100 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



cock. We may, if we choose, call these actions instinctive; but 

 such cases are much too rare for the development of any special 

 instinct." I have myself seen a dog, who never passed a cat who 

 lay sick in a basket, and was a great friend of his, without giving 

 her a few licks with his tongue, the surest sign of kind feeling in 

 a dog. 



It must be called sympathy that leads a courageous dog to 

 fly at any one who strikes his master, as he certainly will. I 

 saw a person pretending to beat a lady, who had a very timid 

 little dog on her lap, and the trial had never been made before; 

 the little creature instantly jumped away, but after the pretended 

 beating was over, it was really pathetic to see how perseveringly 

 he tried to lick his mistress's face, and comfort her. Brehm'" 

 states that when a baboon in confinement was pursued to be 

 punished, the others tried to protect him. It must have been 

 sympathy in the cases above given which led the baboons and 

 Cercopitheci to defend their young comrades from the dogs and 

 the eagle. I will give only one other instance of sympathetic 

 and heroic conduct, in the case of a little American monkey. 

 Several years ago a keeper at the Zoological Gardens showed me 

 some deep and scarcely healed wounds on the nape of his own 

 neck, inflicted on him, whilst kneeling on the floor, by a fierce 

 baboon. The little American monkey, who was a warm friend of 

 this keeper, lived in the same large compartment, and was dread- 

 fully afraid of the great baboon. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw 

 his friend in peril, he rushed to the rescue, and by screams and 

 bites so distracted the baboon that the man was able to escape, 

 after, as the surgeon thought, running great risk of his life. 



Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities 

 connected with social instincts, which in us would be called moral; 

 and I agree with Agassiz" that dogs possess something very like 

 a conscience. 



Dogs possess some power of self-command, and this does not 

 appear to be wholly the result of fear. As Braubach" remarks, 

 they will refrain from stealing food in the absence of their mas- 

 ter. They have long been accepted as the very type of fidelity 

 and obedience. But the elephant is likewise very faithful to his 

 driver or keeper, and probably considers him as the leader of 

 the herd. Dr. Hooker informs me that an elephant, which he was 

 riding in India, became so deeply bogged that he remained stuck 

 fast until the next day, when he was extricated by men with 

 ropes. Under such circumstances elephants will seize with their 



» As Mr. Bain states, "effective aid to a sufferer springs from sym- 

 "pathy proper;" 'Mental and Moral Science," 1868, p. 245. 

 16 'Thierleben, B. i. o. 85. 

 10 'De I'Espece et de la Classe," 1869, p. 97. 

 " 'Die Darwln'sche Art-Lehre,' 1869, s. 54. 



