Ellsworth American., 1865-05-26

The Intellect Of Animals.

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A Frcnchmah named Tousssncl has
written . book TO prove that animals
think. II il called L'Espris des Befes,
and reviewer in tho London Spectator
writes:
"Looking at tho fsur-feoted species
from civilized point Of view, tho author
divides them 6rst into two great and OBJ
vious classes, domestic and wild. The
former he divides into auxiliary and do
mestic proper. The species auxiliary to
man, his iellow-laborers, are the dog. the
horse, the ass, the mule, the hcdomcstic rum
inants, the cat and the ferret. Purely
domestic are the pig,thc goat, the sheep,
the guinea pig and rabbit, The wild an
imals, again, he subdividcs into those
which ought to be preserved and those
which should be destroyed. The former
comprise, the wild boar, the stag, the fol-
low-deer, the roebuck, the chamois, wild
goat and isard, the hare, wild rabbit, &C.,
aud, among others the wolf.
A pARIAH OF BEASTS,
"But the fox, according to N. Tousscn-
tsl's idea, is to be destroyed, because he
was Of all time the emblem of infamy-bc-
cause when Christ complained that He
had not where to lay His head, the fox
had hole, and because now, when tho
wrctched paupcr is starved to death, tho
fox is the pampcrcd pet ofthe English ar
istocrat as Viscount Ilardinge tcstifies.
But though NJ. Toussencl brings these
terrible counts against the fox, it is plain
that in the midst of his we'll simulated
hatred there is a ,neaking love for tho
clever beast, whom be describes with a
zest little short Of genius. We shall only
pick one point out Of this wonderful chap.
ter. namely, about the relative dignity Of
the fox, wolf and dog. The wolf and dog
belong to the noble caste, formed by ma.
turc for war and govcrnmcnt--thc wolf,
indeed, as a bandit and fllbustcr, the dog
Us emblem of the soldier and poIice-thc
former being the symbol Of revolution, the
latter of order. But the fox is the par
iah OF the genius. And yet mark the les
son thereby conveyed. why askcs NJ
Tousscncl, why does the fox lead a mar
risd life and the dog not?' | shall no,
wait, the author says. until the Institute
answers my question, for should proba.
bly, have to wait long time; and yet
the answer is plain. The fox lives in
wcdlock and not the dog. Why? Be-
cause there are men born to marry and
men who are born to single life. The
dog does not marry because he is exclusi.
vcly east it the mould OF ambition aud
friendship thas is to say, because he ha.
q destiny of devotion and social useful
ness to accomplish, and because it suits
not the interests of man. king Of the
globe, that dog should be distraught in
bis occupations of q superior order by the
cares OF family. Dog must be ready
to follow man in all places, at all hours,
ready to shed his blood to the last drop
in his service. :. Great geniuses and
great founders have no wives, because
they cannot be hampcrd by family ties.
Married men make bad soldiers. :.
And therefore tho fox, from whom man
can dcrivc little use in the imbelishhcnt
and improvement Of the globe, may mar.
ry without doing much harm to humanity
Let foxes and shopkeepcrs marry, says NJ
Tousscncl, and they are all thieves togeth.
or. But although the fox is matrimoni-
ally inclined he is not homogeneous. Ills
marriage lasts during the education OF his
family only. When all his children are
started in life the tie is dissolved, and he
is free to contract new alliance. Then,
again the fox in single life is an honest
fellow. it is only when they marry that
foxes and shopmen begin to cheat and
steal. So says Nj. Tousscnel.
ToUssENEL ON TIE DOG.
"For the dog NJ. Toussoncl has an af.
fcction bordering upon animal Worship
10 the dog he thinks man owes the first
rudiments Of civilization. And by this
token without the dog man could never
have kept sheep, which was clearly the
FIRST step in civilization. Upon this topic
he says quantity enough, l know no more
crushing condemnation Of our actual phase
than the tiny minority Of animals We have
been able to civiize. The impotence oi
the civilized man to rally round him all
the beasts of the field is, in fact, the most
geometrical demonstration Of the subser.
sive character Of civilization = And he
adds as his reason, because the immense
majority Of tho animal species have beon
created to lovo man and servo him, and
the secret ambition Of almost all is to al
ly themselves to their legitimate sovereign
although hitherto the deg is perhaps the
only one who has had the courage to act
upon his own opinion But this is not
all. The East il the cradle of civiliza-
ton because the East is the cradle Of the
dog. Take away the dog from the East
aud what have you left !? another Ameri-
ica the Roman, the Greek, the Egyptian,
tho Chinese. are nothing better than Az.
toes (Mexicans) and Peruvians The dog
alone constitutes the whole superiority OF
the kast over tho West. For what, in.
deed it may be asked, is the result Of tho
whole intellectual effort Of the Mohican
To track game. Now a young bandy-log-
ged terrier knows as much about it in six
months as the most intelligent savage at
thcend Of lifetime. The natives OF
the East who had the dog were thus dis
pensed from the physical drudgery which
absorbed the time and energies Of the red
skins. They had surplus time left to Gre
ate new industries. Hence the origin OF
art3 and hanlierafts. Hence the differ
enca botycon tho old and new worlds"