Reason and Instinct. 5461 



more of this power of abstraction than he seems willing to concede to 

 them, the difficulty, if any exists, of establishing a claim, on their part, 

 to the possession of powers of composition and comparison greater 

 than those laid down and defined in the preceding extracts will be 

 greatly lessened. 



To proceed, then : and, in the outset, for the object of the simplifi- 

 cation afforded of a somewhat hard word, quite as much as for anything 

 else, I extract a few T sentences more from a volume already quoted 

 (Brodie, p. 168) : " Now, taking it for granted that Abstraction can 

 mean nothing more than the power of comparing our conceptions 

 with reference to certain points to the exclusion of others; as, for in- 

 stance, when we consider colour without reference to figure, or figure 

 without reference to colour; then 1 do not see how we can deny the 

 existence of this faculty in other animals, any more than in man 

 himself." 



I will next take tw r o or three recorded instances of sagacity or 

 intelligence on the part of the dog or some other animal, and, with 

 their assistance, try the question of abstraction or no abstraction. 



" The sagacity of the animal, as shown in the following incident, 

 will be better understood if we consider that it is probable this dog 

 had never before seen an instance of similar danger from fire, and had 

 never before contemplated fire in any other form than as an useful 

 contrivance for his own and his master's comfort. In the spring of 

 the year 1845, a mastiff dog, in Cornwall, having discovered that the 

 roof of his master's house was in flames, ran in doors howling dis- 

 mally, and, pulling at the garments of the inmates, urged their retreat 

 from the building ; and, hurrying out of the house, howled again and 

 directed their attention by his looks to the flaming roof." (' Illustrations 

 of Instinct,' p. 189). Again ; a friend of Mr. Jesse's " had been reading 

 a newspaper in bed, w 7 ith a candle near him, and had fallen asleep. 

 A favourite terrier always slept in the room w r ith him, and he was 

 awoke by the dog scratching him violently with his fore feet. Thus his 

 life was probably saved, for he was in time to call for assistance, and 

 prevent the house being burnt." (Jesse's ' Gleanings,' i. 236). These 

 two instances, and I have a variety of others at command, sufficiently 

 establish the possession, by certain brutes, of the faculty or power of 

 abstraction. If it were not by the idea of danger that the actions of 

 these two dogs were motived, by what were they ? Not simply by the 

 unusualness of the appearances they observed, for dogs do not act thus 

 if they see a much fiercer conflagration than was to be beheld in the 

 flaming roof or blazing newspaper and bed-linen. Indeed,no commonly 



