Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-06-12
MIND sUPERsEOEs INsr,nor
How Man Has Lost Many Instir...
sessed by the Lower Ani,,,s,. 10

sessed by the Lower An,r,a,.s Pot
II the doctrine be true tl,tu
really the heir of an the varion. s-a AI
and genera OF the animal sin.5 tsl-s
seems little hard upon X, ssv 49, !.
American -4naigst. that even \, ,.s.l '-e
exception we inherit none of NJ. o.
marvellous instincts Of those .A
and genera, and have to b. .t, LES
with those greater but purely r,..-'
faculties by which even the most ,,-.-
dertul OF animal instincts have
somehow eXtiuguished SirJorg
book maintains with GOOD ds-'1,
plausibility that there are insect. W.. y;
very likely even higher animals. vl. ~
perceive colors of which We l1vs WI
glimpse and hear sounds which --.
Us inaudible. Yet we never H...
human retina that includes IN ...
those colors depending on vi .......
the ether which are too slow. 49,.
rapid for our ordinary ewes. .......
human ear which is entr8pr. ....
music that to the great majority e, o,.
species IS absolutely inaudible.
Again, we never hear OF hup,,c
being who could perform the fs,f I,
which we were told only recently "
a bloodhound. In dark nigbtif f,I
lowed up for three miles the trail II.
thief with whom the bloodhound c,r,J
have never been in contact l,.E.5
Just purloiued some rolls of tam a.,,.
the lanyard in which the gag ,e-.
chained up). and finally sat down NM
der the tree in which the man hsl
taken refuge. Why, we wonder ars
those finer powers for discrimiu8tirs
and following the track of the seem
which so many of the lower aunial.
possess entirely extiuguished ip man
if man be the real heir of all the va.
rious genera which show power in.
ferior to his own!
We see no trace in animals of ths,
high enjoyment of the liner scent.
which mahe the blossomnr of fNs
spring flowers so great delight ia
human beings, and yet men are en-.
tirely destitute of that almost unerripo
power Of tracking the path Of an odoT
which seems to be one of the PRINCIPAL
gifts OF many quadrupeds aud some
birds. 1t is the same with the power
of dog or cat to find its way back 10
home 10 which il is attached. but
from which it has been taken bva
route that 1t can not possibly follow on
its return, even if it had the power of
observing that route. which usuallvb
has not. Nothing could he more con.
yenient than such a power to a los.
child. But no one ever heard of any
child who possessed it.
Still more enyiable is that instinct
possessed by 50 many birds of crossing
great tracts of land and sea without
apparently any landmarks or seamarks
to guide them and OF reaching quar-.
ter 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 MI
gratory birds must certainly be in
possession of either senses or instincts
entirely beyond the range Of human
Imagination, and yet no oneever heard
OF the survival of such a sense Of in
stinct in any member of our race It
may be said indeed, that men have
either inherited or reproduced the
slaye-making instinct OF some of the
military ants, though that unfortunate
and degrading instinct does not APP
pear to have been inherited by any Of
the higher animals which intervene
hat Z Ita nd
but this only enhances the irony of our
destiny, if we do indeed, in any sense
inherit from these insects aristocrJcies
one of the most disastrous instiuCs t
the audacious but indolent creatures
which fight so much better than they
work. Ii we have not Inherited the
architectural instincts of bees on beay-
ers nor the spinning instincts Of
spiders nor the power ut tac dog 20
track out his home, it /, a Iiue sad
that we should have inherited the one
disastrous. instinct Of the ant br which
it make, itself dependent ON a more
timid and industrious species 81. It's
own race and thereby loses the power
to help itself.
W llil - sun ib0i3 WI l'N' '" '.'''
even where human beings have whoI'
ly exceptional and uuucard-of powers
they betray notraccs OF the exceptional
and uuhcard-of powers of the races
whose vital organization we are SAID
to inherit. The occasional appear
ance of very rare mathematics. pow
ers, for instance, so far from being %
any sense eNplcable from below looks
much more like inspiration from
above. The calculating boy who ''"'
not even give any account OF me
process whereby he arrived at corie'.
results which the educated mataema-
ticiau took some time to verify. GER
tainiy was not reviyiug in himself au!
of the rare powers OF the lower trloes
Of animals. Nor do the prodlgles 70
music who show such marvellous pow
or in infancy recall TO as any lns.na
of the bird the only musical creatures
except ourselves. Still less, cI course
does great moral geuiu, the genus y
a Howard or a Clarkson-,n--es a4l
"reminiscences Of what happens il '"e
world OF animal life