The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-02
BENEVOLENCE IN ANIMALS.

Latter are Prone to Direct Their
 Kindly Offices to Man Rather Than to
 Their Fellow Beasts.
 Without multiplying instances of the
 acquired character of the benevolent
 impulse in man, it is worth remember
 ing that even civilized races relapse
 with astonishing pertinacity to the non
 benevolent state, and that in cultivated
 Athens the horrible human sacrifices
 with which the story of ancient Greece
 is replete survived as national insti-
 tuition, and that every year man and
 a woman were whipped through the
 streets and then burned alive to satisfy
 some such impulse as prompts similar
 acts among the Congo negroes. At the present moment the absence of benevo-
 lence In any form among the non-de- veloped races of to-day needs no better Illustration than the fact recorded by Captain Hinde, that on the Upper Con-
 go no negro lives beyond forty, that be-
 ing the age at which their fellow directly or indirectly cause their death. | If analogy demands the exercise of
 benevolence by one animal toward an-
 other, it is not quite clear in what sphere this sentiment is to find it's reali- zation. It is clear that we cannot ex- pect it from all animals to all other an- imals for the carnivorous creatures
 naturally act after their kind" Prob ably those who would at any rate desire to see this trait would expect to see either general tendency to mutual
 aid and comfort among the non-carniv- | orous warm- blooded creatures, or at
 least desire to perform such good of fees among those of the same species We speak now of animals in a state of
 nature not domesticated. The former is probably an idea quite beyond the
 range of the ordinary animal mind. It Is possible that those of one species feel sorrow when those of another are in | trouble or pain. But there is no evil l dence whatever that wild animals ever do this There Is a kind of chance as- sociation on the same feeding ground, or sometimes under stress of flood or fire. But we can recall no single in- stance, for example, of wild animal of one species attempting to defend an
 animal of another, even when they are
 quite competent to do so. It is doubt
 ful if a case has been recorded of buff
 faloes charging to protect wounded
 antelope though they will do go to save a wounded member Of their own herd; or of elephants, or balloons, or other creatures which live in society, at ; tempting to protect the wounded young [ of any other species but their own, , Among the creatures which seem to as- , sume the role of sentries for the protec- l ton of other animals. there is one, the
 rhnoceros bird, whose behavior almost l ha +hot duty to the antelope or buffalo on whose insect enemies it Is feeding so ex- raordinary and apparently organized l is he war which 1t maintains. But this is very restless, active bird, and it is } quite possible that it's familiarity with the species on whose backs it finds food makes 1t identify itself to some extent with them. It probably imagines the buffalo to be almost a part of itsslf. In s any case. the instances of indifference
 are so overwhelming that we may set
 aside the assumption that there is a
 common sympathy among non-related , animals, even when not carnivorous , It Is not defect of character, but of F comprehension.
 The relations between those of the same species are closer though exhibi- tions of helpfulness are by no means !, general, and instances of positive ill., , treatment are common. The monkeys who drown the obiectonably sick by
 showing them off trees into the river are
 certainly rather worse than the Greeks , who "marooned'' Philoctetes for the
 same reason. But with this should be
 contiasted Brehm's story of the rescue
 of the young baboon from his dogs by q
 patriarch of the troop, and the encour-
 agement given by an older stag to a I young one which feared to jump q I fence. Lord Lovat gives an admirable description of this scene in the volume
 of the 'Badmnton Library on
 'neerstaking." The old stag reached , over toward the young one at last, and actually kissed him." but the young
 ster would not jump. Animals are so
 helpless themselves when anything . goes amiss, especially in cases of acci- 5 dent, that they can hardly be expected ] to do much for others. But the inn
 pulse is often there in the related kinds, l though it is not extended to the non-
 related. Otters run round a trapped - otter til night Cats and foxes visit the bodies of their dead, and so do stoats and weasels It is rule with trappers
 to leave these near trap: so we may f conclude that these animals probably
 visit their fellows when trapped The
 writer once saw an odd instance of this
 intellectual concern-probably not very 5 deep, for the actors were sparrows. brick trap had been set in yard. and a t sparrow caught. All the sparrows in D the nelghborhood had learned it, and
 were sitting In crowds on hedges. cu- k curnber frames, sheds and buildings g discussing the situation, or staring , moodily at the trap where the captive e was imprisoned, but quite invisible. . Next day robin was caught, but the , ] sparrows showed no concern whatever
 This tendency among the wild races !, finds definite expression among the do-
 mesticated animals, though instances are , not very common We have seen a . small pig, stuck in a paling through | I-------------~-----------