136 
F. M. CAMPBELL-ON - INSTINCT. 
Sense of Dikection. 
There are many authenticated accounts of animals returning 
home after their removal, by a circuitous route or even by water, 
to a great distance. I know of a puppy which was taken from 
Bury in Lancashire, to Liverpool, and thence conveyed by steamer 
to Dumfries. There it was fastened to a carrier’s cart, in order 
to be taken to its destination. The dog, however, slipped its 
collar, and returned, after an absence of two months, to Bury— 
a distance of about 130 miles. Bomanes states that he could 
fill pages with letters received from all parts of the world as to 
similar performances by “ dogs, cats, horses, asses, cows, sheep, 
goats, and pigs.” * * * § The same author remarks that “ it is certain 
that in many cases, if not as a general rule, the animals on their 
return journey do not traverse the exact route which they had 
taken in the outgoing journey, but take the ‘bee-line’; so that, 
for instance, if the outgoing journey has been made over two 
sides of a triangle, the return journey will be made most probably 
over the third side.” f This power of “ homing ” is frequently 
termed “a sense of direction.” Prairie-hunters and wild races 
display this faculty to a considerable degree when they return 
by a straight line to their camp after chasing the bison, etc.; and 
some hunters and guides attribute this accomplishment to having 
“ unconsciously kept ” all the “ turns ” in their mind.;j; Bomanes, 
writing on this subject, states: “There are only two hypotheses 
open to us whereby to meet the facts. First, it has been thought 
possible that animals may be endowed with a special sense enabling 
them to perceive the magnetic currents of the earth, and so to 
guide themselves as by a compass. There is no inherent impos¬ 
sibility attaching to this hypothesis, but as it is wholly destitute 
of evidence, we may disregard it. The only other hypothesis 
is that animals are able to keep an unconscious register of the 
turns and curves taken in the outgoing journey, and so to retain 
a general impression of their bearings.” § 
B 
Bow let us suppose that a hunter on leaving his home A, takes 
a straight course to a spot B, where he turns (say at a right angle) 
and proceeds then in a straight line to a spot C. He will have 
described two sides of a triangle ABC, but the knowledge of the 
exact size of the angle ABC would not enable him to take 
* ‘ Mental Evolution,’ p. 289. f lb ., p. 290. 
f ‘ Brain as an Organ of the Mind,’ p. 215. Quoted in'tkis work from a letter 
dated from Kansas. 
§ ‘ Mental Evolution,’ p. 291. 
