A Deer's Bill of Fare. 



209 



achieves. The prophetic soul then broods on things to 

 come. The deer having gathered the carefully selected 

 ingredients of his feast from far and near, may be said at 

 this time to begin to realize the full satisfaction of a 

 delicately selected menu. The service rendered to man 

 by fire is no greater than that contributed to the deer's 

 enjoyment by the partial digestion of his food and the mar- 

 velous change into something rich and strange. Indians in 

 a crude v^ay pay tribute to this alchemy. Certain tribes 

 of the Southwest carefully save the contents of the deer's 

 stomach and highly esteem this as an article of diet. The 

 long-sustained accomplishment of this function v^ith the 

 deer must give them satisfaction v^hich v^e can only 

 crudely guess at. With all of man's ingenuity, he has 

 never been able to accomplish this exact sort of sustained 

 pleasure. 



Mr. Edison is quoted as saying that all inquisitive and 

 intelHgent races and individuals crave a great variety in 

 their food, and that this circumstance affords a good test 

 of mental activity. A stupid person is content v^ith a 

 monotonous diet, getting his satisfaction mainly from the 

 amount consumed ; one more quick-witted craves greater 

 range and novelty. Mr. Edison is reported to have ex- 

 pressed the desire "never to see the same dish twice." 

 Applying this test to other representatives of the animal 

 kingdom, we have found that the deer evinces great curi- 

 osity and discrimination in regard to the variety of its 

 food. The range of its likes and dislikes is a wide one, 

 and in this respect reveals a creature of versatility. St. 

 Paul found the Athenians always "eager to hear or to tell 

 some new thing"; they also loved novelty and variety. 

 This breadth of interest in the deer, so far as the matter 



