154 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



these was dangled loosely outside the rails. In ar 

 instant the monkey had snatched it, and had fled 

 chattering with it to the foot of his tree. I expected 

 to see him examine it curiously, and perhaps break 

 it in pieces, as is the way of monkeys. Buc no ; 

 he had a more deliberate aim. Advancing on aU 

 fours to the limit of his chain, and with tfie stick 

 stretched out in his hand, he proceeded, amid the 

 greatest excitement among the other monkeys, to 

 rake in, one by one, the titbits which had accmnu- 

 lated, hitherto beyond reach. Although there was 

 nothing new to me in the act, for I had previously 

 lived with and studied monkeys at close quarters, I 

 shall not forget the effect for the moment on my 

 mind, and on the minds of some of the spectators 

 as I saw it reproduced in their faces. Had not the 

 zoologists been right in placing the monkey among 

 the primates ? Here was something more than 

 mere animal instinct. Was not this an example of 

 mind conquering the duU tsrranny of things as they 

 are, and the first tool-using animal emerging beneath 

 our eyes ? 



It has been my experience to be able to study 

 animal instincts and animal intelligence, both in the 

 lower and higher animals, in many conditions, for 

 a period now extending over more than twenty 

 years. Deep and lasting, on the whole, has been 

 the impression left as to the results of animal 

 instincts. Nevertheless, it yields place to a deeper 

 feeling as to the character of the enormous interval 

 which separates the highest example of animal 

 instinct from even such a simple act of inteUigence 

 as that recorded above. The most permanent 

 result of my own studies in animal capacities has 



