THE MAMMALIA— MAN AND BEASTS. 
55 
Dog, at a tolerable distance from each other, and tliat the Dog kept continually 
moving round the circle. When giving an answer ho carried successively to his 
master all the letters which composed the proper word or phrase, and he did the same 
thing with the card on which a visitor thought. The mancouvre, as far as the Dog 
was concerned, resolved itself merely to bringing objects. Wc can easily suppose 
that the animal, passing slowly from letter to letter, and touching each piece with his 
muzzle, would go on until his master would make the sign which meant “ Fetch 
The Dog would immediately seize that particular letter and bring it to his master, 
and thus entire seatences might be formed without any understanding of their mean- 
ing on the part of the Dog. It was curious to find out the sign which the master 
had invented for the Dt»g, and it was considered by AI. Feuillet, librarian to the 
Institute, and several other members of the Academic des ScienceSi to consist in a 
gentle tick of his nail ; for it was observed that the master usually kept one of his 
bauds covered by the other, or behind his back, or else in his pocket, to conceal the 
motion. On listening very attentively, tlioy heai'd this sound every time that the 
Dog passed by the letter necessary to form the required word. It would be im- 
portant to know the plan of instruction adopted by the master in teaching the Dog to 
obey a sound almost imperceptible to an unpractised car; but this it was bis interest 
to conceal with the utmost care. 
An instance is related by AI. Arago, the celebrated astronomer, which induced him 
to believe that Dogs know the diifurence between justice and inju.stice (du juste ct 
de I’injustc), yet we cannot help thinking that the facts do not quite warrant the in- 
ference drawn by that eminent Natural Philosopher. Several years ago, when about 
four leagues from AloiitpoUicr, he was detained by a storm in an indifferent country 
inn. Nothing could bo had for dinner except a single fowl, and this was ordered to bo 
placed on the spit. The spit was attached to a large hollow wheel into which the 
Dogs were made to enter, and to turn it round by their weight and motion. One of 
the Dogs was in the kitchen, and the innkeeper attempted to seize him ; but the 
animal hid himself, showed his teeth, and refused to go into the wheel at the com- 
mand of his master. M. Arago, surprised at this, inquired thc3 cause ; he was 
answered, “ The Dog knows it is his comrade’s turn.” The “ comrade” was sent 
for at his request, and as soon as the animal arrived, at the first sign made by the 
cook, he entered the wheel and turned it round for about ton minutes. Wishing now 
to try the first Dog, tho philosopher stopped the wheel, and ordered them to put 
the animal in which had formerly refused. This Dog being now convinced, according 
to M. Arago, that his turn had arrived, at once entered the wheel, and continued 
there till the fowl was roasted. 
A similar anecdote is related of four black Alatin Dogs which turned tho wheel in 
the Jesuits’ College of La Flcche. These Dogs, it was said, always knew tlieir turn of 
service, and invariably revolted, as if against an evident injustice, whenever they were 
ordered into the wheel out of their proper course. M. du Petit-Thouars, who pass- 
ed La Fleche in 1767, after the Jesuits were expelled, had this story told of tho 
College Dogs by several inhabitants, who had witnessed the fact. 
We must, however, refuse to assign moral qualities, or the faculty of discerning 
right from wrong, to these lower animals, if the above phenomena admit of being ex- 
plained on the common principles of habit, or the association of ideas. When a Dog 
has long been accustomed to perform a disagreeable office every fourth day, he will 
come in the course of time to know hia particular day of service, and a more frequent 
demand will naturally excite his resentment. To assign moral qualities to the lower 
animals is a very popular error, atui we are inclined to suspect that these eminent 
philosophers allowed themselves to be deceived by the ambiguous language of tho 
country people. It is a common circumstance to see a Dog, after having committed 
some fault for which he has often been punished, enter the room slowly and sneak 
into a corner; some one then observes, “ lie knows he has done wrong.” In 
this case, the Dog only infers that tho same action will be followed by tho same 
punishment; or, in other words, lie reasons from analogy. But this is far from en- 
titling him to the rank of a moral being, or one capable of distinguishing right from 
wrong; and it is plainly unphilosoplucal to multiply tho Alental powers of animals, 
if the ordinary operations of intelligence ore sufficient to explain all tho facts hitherto 
authenticated. 
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE MAMMALIA CONTINUED. 
Individual modijications are seldom transmitted to posteritf/ — Connate modijica- 
tions gcneralfi/ are transmitted — Varieties in the external forms of Wild and 
Domesticated Mammalia, 
Although the original and constitutional powers of animals remain the same under all 
circumstances, wc have now seen that they may undergo some very considerable mo- 
difications. It has also been shown that, in many instances, these acquired cliarac- 
ters are transmitted to posterity. The latter conclusion has been doubted by several 
Naturalists, who are inclined to eonsidcr these acquired characters as resulting either 
from the principle of Imitation, the influence of situation, or a combination of those 
causes. It has been asserted that no modification, induced after birth in the intelli- 
gent powers or instincts of an animal, is capable of being transmitted to its olTspring, 
*nd that all transmitted powers must he connate, that is, imparted with the vital ex- 
istence. With the human race there must always be an extreme difficulty in ascer- 
taining how for those hereditary characters, so often observed to prevail in particular 
families, are tlie result of physical coustitution or of Imitation and situation; hut it 
IS abundantly evident that tlie acquired properties of the lower animals axe sometimes 
transmitted to posterity. Tho races of Babbits wliicb wholly lose their Instinct of 
burrowing fioro confinement; — tho young Foxes of thickly-peopled countries which 
inherit the acquired cunning of their parents; — the young Bointers which set game 
naturally and without any previous instruction; — and the excessive timidity of young 
Lap-Dogs, whose parents have been long In tho company of timid females; — arc in- 
stances of this fact. Further, wc have, in tho docility of those races which have long 
been domesticated, an evident proof that the modifications of the eai'Ucr-tamed ani- 
mals were transmitted to posterity, while the Apes of Sumatra, which have not this 
transmitting power, are wholly incapable of yielding domestic races. 
It must, however, be carefully observed, that animals do not transmit to their 
posterity all their acquired modifications. On the contrary, it is only a very small 
number of acquired habits or alterations which are thus transmitted to their descen- 
dants. Nearly all those arts which a well-trained Dog has acquired perish with the 
individual, and the process of edmtation has to be recommenced with the pup. The 
reverse takes place with tho other kind of modifications which arc properly connate, 
or born with the animal; for the latter are very frequently inherited by their descen- 
dants, and the instances of their not being so transmitted are by no means numerous. 
Thus, tho artificial modifications of Instincts and Intelligence sometimes become here- 
ditary; but connate modifications usually arc so. The latter is remarkably the case 
in Alan. “ We see,” says Dugald Stewart, “ one race, for a succession of genera- 
tions, is distinguished by a genius for the abstract sciences, while it is deficient in 
vivacity, in imagination, and in taste; another is no less distinguished for wit, gaiety, 
and fancy, while it appears incapable of patient attention or of profound research.” We 
have many remarkable instances of the transmission of connate varieties, in the intel- 
lectual qualities of the several races of Dogs. No care or education will induce those 
qualities in the stupid Greyhound, which we find in the intelligent and docile Water- 
Spantcl. 
Some species have an inherent tendency to produce ihese connate modifications of 
intelligence ; but unless care is taken to preserve them free from foreign admixture, 
they soon become blended in the mass of average talent usually found in the species. 
Hence connate modifications of Intellect may be cither original or transmitted. 
The first stupid Greyhound, as well as the first intelligent AVator-Spanicl, might have 
been descended from a pair of average talent; and these qualities, which were ori- 
ginal connate modifications when they first appeared, have become transmitted con- 
nate modifications in our present races. 
But the changes which the Alammalia are capable of undergoing arc not confined 
solely to their Intelligent powers. We see that their external forms arc also modified, 
and that this sometimes happens to a degree so great, as to render it a matter of con- 
siderable difficulty to ascertain whetlier the animals, so altered by circumstances, be- 
longed originally to the same or to different species. These changes are induced by 
causes which may affect the individual only, or they may also alter the Offspring. 
The same law is observed in the changes of c.xtcrnal form as in tlie modifications of 
Intelligence and Instinct ; and while the individual varieties which are induced after 
birth arc but rarely transmitted to posterity, tho connate varieties give rise to most 
of those permanent alterations which distinguish the several races. 
Wc sec no instance of connate variety,” observes Dr Prichard, “ however 
trifling, which does not manifest a tendency to become hereditary and permanent in 
the race. White animals with red eyes produce offspring resembling themselves, 
and tho stock will retain its character permanently as long as no intermixture is suf- 
fered to take place. The progeny of black animals have tho sable hue of their 
parents. On this account, black Rams are always killed in this country, and never 
suffered to remain with the floclcs. In other countries black Sheep are preferred, 
and arc bred up, while the white, when that variety springs up, are destroyed; ac- 
cordingly, the general colour of the flocks is black. All the other varieties, as is well 
known, have a tendency to hereditary transmission. We may observe, that the dis- 
position to variation is more frequently shown in some species than in others, and 
requires the agency of less powerful causes to excite it into action. Tho tendency to 
hereditary descent also is different, both among tho animal and vegetable species. For 
in some species of the latter class, varieties are observed to reappear in the plants 
produced from the seed, and to continue constantly in the stock, resembling in this 
l)articular the nature of animal varieties. On tho other hand, some species of animals 
approach to the capricious character of the vegetable kinds, and the variations which 
arise in them evince little tendency to become permanent.” 
It may be proper to recall to the memory of the student, the definition already 
given of the terra Species, All animals are said to be of the same species, when 
they are descended one from another, or from common parents, or from others re- 
sembling them as much as they resemble each other. On the other hand, all those 
differences which arc found among animals, sprung from the same original stock, arc 
termed Varieties. 
The most superficial characters are always the most liable to variation: The 
colour of tho hair depends greatly on the quantity of the light, — -the thickness of the 
fur upon the degree of heat, — the size and corpulence of the animal upon the 
quantity of food, jointly with the degrees of temperature and moisture. Often the 
variations of colour are wholly connate, and can be traced to no external cause. 
Among the wild animals, these variations are very much limited by the natural 
propensities of the animals themselves, as they never willingly ramble to a great dis- 
tance from those localities where they find a convenient supply of all tho things 
necessary for tho maintenance of their species. Their migrations are therefore 
limited by the circumstances which unite ail these conditions. Thus, tho Wolf and 
the Fox inhabit every latitude from the frigid to the torrid zones, yet they scarcely 
undergo any alteration, through all the changes of climate, except a greater or less 
ilegree of beauty and richness in their fur. The variations are still less among those wild 
animals, especially Carnassiers, which arc confined within a small geographical range. 
A thicker mane forms the solo dift'crence between the Ilysena of Persia and that of 
Alorocco. These variations would be confined within still narrower limits, if the 
wild animals were at hberty to choose their own localities. But from tho earliest 
ages, they have been hunted by Alan, or by the more formidable Carnassiers, and ex- 
iled from their native haunts. Some have been driven into unfavorable situations * 
those possessed of a sufficient flexibility of form have extended their range to remote 
distances, while the others were left no other retreat but the pathless deserts border- 
ing on their native country. There ai'c no species whicli, like Alan, have established 
themselves in every country. A great number are confined to the tropical parts of Asia 
and Africa, others solely to the warm districts of America. Some oi’c seen only in 
tho Arctic regions ; another animal world opens before the voyager towards the 
South pole. Alany islands have their own peculiar creation; and even some chains 
