ANIMAL AND PLANT INTELLIGENCE 



a slow process that no man has witnessed or can 

 witness. Strike out the element of time, and we see 

 it as we see the stalk bring forth the flower, or as 

 we see the grub metamorphosed into the butterfly. 

 We turn smoke into flame by supplying the fire 

 with a little more oxygen. Has any new thing been 

 added ? What is added to transmute animal intel- 

 ligence into human seems to be only more oxygen 



— more of that which favors mental combustion 



— more brain matter and a finer nervous organiza- 

 tion. 



Ill 



We translate the action of bird and beast into 

 human thought just as we translate their cries and 

 calls into human speech. But the bird does not 

 utter the words we ascribe to it, it only makes a 

 sound that suggests the words. So its behavior is 

 not the result of thought, but it is such as to suggest 

 thought to a thinking animal, and we proceed to 

 explain it in terms of thought. 



We see a crow approaching a bit of meat upon 

 the lawn in winter and note his suspicion. He 

 circles about and surveys it from all points and 

 approaches it with extreme caution, and we say he 

 suspects some trap or concealed enemy, or plot to 

 do him injury, when in fact he does not consciously 

 suspect anything or think anything; he is simply 

 obeying his inborn instinct to be on the lookout for 

 danger at all times and in all places — the instinct 

 16a 



