Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-03-23
- PoreEs o. anfnaIs.

Reasoning Powers Of Animals
The photographers who possess pos
ing cats train them 60 sit on the camera
30 amuse babes These cats invariably
succeed IN making the babes laugh.
smile, cry. or look interesting, accord
ing as the parent wishes the child to
appear IN the photograph. It is well
known that neither the PHOTOGRAPHER
nor his assistants can often accomplish
these results with infants The trained
cats are more learned In this particu-
lar than the human being. Puss en-
JOYS a course of training which fits her
for her occupation, Just as the college
trains the youth for his. The I'M
trained cat, and an animal which does
not reason cannot be trained, cannot do
this work any more than the unframed
man can practice law. In Central
Park there is a zebra which has been
trained to be loving, gentle, and human
In many ways; yet it has ever been as
serted that the zebra is an utterly IN
tamable animal. 1t tracing the history
OF all domestic animals we find that no
species was dOmesticated by nature.
The life history Of the domestic cat and
dog Is of immense duration and extent.
No two naturalists arrive at identical
conclusions in regard to their origin. I,
| says the writer of the North american
/ ReDjelU, examined all the books and
data back to the time of Hero
dOtus with interest, yet with
despair. The animals soon get lost in
| Obscurity, but students generally agree
that the ancestors were once wild, like
man. AS to the domestic cat, found but
! one dominant instinct of the Wild Felide
! that survives, and that is a love for fish,
unless we include, incidentally, the
! peculiar odOr exuded by all of this
/ family, not, however, an instinct Read
| ing In the London Nature an account
that British investigator had, by per-
! sistent effort, discovered that the taper
/ ing tail of the domestic cat was orig
! inally prehensile, I put the two facts
| together. Was there a wild species
| with prehensile tail that suspended it.
| self from trees and caught fish from q
/ stream. Such a cat is found in Bengal
! and HindOOstan, known as the fishing
/ cat, Felix viverrina. This animal
! then, probably was the ancestor of the
! domestic cat. Its dOmesticatiOn, ex-
tending through 5000 years, has only
| advanced its mentality beyond the pre-
! hensile use of its tail, its training and
association as has been stated above.
As regards the dog, L found several
l
/ turalists. The American Indian dog I
had photographed side by side with the
/ coyote, or prairie wolf. As no one can
detect a particle of physical difference,
/ it is easy to assume that the Indians
dOmesticated their dog from the coyote,
as did the EsquimauX theirs from a
wild animal. Professor Edward D. Cope
has recently shown, after the most ex-
! tensive examination of skeletons, par
ticularly craniums, that the ancestor of
dogs belonged to the genus Galecygnus
IN the lower miOcene times, and in the
upper miocene times to CAMS.
] Strangely enough, between these two
periods one section of the dog family
degenerated and became the bear; that
is, the dog genus Amphicyon changed
during the middle miocene period to
the bear genus Hyaenarctus. The
mentality of the dog has therefore adj
vanced under difficulties of a natural
type; it has been delayed by his vast
/ association with the savage in all
climes, and civilized man has never
eradicated his most serious instincts.
although he has secured some wonder
full results from training. It is not
known that although the talk of a par.
rot is somewhat artificial, yet many
birds learn to understand the meaning
Of the words they use, and their use of
them then becomes apropOs. Train
ing has done marveIs for the mentality
of the parrot and other birds. The
crow particularly, in special instances
has been trained somewhat to the
standard of an apt human intelligence.
North american ReUielU.