XT 
A BEAVER’S REASON 
NE of our well-known natural historians thinks 
that there is no difference between a man’s 
reason and a beaver’s reason because, he says, when 
a man builds a dam, he first looks the ground over, 
and after due deliberation decides upon his plan, and 
a beaver, he avers, does the same. But the difference 
is obvious. Beavers, under the same conditions, 
build the same kind of dams and lodges; and all 
beavers as a rule do the same. Instinct is uniform 
in its workings; it runs in a groove. Reason varies 
endlessly and makes endless mistakes. Men build 
various kinds of dams and in various kinds of places, 
with various kinds of material and for various kinds 
of uses. They exercise individual judgment, they 
invent new ways and seek new ends, and of course 
often fail. 
Every man has his own measure of reason, be it 
more or less. It is largely personal and original with 
him, and frequent failure is the penalty he pays for 
this gift. 
But the individual beaver has only the inherited 
intelligence of his kind, with such slight addition as 
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