WAYS OF NATURE 
to his mind, for he has none, but by impressions 
upon his senses. 
“Leopards, panthers, and jaguars are all trained 
in much the same manner,” and in putting them 
through their tricks one invariable order must be 
observed: “Each thing done one day must be done 
the next day in exactly the same way; there must 
be no deviation from the rule.” Now we do not see 
in this fact the way of a thinking or reflecting being, 
but rather the way of a creature governed by instinct 
or unthinking intelligence. An animal never learns 
a trick in the sense that man learns it, never sees 
through it or comprehends it, has no image of it in 
its mind, and no idea of the relations of the parts of 
it to one another; it does it by reason of repetition, 
as a creek wears its channel, and probably has no 
more self-knowledge or self-thought than the creek 
has. This, I think, is quite contrary to the popular 
notion of animal life and mentality, but it is the con- 
clusion that I, at least, cannot avoid after making 
a study of the subject. 
Il. AN ASTONISHED PORCUPINE 
One summer, while three young people and I 
were spending an afternoon upon a mountain-top, 
our dogs treed a porcupine. At my suggestion the 
young man climbed the tree — not a large one — 
to shake the animal down. I wished to see what the 
dogs would do with him, and what the “ quill-pig” 
242 
