260 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 



perhaps if he were given the choice he would remain a 

 ' hummel ' ^ for the rest of his career. But noblesse 

 oblige; and by the time the hunter's moon is at the 

 full he will be as proudly attired as ever. 



XLVI 



Many capable brains have been baffled in the 

 Animal attempt to define the frontier line between 

 inteuigence jngti^jt ^^(j reason, and far, very far, am I 

 from claiming to contribute fresh material towards a 

 settlement ; yet the enigma has such chronic attraction 

 for all who give sympathetic attention to animated 

 nature, and the phenomena of animal behaviour are 

 so engaging, that I venture to pass some comment on 

 such evidence as has been collected, and to speculate 

 on the direction in which scientific opinion seems to be 

 trending. 



The problem has resolved itself into three main 

 branches : — 



1. Are animals, other than man, born, and do they 



continue through life unconscious automata ? 



2. If they are conscious, are their consciousness and 



intelligence the physical product of certain 

 chemical and organic changes taking place in 

 the growth of the egg, embryo, or young creature, 

 and therefore spontaneous in the sense that 

 muscle, bone, and blood develop by the spon- 

 taneous multiplication of cells ? 



3. Is the conscious intelligence exoteric ? In other 



' The technical term for a bornlesB stag. 



