SECT. I.] TEACHINGS OP EXPERIENCE. 271 



when filled. Now, though we would not deny that the un- 

 civilized man, overcome in a similar manner by sensual desire, 

 does not reap all the fruit of his experience ; still, it would be 

 difficult to catch men in so simple a manner as are the 

 monkeys. 



We must not, however, estimate too lightly what animals 

 really learn from experience. The mysterious word f ' instinct" 

 conceals, in the psychical life of animals, more intellectuality 

 and less mechanism than is usually assumed. We would ad- 

 duce as a proof the important fact, that the known phenomena 

 which we are accustomed to ascribe to an instinctive fear of 

 man, are probably the result of experience, be it from a tra- 

 dition unknown to us, from a kind of instruction given by 

 the parents to the young, or that later generations have by 

 nature become more cautious and shy, whilst their progenitors 

 became so by experience. We are led to this view by the 

 conduct of animals in countries which were never inhabited by 

 man. All kinds of birds, says, Darwin, 1 not excluding birds 

 of prey, are, on the Galapagos islands, perfectly tame, all 

 may be approached so near as to be struck or caught. Accord- 

 ing to Cowley and Dampier (1684), they seem formerly to have 

 been still more confiding. Even on the Falkland islands, 

 where there are falcons and foxes, the same observation has 

 been made. It is, however, different as regards birds of pass- 

 age, who have acquired experience in other countries. On 

 Possession Island (Victoria Land), the penguins appeared in- 

 clined to obstruct the progress of the crew of Capt. Boss. 3 In 

 Kordofan, the birds are less shy if the sportsman appears in a 

 dress different from that worn in the country. 3 



On comparing man with the brute in this respect, the 

 teachings which he derives from experience, are not only more 

 comprehensive, but they exercise a deeper influence on the 

 whole formation of his external and inner life, and enable him 

 to occupy a dominating position even in the lowest state of 

 civilization. Just as the civilized man conquers the savage, 



1 " Naturalists' Voyage/' chap. xvii. 



2 " Voyage in the Southern and Antarctic regions," i, p. 189, 1847. 



3 Pallme, Beschr. v. Kordofan," p. 153, 1843. 



