78 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



There is another matter of great importance to animals, 

 and must be practised in youth — attention. 



This is indispensable for every animal. How could 

 an inattentive animal escape its enemy, or how would 

 a carnivore discover and catch its prey without this 

 quality! The cat watches with the most strained 

 attention before the mouse - hole. It sits crouched 

 waiting for the appearance of its victim, all its muscles 

 ready for the unfailing spring and the joint stroke of 

 the paws. 



When there is no serious occasion for attention, 

 and it is practised in play, as it were, we call it 

 "curiosity." We see this often enough in animals. 

 The essence of it is that the animal sees a strange 

 object, and wants to learn what it is. Often enough 

 an excessive curiosity leads to the death of the 

 observer ; it is well known that one can frequently 

 draw quite close to a marten on a tree and shoot it 

 without it making an attempt to escape, owing to 

 its curiosity at the unusual appearance. Generally, 

 however, curiosity is an impulse of great service to 

 an animal. It is from curiosity that the young animal 

 familiarises itself with its environment, and learns 

 to distinguish between what is good and what is 

 injurious. 



We might instance quite a number of other kinds 

 of play, but will bring the discussion to a close. We 

 have, in particular, made no mention of a whole large 

 division — love-play. This, however, is not properly 

 play, because it does not serve for the animal to 

 practise some serious future activity, but is a serious 



