Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-09-05

Animal is Aiifed WITH, Human In.
| telljgence.
The London Times contains tie followins
Animal Intelligence. ;" read at the lste meet
ing OF the British Association:
MT homaneS began his DISCOURSE by cliSSl-
| Hing Ideas under the categOries OF soactete
anu abstract-a concrete idea being tine mem
oIy OF some particular perception, and an alb
ShaSt ioea me mental abstraction of qualities
which whole group of objects may agree In
| possessing. Abstract ideas he divided isto
simple and complex-simple abstract ideas.
sneh as that Of food, being formed without the
within the logic OF feelings" while somnleS
ABSTRACT ideas can only be formed by The help
81 :lo WORDS and are thus comprised MitAn the
function of language win find that it is i'm.
possible to over estimate its imp )rtance as
thus the handmade of thought. After ex
turer gave 1t as his opinion that this fun
damental principle Of mental action is
merely an diverse expression of the most
fundamental principle Of nervous action, viz.
that which Psychologists call reflex. For 1t may
be granted that series OF nervous discharges
taking place through the same group of nerv-
eurrence of the same series of ideas; aud 1t
may be further granted that the previous
passage OF a series of nervous discharges
through any group OF nervous arcs, by making
the route more permeable. will have The effect
of making subsequent discharges pursue the
same course when started from the same
granted, it follows that the tendency of ideas
t. recur in the same order as that in which
they have previously occurred is merely
psychological expression of the physiological
fact. that lines of reflex discharge become
more and more permeable by use. But all re-
heX action, even in the brain, is not accom-
panied by location. 1t is only cerebral dis
charges which have occurred comparatively
St ldom, and the passage of which is there
fore comparatively slow. that are thus
accompanied. Haoitual actions become
thought. And this latter fact is important,
because 1t serves to explain the origin of num-
Intelligence" Thus DIR. Allen Thomson in
formed MIR. Romanes that he once Matched
out chickens on carpet, and they showed no
tendency TO scrape until he supplied them
with the customary stimulus in the form OF
Gravel Sprlnkled on the carpet. Yet, for aught
that they can have known from individual
experience, there was as good chance of
finding seeds in tle carpet as in the gravel
The Scraplng instinct. therefore, which was
no doubt originally of an intelligent nature IS
thus seen to have now become by repetition
through successive generations purely auto
matte. But animal instincts may also arise in
another way, for they may never have been of
an lhtelligent character, but may have begun
as merely accidental adjustments and have
been laid hold upon by natural selection. Thus
Mr. Darwin has put into the lecturers hands
number of his hitherto unpublished obServa-
tons on the
"sHAMMING DEAD" OF INSECTS,
ana theSe observations go To show that the
attitude In which the insects sham death does
not resemble the attitude IN which they really
die. All, therefore, that this instinct amounts
10 is that OF remaining motionleSS land there
lore lnconsplcuous) in the presence of enc
mics; and this instinct may easily have been
developed by natural selection without ever
having been of an intelligent nature. Passing
on from general principles to review of the
facts OF comparative psychology, Mr.. Romanes
stated that the first animals in which intelli-
gence. properly SO called, had as yet been OBJ
served to occur are the insects, as proved by
fllp he cnfN Mr.
Lubbock on bees and ants. These obSerya
tons show that insects can esta bsh aSsOcia-
tons OF ideas more rapidly than can the lower
vertebrate for the experiment of Prof. No
bus proved that pike requires three months
to learn the position Of sheet of glass in its
tank, and when once the association is estab-
though the sheet of glass should be taken
away. From which, said the lecturer,
we! we see ZEE that l;d pike is very slow In form
Informing them Qaughter); thus resembling
many respectable members of higher com,
munity, who spend One-half Of their lives in
fathers, and through the rest of their lives
stick to these Ideas as to the only possible
truths Laughter.) They can never learn
tition daughter and applause. Mr.. Rom Rom mes
then showed that animal intelligence, so far as
it goes, is Identical with human intelligence
malintelligence is unable to elaborate that
class OF abstract ideas the formation of which
depends on the faculty of speech. But, so far
as the logic OF feelings can carry them animals
are quite as able to form abstract ideas as we
are. In order to prove this point, Mr.. ROmaneS
detailed number OF his own observations
and experiments, which showed that animals
have generaliZed conception of cause and ef-
feet, uniformity, ETC.; that they also present
the faculties of judgment and of reason was
maintained on the strength Of several extra
ordinary facts which had been communi-
Gated to Mr.. ROmanes by DR.. Rea. Passing on
to
THE EMOTIONAL LIFE OF ANIMALS,
he observed that although the emotions are
here vivid and easily excited, they are shallow
and tranSitOry. From his own observations
he concluded that all the following emotions
the higher animalS-fear, affection, passion
ateness, pugnacity, jealousy, sympathy, pride,
reverence, emulation. shame, hate, curiosity,
Some remarkable facts which he detailed as
having himself observed in the case of an in.
teligent terrier, which had never been beaten,
also led him to believe that In this animal there
was unmistakable evidence of the faculty of
conscience. The concluding portion Of the
intelligence with that Of savages, young child
rem, idiots, and uneducated deafmutes. 1t
was sought to be shown that among low saw
approximates to that Of the higher animals.
With regard to children, it is to be expected on
the theory of evolution that the order in
which their mental faculties develop should
be condensed epitOme Of the order in which
these faculties were developed during the evO-
luton of the human species. And he narrated
number OF facts to prove that this eXpecta-
ton is realized. Similarly he has devoted
much time and labor to the study of idiot
psychology. A large number of facts and
observations were given as having been
ELECTED by his inquiry, and they all tended to
the conclusion that IN idiots We have natural
experiment wherein the development of a hu-
man mind is arrested at some particular
stage, while the body is allowed to continue
its growth. Therefore, by arranging idiots in
descending grade, We obtain, as 1t were, an
inclined plane of human intelligence which
indicates the probable order in which the hu-
man faculties have appeared during the his
tory OF their development, and on examining
this inclined plane of human intelligence we
find that it runs SuggeStively parallel with the
inclined plane Of animal intelligence. The
last branch OF his subject which Mr.
ROmanes treated was that concerning the
mental condition Of uneducated deaf mutes.
He shaved, by facts which hS had collected in
this connection, that, in the absence of Ian
guage, or of any definite system OF signs, the
mind OF man Is almost on a level with that of
a brute In respect of its power of forming
abstract ideas. The lecturer thought that all
Our lines OF evidence converge to one conclu-
sion; the only difference which analysis can
show to obtain between the mind of man and
| the lower animals consists in this-that the
Iind of man has been able to develop the
| germ of rational thought, which is undeVel-
| DUaQ in the mind Of animals. and that The