves them. I see 

 how my dog runs to me when I call him, caresses me when 

 I coax him, trembles and runs away when I threaten him, 

 obeys when I order him, and how he exhibits all the out- 

 ward signs of the distinct emotions of joy, grief, pain, fear, 

 desire, love, and hate. " And if all the philosophers in the 

 world should come and try to convince me, I should never 

 be able to persuade myself that an animal is a machine ; 

 this feeling will always set men against the philosophy of 

 Descartes." 



The great fable-teller, La Fontaine, has made fun of the 

 Cartesian theory of animal-machines in several admirable 

 poems (the fables of the two rats, the fox and the egg). 



Descartes, however, found his most distinguished oppo- 

 nent in the French Inspector of Forests, G-. Leroy, who, in 

 consequence of his office in the royal gardens and forests 

 at Marly and Versailles, had good opportunities of observ- 

 ing dogs and wood-animals. In the time of Leroy and 

 Buff on, the question of the intelligence of animals had been 

 for a hundred years and more a question of pure philosophy 

 and speculation ; it only entered into the circle of experi- 

 mental observation with these two investigators. The first 

 letters of Leroy who was one of the famous French Ency- 

 clopaedists on the intelligence and perfectibility of animals, 

 were published in 1764, under the name of a " Nuremberg 

 Physician ;" Leroy at that time would have been in danger 

 of a prosecution by the Sorbonne, had he sought to prove 

 that animals were not mere machines, but that they possessed 

 all the marks of reason and improveability, as well as of 

 feeling, thought and prudence. Want and need, fear and 

 danger, and so on, are, with him, the guiding springs of the 

 intellectual development of animals, which, as for example 

 the wolf, communicate with each other, often hunt in 

 packs, discover snares and utilise experience. With use, 

 says Leroy, reason grows in animals, and the capacity of 

 employing their minds ; there is a very great difference 

 between a young and an old wolf or fox. The young 

 animals, partly from lack of reflection and experience, 

 partly from overmastering timidity, commit a number of 

 mistakes which the old ones avoid. The dog especially, 



B 2 



