164 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
profound as the faculty manifested by young children and some of the 
lower races of men, whose most abstract reasoning always relates solely to 
their material wants. 
In his book entitled Mind in the Lower Animals, the most elaborate work 
that has appeared upon the subject, Dr. Lauder Lindsay has followed out 
this line of research in a most complete fashion. Commencing with a general 
consideration of the principles of investigation of the subject of 1 Comparative 
Psychology,’ he points out the causes of erroneous notions upon this matter, 
and the method of study to be pursued, discusses the gradual evolution of 
mind in the ascending zoological scale, and certain other general matters, 
winding up with a very curious chapter on unsolved problems in the 
psychology of the lower animals. Proceeding then to the normal manifesta- 
tions of mind in the lower animals, he indicates at starting that he must 
compare these not with the phenomena presented by adult cultivated people, 
but with the intellectual manifestations observed in ‘ early states or stages of 
human society, as illustrated by primitive or savage man', and with 1 the 
infant or child of civilized parents,’ adding to these, however, idiots, insane 
people, criminals, with certain other conditions of men, cited for special 
purposes. It will be seen that Dr. Lindsay lays a very wide foundation for 
his arguments, but for practical purposes the first two categories, namely, 
the representatives of savage races, and the children of civilized peoples, are 
of the most importance, and indeed figure most prominently in all sections 
of the work. In these the author analyses and compares successively the 
mental phenomena of man and other animals under the heads of Morality and 
Religion, Education, Language, Adaptiveness, and Fallibility — the last named 
including the discussion of instances of errors committed by animals, deceptions 
practised and practical jokes performed by them; whilst under Adaptiveness 
we have notices of a peculiar series of phenomena, such as social organization, 
the existence of something like law and punishment, the use of instruments, 
clothing and shelter, the faculty of numeration and power of calculation. 
It will be seen from this bare enumeration of subjects how thoroughly 
Dr. Lindsay has entered into the matter before him, and the multitude of 
citations which he makes throughout this portion of his work bears testimony 
to the conscientious labour which he has bestowed upon its preparation. If 
we were bound to find fault with it, we should say that it is too elaborate : 
the author seems to have aimed at saying everything that can be said on the 
subject, and in consequence dwells with what seems to be a rather unneces- 
sary circumstantiality upon points which might perhaps have safely been in- 
dicated and then left to take care of themselves. 
The outcome of the whole discussion is, we think, a complete demonstra- 
tion of the absolute identity in kind of . the normal mental manifestations of 
the lower animals with those presented by savage tribes and by the children 
of civilized peoples ; but our author is not contented with this, and in a 
second section of his work goes on to show an almost equally close analogy 
between the abnormal mental phenomena in man and animals. There is 
much that is exceedingly curious and interesting in this part of his book, in 
the preparation of which the special attention paid by the author to insanity 
in the human subject has stood him in good stead ; but the view maintained 
by him follows so naturally from the demonstration of the identity of the 
