610 The Reasoning Faculty of Animals. [ August, 
deep water, it would drown miserably in a few minutes; they be- 
gin to grow accustomed to the water at the end of three or four 
months by degrees, and it takes a pup about three weeks’ practice 
at the surf margin before it can handle its flippers properly in the 
water.” Here instinct is out of the question, for to be that, the 
ability to swim would be manifested almost at birth. 
We have granted that some animals are possessed of instincts, 
but we deny that these are implanted by divine agency, and con- 
tend that they come into existence in obedience to natural laws. 
We contend also that outside of these instincts proper, animals of 
all classes, from insects! up to monkeys, perform acts which are 
certainly analogous to those performed by the human mind, and 
which ought to rank with the reason of man. Reason, we are 
told, is the power by means of which one proposition is deduced 
from another, and of forming a conclusion from known premises. 
Now if it could be proved that animals are possessed of feelings 
of love, hate, jealousy, grief, kindness, memory, and many other 
human traits; that they can distinguish right from wrong; if it 
could be proved that they are capable of drawing conclusions 
from known premises; and that they can and do follow out 4 
train of reasoning; then it would be proved beyond all peradven- 
ture that they do have reason, and to a very marked degree. 
There are thousands of anecdotes relating to all classes of the 
animal kingdom showing in a greater or less degree the reason- 
ing faculty. It is obviously impossible to give anything like all 
of them here, and a few of the more striking and relating to the 
principal classes, will serve to point our moral and adorn our 
tale. 
Of the Articulates, the Crustacea are considered low in the 
scale, yet instances showing reason are recorded of them. Dar- 
win? tells us of a shore crab’ seen in Brazil by Mr. Gardiner. The 
animal was making its burrow in the sand, and Mr. G. threw some 
shells toward it. One of them rolled in, and three others lodged 
on the edge. The crab in about five minutes, brought out the 
shell, and carried it off about a foot and dropped it. Returning 
1 Lindsay in his « Mind in the Lower Animals” says that even in the Protozoa 8° 
find manifestations of purpose. That, in fact, all the orders of the Invertebrata ead 
possessed of intelligence, foresight and reason to a greater or less extent. This 15 
especially the case with ants. 1, pp. 52-68. 
? Descent of Man, tst ed., 1, $256 
