Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-02-26
DO ANIMALS TEACH?
THE FACULTY OF IMPARTlNG KNOWL-
EDGE Is CERTAINLY LIMITED.


THE FACULTY OF IMPARTlNG KNOWL-
EDGE is CERTAINLY LIMITED.
Dogs Do Not Appear to Have 1t, While
Cats and Rats neutrality-suspicious. Illus
trating This Point-An Interesting Oues-
. tion Raised by the Moral to q Sermon.
In the course of sermon the other
day one of our clergy very happily point
ed his moral by contrasting the intelli-
gence Of the brute with that of man.
"You can teach dog almost anything"
said he in substance, ''but the dog can-
not impart the knowledge he receives
from his master to another of his kind.
Man, on the other hand, not only i'm
bibes knowledge, but constantly gives
of the best Of his learning to others. :"
Without pausing to discuss the moral
truth thus illustrated it is not uninter-
esting to make some inquiry as to the
correctness of the clergyman opinion
that bru:es have not the faculty of i'm
parting to their kind the things which
man has taught them. As to those proc
esses of thought which we call instinct,
which are involuntary and which are
obeyed in every individual of the species
with no idea of improvement in the
method, the distinction between them
and those processes which are owing to
association with man is clearly marked.
The affection of the female brute.for her
young is instructive. The dogs use of
the sense of smell in tracking, the mi
grations of birds, the comb building OF
bees, the slavemaking Of some species
of ants and the yearly movement Of salm-
on and shad from the sea into rivers
and back again-these are all instinc-
tive. The young of any of these would.
left to itself, develop the same faculties
In the same way without asking itself
the why or wherefore, and in maturity
would be as fully endowed with the in
stinctive functions as another individu-
al which had had the constant compan-
ionship Of members of its kind
But many animals are capable Of men,
tai development so far beyond the oper-
alton Of instinct that the difference be-
tween their reasoning powers and those
of man is very difficult to determine. A
well trained shepherd dog will not only
drive sheep to pasture, but will, when
commanded, fetch them home. Moro
than this, shepherd dog, having been
told to fetch home certain sheep out OF
the flock (the shepherd calling it by
name), has been known to obey the COM
mand without an instant's hesitation,
singing out the one sheep unerringly.
He knew the name of every sheep in the
flock, and could fetch any one that was
desired. Yet, with all his intelligence
the dog could not teach another to do
the same thing With every new dog the
shepherd must go through the same long,
Ilaborious Process Of teaching him his
business Undoubtedly, the training of
successive generations through long pc
riods of time has developed in the collie
q character which makes his training for
sheep herding easier than would other
wise be the case. 1t is extremely i'm
probable that pug OF spaniel could
ever be trained to herd sheep, or that a
collie could be taught to point or set
game. But let the collie or the pointer
run without breaking, and no matter
how much they mingled with trained
dogs of their distinct species the one
would never learn to tend sheep nor the
other to point gaMe.
There was lately published a volume
of "Dog Stories From the London Spec
tator,' in which were gathered many
anecdotes of the sagacity of dogs, but
while they covered every imaginable ex-
hibition of intelligence, affection, wis
dom, and even humor, none Of them
demonstrated that one dog could teach |
another any trick or duty that it had
learned from its master.
It would be supposed that if any ami
NAL were capable Of imparting as well
as acquiring knowledge it would be the
dog, yet it seems that that generally in
tractable, unteachable creature, the cat,
actually has this faculty. One instance
Of this is authentic. A tabby, having a
bad habit of leaping on the dining table
after the family had risen from it and
Of prowling over the fragments, was
finally cured by being soundly cuffed on
several occasions when she had been
caught in the act. After awhile she had
q litter Of kittens, and one day when
they were half grown one of them jump
ed on to a chair, and so to the dining
table. A member of the household busy
In the next room saw the mother cat
leap up beside her offspring and cuff it
vigorously ON the ears until it scrambled
to the floor.
Another story which seems to show
that brutes can teach one another is told
Of a colony of rats. 1t cannot be vouched
for, however. Rats are fond Of CLAIMS,
and the narrator Of this story, having
left pile of the shellfsh near the back
of his house, saw the rat creep up to
them. Their shells were partly open.
The rat flicked his tail into the shell OF
one, when instantly it shut down tight
and the rat scampered away with 1t.
Presently the rat, relieved OF its load,
returned with half dozen companions,
when each Of them thrust its tail into
the shell of a clam, which shut its
Jaws, and the rats gayly marched off.
This would seem to show that the first
rat instructed the others how to capture
the CLANS. But how did the first one
learn the trick? Was it instinct or acci-
dent, or had it learned it from some patri-
arch of a former generation? Perhaps
the initiative instinct which is found
in the lowest forms Of life might ac-
count for this remarkable proceeding OF
the rats. But it is pretty certain that the
initiative instinct was not at work in
the cat when 1t cuffed its young one.
The interesting question is whether the
cat was Intentionally Furnishing the kit
ten for climbing on the table OF simply
CHANGED to be In the humor for cutting
at that moment in that place without q
thought Of the impropriety Of it's be-
havior. Buffalo Courier.
Wisconsin is important in manufac-
turing, having 132,031 hands and max
ing S248, ,546, 1854 worth Of product.
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