i8So.] 
( 339 ) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
“ INSTINCT AND MIND.” 
To the Editor of The Journal of Science. 
Sir, — In an article in your last month’s issue, bearing the above 
title, the writer, Mr. S. Billing, advances as a distinction between 
instinct and mind that the former is “ tribal,” i.e ., common to an 
entire species, variety, or breed. Thus, speaking of different 
kinds of dogs, he says, “ The aptitude of each is tribal ; the gaze- 
hound has not the instinCt of the pointer, or the shepherd’s dog 
that of the retriever.” Again — “ The tribal characteristic is 
found in the habits of wild animals ; particular species of birds 
have the same constructive instinCt ; and whenever a variation 
occurs in a particular species or variety, each member of the 
class practises the same peculiarities.” Now if we are to under- 
stand from these passages that all the individuals of any given 
species or variety stand on the same level in point of intelligence, 
I must, in the name of all who have closely examined the doings 
of the lower animals, pronounce Mr. Billing’s view utterly at 
variance with faCts. Different breeds of dogs have, of course, 
peculiarities in common, just as have different races of men. 
But within each race there occur individual variations in saga- 
city, just as we find it to be the case in our own species. Thus 
all shepherd’s dogs are to a certain extent similar as contrasted 
with pointers or retrievers. But to assert that one shepherd’s 
dog is equal in intelligence to every other shepherd’s dog is a 
statement not merely devoid of all foundation, but contrary to 
distinCt observation.* These animals differ among themselves 
as decidedly, though not to the same extent, as do men. Every 
now and then we meet with a “collie ’’who far surpasses the 
common run of his kindred in perception of what is wanted, and 
in the variety and extent of his resources. On the other hand, 
there are stupid collies who are almost worthless to their em- 
ployers. Similar distinctions between individuals are daily 
traced in all species with which man comes so closely in contaCt 
that he is able to observe them with any approach to accuracy. 
It is well known that when monkeys of any particular species 
* We took a very similar position in our critique on Mr. Billing’s imtercsting 
work “ Scientific Materialism.” See Journal of Science for 1879, p. 66<j.. 
