100 
of the occasional manifestation of superior intelligence in 
brutes. One instance is that of a lobster, who was observed 
to drop a pebble between the shells of an oyster in order to 
keep them apart while he extracted the edible portion ; 
another is that of an ant, who, finding himself alone in a pot 
of treacle suspended by a string from the ceiling, climbed up 
the string, and having rejoined his companions, reconducted 
them to the treacle by the same route ; the third instance is 
that afforded by the great social intelligence of the bee. 
But the bee, and the ant, and the lobster are all without 
the pale of the Vertebrata. The difference in structure 
between either of these animals and the Quadrumana is 
incomparably greater than the difference in point of intel- 
lectual value between any one of the above-mentioned in- 
stances of sagacity, and the highest manifestations of intel- 
ligence that have ever been recorded of the gorilla, or the 
chimpanzee. Are we not justified, then, in throwing aside the 
notion that the intelligence of the lower animals varies 
according to their structural approximation to man ? It may 
be urged that the Quadrumana, who more closely resemble the 
human species in physical conformation, surpass most other 
animals in point of intelligence. But much of the intellectual 
reputation of the monkey is unquestionably due to the 
possession of a highly developed hand. This hand, with 
which he was evidently furnished with a view to his habitual 
residence in trees, enables him to break sticks and throw 
stones, and to perform other actions which are, as a rule, 
peculiar to humanity. Combined with his general resemblance 
to man, the possession of this prehensile member further 
enables him to manifest in a more human-like manner a 
quality for which I have been unable to find a more scientific 
term than sportiveness a quality which is remarkable as 
having no apparent relation to the ascertained objects of 
animal existence, but which cannot be regarded as a proof of 
the mental superiority of the Quadrumana, inasmuch as it is 
found to a certain extent in nearly all quadrupeds. Ho one 
who has observed the gambols of a kitten can doubt but that 
if it had the hands of a monkey, its buffoonery would be of an 
equally intellectual order ; but when the kitten has grown into 
a cat, and when, as we may suppose, its intelligence has in- 
creased, we no longer find the playfulness which the monkey 
retains to an advanced age. Moreover this quality is more 
characteristic of the lower than of the higher Quadrumana. 
We may therefore dismiss this hypothesis of the co-ordina- 
tion of a mental and physical gradation as untenable ; and in 
doing so we clear the road, in regard to the psychological 
