243 
i88o.] The Rate of Animal Development. 
apes, and indeed all other young animals, inherit from their 
forefathers a latent knowledge of the use of their organs, 
which is called into activity as soon as their muscular and 
nervous systems are sufficiently developed, the same holds 
good of the human infant. 
Of course it would be unfair to demand of such men as 
Prof. Whewell that before theorising and dogmatising they 
should go forth to the forests of Borneo in search of fadts. 
As for Davy, his splendid achievements in chemistry may 
cover his failure in biology. But surely every man in 
Europe, though he may never have met with infant apes, 
must have seen how kittens, when beginning to walk, totter, 
stagger, and roll over just like young children; how they 
pat at, and endeavour to touch, objedts beyond their reach ; 
and how, even after the fore legs have gained a considerable 
degree of firmness and obey volition, the hinder extremities 
remain feeble, and are often for a time trailed helplessly 
along. Thus, then, we see that in the Mammalia, instead 
of man standing alone, sharply contrasted to the rest of the 
class, he merely occupies one extremity of a series towards 
the other end of which stand our much-talked-of friends 
the lamb and the foal, whilst the carnivorous animals and 
the apes occupy intermediate positions. Some very plain 
reasons why this should be the case will follow in due 
course. 
But what are the fadts concerning birds ? Are they all 
able, as soon as hatched, to diredt the beak with perfedt 
accuracy, to seledt suitable nourishment, and to flutter about 
awaiting merely the growth of their wing-feathers before 
they can take flight ? Davy’s “ Ornither ” must have been 
either a wilful sophist or a most egregious goose. Had he 
been an accurate and conscientious observer he must have 
been aware that what he predicates of birds in general is 
true, in any sense, merely of the Gallinse, Grallse, Anseres, 
and Struthiones, and assuredly not of the Passeres, Picarise, 
Columbse, Psittaci, and Raptores. Did any of the authors 
to whom we have been referring, before indulging in plati- 
tudes on young ducks, ever take the trouble to “ consider 
young hawks, young thrushes, or young canaries ? Had 
they done so thev would have seen that such nestlings, 
instead of being able to “ diredt the beak with the greatest 
accuracy,” can merely sit in the nest with open mouth 
waiting to be fed ! A young canary, so far from being able 
to stand or walk, seldom fails to break its legs if startled 
and induced by fright to attempt leaving the nest. Such 
fadts as these are known to every bird-fancier, nay, we 
