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LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 



his own circle of information or observation), which indi- 

 cate a comparatively high degree of reasoning power. 

 Who has not observed the intelligence of those Dogs which 

 lead the blind through crowded thoroughfares and danger- 

 ous places, always awake, not to their own comfort, but to 

 the safety of their unconscious masters ? Montaigne has 

 seen one of these Dogs along the ramparts of a town leave 

 a smooth and Uniform path and take a worse, in order to 

 lead his master from a too close proximity to the edge. 



M. Fred. Cuvier, in his highly interesting description of 

 an Orang, brought to France by M. Decaen, makes the fol- 

 lowing statement. After alluding to its love for its owner, 

 he says : " This principle of affection generally induced our 

 Orang to seek the society of those persons with whom it 

 was acquainted, and to shun solitude, which was at all 

 times displeasing to it. On one occasion it exhibited for 

 this purpose a very remarkable degree of intelligence. It 

 was kept in a small room off a large saloon, usually occu- 

 pied by the members of the family, and had frequently 

 been observed to mount a chair which stood contiguous, 

 for the purpose of unbolting the door and joining the rest 

 of the company. At length the chair was removed to a 

 distant corner of the room for the express purpose of pre- 

 venting the intrusion • but scarcely had the door been shut 

 than it was again opened, and the Orang was seen in the 

 act of descending from the identical chair, which he had 

 carried back again to its old situation, to enable him to 

 mount up to the height of the bolt. It is certain that 

 the animal had never been taught to act in this manner, 

 nor had he ever seen others do so ; the whole affair was the 

 result of his own natural reason, and differed in no respect 



