Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-04-22
INSTINCTS THAT ARE LOST.
Or Is Man Really Heir of All the facui-
ties of the Animal Kingdom?

ties of the Animal Kingdom?
II the doctrine be true thas man is real
ly the heir Of all the various species and
genera OF the animal kingdom, it seems
a little hard upon us that, even by way of
exception, we inherit none OF the most
marvellous instincts of those species and
genera, and have TO lie content with
those greater but purely human faculties
by which even the most wonderful of the
animal instincts have been somehow ex-
tinguished. Sir John Lubbock maintains
with Il good deal of plausibility that there
are insects, and very likely ever higher
animals, which perceive colors Of which
we have no glimpse. aud hear sounds
which to us are inaudible. Yet we never
hear Of a human retiua that includes in
its vision those colors depending on vibra-
tons Of the ether which are too slow or
too rapid for orr ordinary eyes, nor of a
human ear which is entranced with mu-
sic that 10 the great majority of our
species is absolutely inaudible. Again,
we hear Of a human being who
could perform the feat of which we were
told only the other day in IA bloodhound.
In a dark night it followed up for three
miles the trail of Il thief with whom the
bloodhound could never have been in
contact (he had just %purloincd some rolls
Of an 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-
guished 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 high 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 un-
erring power of tracking the path Of an
odor which seems 10 he one Of the princi-
pal gifts Of many qnndrupels aud some
birds. Ii is the same with the power Of
a dog or cat TO find its way back to a
home 10 which it is attached. but from
which il has been taken by 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 a power TO a lost Child. But no one
ever heard of any child who possessed it.
Still more enviahle is that instinct pos
sesscd 10y so many birds of crossing great
tracts Of land and sea without apparently
any landmarks or seamarks 10 guide
them, AMI Of reaching n quarter Of the
globe which many Of them have never
visited before, while those who have
visited it before have not visited ii often
enough 10 learn the way-at least, by any
rule which. in like circumstances. would
lie Of any use TO human intelligence. The
migratory birds must certainly he in pos
session Of either seuSes or instincts en-
tircly beyond the range Of HUMAN imag-
nation. and yet no M ever heard of the
survival of such a sense or instinct in any
member OF our race. 1t NAV be said. I'M
deed, that men have either inherited or
reproduced the slave making instinct of
some Of the military ans. though that
unfortunate and degrading instinct does
not appear to have been inherited bv 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
audacious but indolont creatures which
fight 50 much better than they work. If
we have not inherited the architectural
instincts Of Ices or beavers. nor the spin
ming instincts OF spiders. nor the power
Of the dog 10 track cut its home. il is n
little sad that we should have inherited
the one disastrous instinct of the ant bv
which 1t makes it.clf dependent on a more
timid and industrious species Of It's own
race and thereby loses the power to help
| itself.
What is still more curious IS that even
where human beings have wholly rycca.
tional and mheard of power they lctray
no races of the exceptional and uHheard
spf powers Of the races whose vital organi-
zpti0n we are slid L. inherit. Tie
occasional appearance or very rare malh.
rmulieul power, for instance. 80 far
Grum hging in any sense cyplicaLle from
lo'ow, lGahs mrch more Ike inspiration
froA above, The calculating 10y who
cua.l MT even give ans account Of the
process whereby be prriyol at corleQG
r-Cll wh.cttlc educated mathematician
took s'ra" limn to verify, certainly Wa
/ rBr 1ryfEir. i'm him.. pf4,r az fE, mrs,
powers Of the lOwcr tri,r7 If animals.
Nor 90 the Frodigics in music who show
such marvellous power in Infancy recall
10 Us any instinct IL the bird, the only
musical creature except ourselves. SIN
less, IL cuure dos gryat moral pnius,
the genius o. a Howard or n GARRISON.
suggests any rCmiuiscpucr Of what hap
| 80. l.. IL. .u--LL - -----l l. L.