Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-04-12
INSTINCTS THAT ARE LOST.
Or Is Man Really Heir of All the Facul-
ties of the Animal Kingdom

ties of the Animal Kingdom?
II the doctrine be true tina. man is real
" the heir of all the various species and
genera of the animal kingdom, it seems
n little hard upon us that, even b way of
exception, we inherit none Of the most
marvellous instincts Of those species and
genera, and have to he content with
those greater but purely human faculties
by which ever the most wonderful of the
animal instincts have been somehow ex-
tinguished. Sir John Lubbock maintains
with a good deal of plausibility that there
are insects, and very likely even higher
animals, which perceive culors Of which
we have no glimpse, and hear sounds
which to us are inaudible. Yet we never
hear of n human retina that includes in
its vision those colors depending on yibra-
tons of the ether which are too slow or
too rapid for u ordinary ewes, nor Of a
human ear which is entranccd with mu-
sic that TO the great majority of our
species is absolutely inaudible. Again,
we never hear Of a human being who
could perform the feat of which w were
told only the other day in a bloodhound.
In a dark night it followed up Sr three
miles the trail of a thief with whom the
bloodhound could never have been in
contact (he had just p%urloined some rolls
of tan from the lanyard in which the dog
was chained up), and finally sat down
under the tree in which the man had
taken refuge.
Why. we wonder, are those finer pow
ers Of discriminating and following the
track Of a scent which so many of the
lower animals possess, entirely extin-
guisled in man, if man be the real heir
Of all the various genera which show
powers inferior to his own: We see no
trace in animals Of that Nigh enjoyment
Of the finer scents which make the bios
soming Of the spring flowers so great a
delight TO human beings, and vet men
are entirely destitute of that almost IN
erring power Of tracking the path of an
odor which seems TO he one of the princi-
pal gifts Of many quadrupeds aud some
birds. IL is the same with the power Of
a dog or cat TO find its way back 10 a
home to which it is attached, but from
which it has heen taken by a route that it
cannot possibly follow ON its return. even
if it had the power Of observing that
route. which usually it has not had.
Nothing could be more convenient than
such n power to a lost child. But no one
ever heard of any child who possessed it.
Still more enviable is that instinct pos
sessed by so many birds of crossing great
tracts Of land and sea without apparently
any landmarks or seamarks TO guide
them, and of reaching a quarter Of the
globe which many of them have never
visited before. while those who have
visited it before have not visited it often
enough to learn the way-at least, by any
rule which, in like circumstances. would
be of any use TO human intelligence. The
migratory birds must certainly lie in pos
session of either senses or instincts en-
tirely beyond the range Of human imag-
ination, and vet no one ever heard of the
survival Of such a sense or instinct in any
member of our race. II may be said. in
deed, that men have either inherited or
reproduced the slave making instinct of
some Of the military ants, though that
unfortunate and degrading instinct does
not appear to have been inherited by any
Of her higher animals which intervene
between the insects and our own race;
but this only enhances the irony of our
destiny, if we do, indeed, in any sense
inherit from these insect aristocracies one
Of the most disastrous instincts Of the
audncious but indolent creatures which
fight so much better than they work. II
we have not inherited the architectural
instincts Of bees or beavers. nor the spin
ming instincts Of spiders. nor. the power
of the dog o. track ont lis home. il is a
little sad that we should have inherited
the one disastrous instinct of the ant by
which it makes itself dependent ON more
timid and industrious species of its own
race, and thereby loses the power L help
gself.
What is still more curious is that even
whore human beings have wholly excep-
tiunal and unhcard Of powers they hctray
~ traces Of the exceptional and unheart
OF powers uf the races whose vital organi.
Zali0n W" are said % inherit. The
occasional appearance of very rare math.
cmalirUl powers, for instance. 50 fan
from hring in any soI,e ~oNplicallc from
below, looks much more like ius,iration
from above. IA" calculating boy VIII,
could not ven give any account Of the
process whereby he arrived at correct
results whlC! thr educated mathematician
took SOuc tune to verify, certainly wa,
not rcviying in himself any 81 Tho rar,
powers Of the lower tribes Of animals
Nor 10 the prolig.es in music who show
such marvellous power in infancy recall
TO us any instinct Of the bird. the onl,
musical creature except ourselves. Still
less, Of course, does great moral genius
the genius Of a Howard or a Clarkson
suggests any reminiscence Of what haI
pens in the world Of animal life
Spectator.
The Moor on "a IIousn Top.