The times., 1898-01-30
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hiil agreeable sensations, but for its
own sake, and that it presumed to put
forth sweet and beautiful blossoms
long before he appeared on the earth as
a rude cave-hunting and fiint-chipping
savage" There is. therefore, a rea-
sonable ground for thinking that the
improvements" which man has made
in plants and other things may be only
a proof that he has not been cultivated
TO the point where he can appreciate
nature. Schopenhauer says that this
anthropocentric egotism has been the
source of untold misery to myriads of
sentient and highly sensitive organisms,
and that Judaism and Christianity have
unnaturally severed man from the rest
of the world and placed him on PIN
nacle apart. Mr.. Evans further points
out that the only positive information
which is given to man with regard TO
animals, in the sacred books of either
of these religions, is that they are for
him to eat. Traditional theology" he
says, and anthropocentric ethics are
brought into conflict with the better i'm
pulses Of broad and generous nature,
and the sharp antagonism could hard
ly fail to be n source of perplexity and
pain" In short, the attitude of man
kind toward the lower animals is point
ed out as something like the divine
right of kings, which doctrine led Louis
XIV of France to believe that he was
absolute master of the lives and prop
erty of his subjects, and one is about
as revolving to a really sensitive and
kind d-hearted person as the other.
Mr.. Evans treats the doctrine of
metempsychosis in rather a gingerly
manner and is evidently not ready to
accept it as he finds it in Eastern re-
ligions and PHILOSOPHERS. He takes it
up simply as a code of philosophy.
which has had a beneficent effect on
the morals of some nations, by leading
them to be kind to animals. The con-
trast is rather forcibly expressed in this
little comment:
In many portions of the East it is
customary for BrahmanS and Budd-
hists to express their joy and gratitude
on recovering from sickness or on re-
ceiving any good fortune. not by chant
ing a TIE Deum,' but by going to the
market place. where wild birds are ex.
posed for sale by Jewish, Mohamme-
dan and Christian fowlers. purchasing
a number of them, carrying them to
the city gates, opening their cages, and
restoring to the captives their former
liberty. Under similar circumstances,
q European would most probably re-
turn thanks by inviting his friends to
eat birds with him. Mr.. Evans thinks
that the idea of blood-relationshipe es-
tablished by evolution may, if implant-
ed in the mind of the West, result in a
certain consideration for the rights of
animals which is not now shown.
The second half of the book is de-
voted to animal psychology. Mr.. Ev-
ans declares that Western science mas
established what Oriental metaphysics
only dreamed of; but it must be remem-
bered that our ideas of Oriental meta
physics have come to us Uttered
through minds essentially differing
from the Oriental, and for the most part
prejudiced and hampered by more or
less imperfect knowledge of the
Language. When he says that there Is
strong presumptive evidence that con-
sciousness manifests itself in the lowest
forms of life he is simply saying What
is to the Jain philosopher matter-of-
fact assertion too obvious for comment.
The whole Of this second half OF the
book is given up to reiteration OF argu-
ments. anecdotes and deductions in
tended to show that the animal, in con-
Quoting his own affairs, is moved py
the same impulses. and reasons IN the
same manner, as the human being, ana
that without far more accurate knoWi-
edge than we at present possess. we are
do not reason. talk and make laws
among themselves. He quotes Heine'S
interview with the lizard at Lucca,
which may be said to be the Key TO the
whole book. The lizard declares with
nositiveness that no man thinks. "There
is but one true philosophy" he says,
land that is engraven in eternal Nero
giyphics on my own tail. MI Evans
saws that he is reminded of this by the
way in which psychologists are wont TO
talk of the mental faculties of animals
Aristotle once declared that heart
beating is a phenomenon peculiar to
man. an assertion which is about on a
par with that of the wise lizard. Mr..
Evans describes at some length the ar
chitecture of an anthill, which shows
not only ingenuity, but division of la
Dor and considerable engineering Skill
in overcoming obstacles. In consum-
ing a house." he says, the termite will
spare the principal pillars. whose de-
struction would cause the whole build
ing to fall, or when they devour the in
side Of these pillars they fill the hol-
low with clay" This fact is given on
the authority of DR.. H. Hagen, author
of "Uber die Lebensweise der Termiten
und hire Verbreitung." The terror of
a dog at the motion of a bone, with
which he had been playing, and which
invisible thread, is cited as exactly
parallel to the terror of human beings
on seeing some unexplained, and,
to them, ineXplicable phenomenon
Most men who We're driving
horses when electric cars came
into vogue will remember the
behavior Of the horse when it first
saw a car moving without visible means
of locomotion. The court t-nartials held
by storks, crows, and other birds are
cited. and there are a number of Incl |
dents which go to show the almost hu-
man nature Of the monkey species. Mr. |
Evans gives an immense number Of |
these instances of reasoning power in
and leaves the reader to draw
his own conclusions. The last chapters |
Of the book are. in fact, proofs and IL |
of the arguments set forth |
in the first part. The volume will be |
an interesting one TO people who are |
in science, though many of |
It's conclusions and citations will be to |
the scientific reader an old story. and |
there is certain lack Of continuity in
the argument, which makes the book
much weaker than it might be. This
Is explained by the fact that many of |
the chapters We're originally published |
as magazine articles. (New York: D.
Appleton & Co. Washington: All book
sellers)
Mt. Steed's Expose.
Mr.. w. T. Stead, who is always ar
living in some new place or other from