IX 



DO ANIMALS THINK AND REFLECT? 



HEN we see the animals going about, living 



y ▼ their lives in many ways as we live ours, 

 seeking their food, avoiding their enemies, building 

 their nests, digging their holes, laying up stores, 

 migrating, courting, playing, fighting, showing cun- 

 ning, courage, fear, joy, anger, rivalry, grief, profit- 

 ing by experience, following their leaders, — when 

 we see all this, I say, what more natural than that we 

 should ascribe to them powers akin to our own, and 

 look upon them as thinking, reasoning, and reflect- 

 ing. A hasty survey of animal life is sure to lead to 

 this conclusion. An animal is not a clod, nor a block, 

 nor a machine. It is alive and self-directing, it has 

 some sort of psychic life, yet the more I study the 

 subject, the more I am persuaded that with the 

 probable exception of the dog on occasions, and of 

 the apes, animals do not think or reflect in any proper 

 sense of those words. As I have before said, animal 

 life shows in an active and free state that kind of 

 intelligence that pervades and governs the whole 

 organic world, — intelligence that takes no thought 

 of itself. Here, in front of my window, is a black 



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