WAYS OF NATURE 



to his mind, for he has none, but by impressions 

 upon his senses. 



"Leopards, panthers, and jaguars are all trained 

 in much the same manner," and in putting them 

 through their tricks one invariable order must be 

 observed: "Each thing done one day must be done 

 the next day in exactly the same way; there must 

 be no deviation from the rule." Now we do not see 

 in this fact the way of a thinking or reflecting being, 

 but rather the way of a creature governed by instinct 

 or unthinking intelligence. An animal never learns 

 a trick in the sense that man learns it, never sees 

 through it or comprehends it, has no image of it in 

 its mind, and no idea of the relations of the parts of 

 it to one another; it does it by reason of repetition, 

 as a creek wears its channel, and probably has no 

 more self-knowledge or self -thought than the creek 

 has. This, I think, is quite contrary to the popular 

 notion of animal life and mentality, but it is the con- 

 clusion that I, at least, cannot avoid after making 

 a study of the subject. 



II. AN ASTONISHED PORCUPINE 



One summer, while three young people and I 

 were spending an afternoon upon a mountain-top, 

 our dogs treed a porcupine. At my suggestion the 

 young man climbed the tree — not a large one — 

 to shake the animal down. I wished to see what the 

 dogs would do with him, and what the " quill-pig " 

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