THE DESCENT OS ORIGIN OF MAN 09^ 



of the intelligent work done by man is due to imitation and 

 not to reason ; but there is this great difference between his 

 actions and many of those performed by the lower animals, 

 namely, that man cannot, on his first trial, make, for in- 

 stance, a stone hatchet or a canoe, through his power of 

 imitation. He has to learn his work by practice ; a beaver, 

 on the other hand, can make its dam or canal, and a bird its 

 nest, as well, or nearly as well, and a spider its wonderful 

 web quite as well, ° the first time it tries, as when old and 

 experienced. 



To return to our immediate subject: the lower animals,- 

 like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and 

 misery. Happiness is never better exhibited than by young 

 animals, such as puppies, kittens, lambs, etc., when playing 

 together, like our own children. Even insects play together, 

 as has been described by that excellent observer, P. Huber,' 

 who saw ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like 

 so many puppies. 



The fact that the lower animals are excited by the same 

 emotions as ourselves is so well established that it will not 

 be necessary to weary the reader by many details. Terror 

 acts in the same manner on them as on us, causing the mus- 

 cles to tremble, the heart to palpitate, the sphincters to be 

 relaxed, and the hair to stand on end. Suspicion, the off- 

 spring of fear, is eminently characteristic of most wild ani- 

 mals. It is, I think, impossible to read the account given 

 by Sir E. Tennent, of the behavior of the female elephants, 

 used as decoys, without admitting that they intentionally 

 practice deceit, and well know what they are about. Cour- 

 age and timidity are extremely variable qualities in the 

 individuals of the same species, as is plainly seen in our 

 dogs. Some dogs and horses are ill-tempered, and easily 

 turn sulky; others are good-tempered; and these qualities 

 are certainly inherited. Every one knows how liable ani- 



* For the evidence on this head, see Mr. J. Traherne Moggridge's most 

 intereating work, "Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders," 1873, pp. 126, 128. 

 ' "Reoherches sur les Moeurs des Fourmis," 1810, p. 173. 



