NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



471 



structural characters which differentiate him. In this respect 

 there is some clue to the cryptic remark made by Cardinal 

 Newman, and quoted by the authoress : " That we know less of 

 animals than of angels." Shall we ever reach the position of 

 ceasing to describe mankind alone as constituting "our fellow- 

 creatures " ? 



In human history, full of "wars and rumours of war," it 

 seems strange to find that there have always been sages and 

 thinkers who have advocated the view that we should use 

 animals as our helpers, but should refrain from taking life. 

 It is quite a novelty to be referred on this point to Plutarch, and 

 the Countess has done good service in extracting from " the 

 formidable depths of the Moralia " sufficient to prove " that 

 Plutarch traversed the whole field of speculation on animal 

 intelligence." From the Adi Granth, or Sacred Book of the 

 Sikhs, we find a quotation from Baba Nanak that reminds us of 

 a subsequent well-known couplet in the 1 Ancient Mariner ' : — 



" He who towards every living thing is kind, 

 Ah ! he, indeed, shall true religion find ! " 



In all the great faiths of humanity we find injunctions to the 

 same effect, though often little followed by the faithful, and on 

 this point the student may well agree with a quotation of the 

 authoress : " He who knows but one religion knows none." 

 Through these ancient fields and the mazes of folk-lore the 

 Countess leads us with no uncertain step in a volume which is 

 suggestive to the last degree. The subject, however, is after all 

 somewhat of an academic one ; we heartily grant the premise 

 that all life is sacred, even when starting for a happy day's 

 angling ; as zoologists we gloat over the skins of slain birds and 

 mammals which give us a knowledge of still more species, and 

 enable us to further understand the intricacies of animal distri- 

 bution. But we can at least rise to higher things in refusing to 

 believe that other animals are automata, and we can study 

 animal psychology apart from a too strongly pronounced anthro- 

 pomorphic standpoint. 



There is little to criticise. The " wolf of Agobio," on p. 257, 

 is referred to on p. 258 as the "wolf of Gubbio " ; while the 

 story of the Saint of Assisi and the Cicada requires revision. 

 The injunction of Francis, u Sing, my sister Cicada," and the 



