THE DESCENT OB OBiaiN OF MAN 107 



ing to Houzeau,'* they do not then look at the moon, but 

 at some fixed point near the horizon. Houzeau thinks that 

 their imaginations are disturbed by the vague outlines of the 

 surrounding objects, and conjure up before them fantastic 

 images: if this be so, their feelings may almost be called 

 superstitious. 



Of all the faculties of the human mind, it will, I presume, 

 be admitted that Reason stands at the summit. Only a few 

 persons now dispute that animals possess some power of rea- 

 soning. Animals may constantly be seen to pause, deliber- 

 ate, and resolve. It is a significant fact, that the more the 

 habits of any particular animal are studied by a naturalist, 

 the more he attributes to reason and the less to unlearned 

 instincts.*' In future chapters we shall see that some ani- 

 mals extremely low in the scale apparently display a certain 

 amount of reason. No doubt it is often difficult to distin- 

 guish between the power of reason and that of instinct. For 

 instance, Dr. Hayes, in his work on "The Open Polar Sea," 

 repeatedly remarks that his dogs, instead of continuing to 

 draw the sledges in a compact body, diverged and separated 

 when they came to thin ice, so that their weight might be 

 more evenly distributed. This was often the first warning 

 which the travellers received that the ice was becoming thin 

 and dangerous. Now, did the dogs act thus from the ex- 

 perience of each individual, or from the example of the 

 older and wiser dogs, or from an inherited habit, that is, 

 from instinct ? This instinct may possibly have arisen since 

 the time, long ago, when dogs were first employed by the 

 natives in drawing their .sledges; or the Arctic wolves, 

 the parent-stock of the Eskimo dog, may have acquired 

 an instinct impelling them not to attack their prey in a 

 close pack, when on thin ice. 



We can only judge by the circumstances under which 



" "Facult^s Mentales des Animaux," 1812, torn. ii. p. 18l. 



" Mr. L. H. Morgan's excellent work on "The American Beaver," pub- 

 lished in 1868, ofEers a good illustration of this remark. I cannot help thinking, 

 bowever, that he goes too far in underrating the power of Instinct. 



