Mental Processes in Animals. 339 



gestive value, but smells and odours must, one would 

 suppose, be built into the constructs in a far larger pro- 

 portion. But although their constructs may not closely 

 resemble ours, the constructs of animals may, I believe, 

 be fairly regarded as closely analogous to our own. And 

 as with us, so with them, a comparatively simple and 

 meagre suggestion may give rise, through association in 

 experience, to the construction of a complex object. And 

 again, as with us, so with them, the suggested construct 

 may be very vague and indefinite. 



A dog, for example, is lying asleep upon the mat, and 

 hears an unfamiliar step in the porch without. There can 

 be no question that this suggests the construct man. But 

 from the very nature of the case, this must be vague and 

 indefinite. So, too, when a chamois, bounding across the 

 snow-fields, stops suddenly when he scents the distant foot- 

 prints of the mountaineer, the construct that he forms 

 cannot be in any way particularized — no more par- 

 ticularized than is to me the sheep that I hear bleating 

 in the meadow behind yonder wall. 



And no one is likely to question the fact that animals 

 habitually proceed from this first stage — the formation of 

 constructs by immediate association — to the second stage 

 of construction — the defining of constructs by examination. 

 In many of the deer tribe, notably the prong-horn of 

 America, this tendency is so strongly developed that they 

 may be lured to their destruction by setting up a strange 

 and unfamiliar object which, as we put it, may excite their 

 curiosity. A strange noise or appearance will make a dog 

 uneasy until he has by examination satisfied himself of 

 the nature of that which produces it. Of this an instance 

 fell under my observation a few days ago. My cat was 

 asleep on a chair, and my little son was blowing a toy 

 horn. The cat, without moving, mewed uneasily. I told 

 my boy to continue blowing. The cat grew more uneasy, 

 and at last got up, stretched herself, and turned towards 

 the source of discomfort. She stood looking at my boy for 

 a minute as he blew. Then curling herself up, she went 



