FACTORS IN ANIMAL LIFE 
If they have not, they probably will. Eating is the 
one thing that engrosses the attention of all crea- 
tures, and the procuring of food has been a great 
means of education to all. 
I notice that certain of the wood-folk — mice and 
squirrels and birds —eat mushrooms. If I would 
eat them, I must learn how to distinguish the edible 
from the poisonous ones. I have no special sense to 
guide me in the matter, as doubtless the squirrels 
have. Their instinct is sure where my reason fails. 
It would be very interesting to know if they ever 
make a mistake in this matter. Domestic animals 
sometimes make mistakes as to their food because 
their instinct has been tampered with and is by 
no means as sure as that of the wild creatures. It 
is said that sheep will occasionally eat laurel and 
St. John’s-wort, which are poisonous to them. In the 
far West I was told that the horses sometimes eat a 
weed called the loco-weed that makes them crazy. 
I have since learned that the buffaloes and cattle with 
a strain of the buffalo blood never eat this weed. 
The imitation among the lower animals to which 
I have referred is in no sense akin to teaching. The 
boy does not learn arithmetic by imitation. To teach 
is to bring one mind to act upon another mind; it is 
the result of a conscious effort on the part of both 
teacher and pupil. The child, says Darwin, has an 
instinctive tendency to speak, but not to brew, or 
bake, or write. The child comes to speak by imita- 
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