The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-07-06
MAN IS ADEVELtPED ANIMAL
REASON is HIS SPECIAL AND
DISTINCTIVE ATTRIBUTE.


of the American Philosophical Society
in Philadelphia:
A profound study of animal life,
especially with reference to the pos
sible lower types of reason, was re-
vealed in the paper read at the morn
ing session by Alden Sampson, OF
Haverford Its title was Thought
Transference Among Animals by
Touch and Scent"
TN judging of this question of the
intelligence of animals there is one
argument that is hard to refute. Let
us coufine our comparison for the
present to the race of mammals. We
are all descended from an identical
ancestry. We are not descended from
monkeys any more than they are our
degenerate offspring, but if their an
cestry and ours could be traced back
If this be true, then our original en-
howment was the same, and we
should expect any faculty that the
animals possess to be shared by man,
at least by some men, to certain de-
gree, and that we find it exactly the
case.
take, for instance, two powers In
| which animals excel man, the power
of scent and that of orientation. On
the one hand, man possesses the
| power of orientation in a very rudi~
mentary form; on the other hand, the
carrier pigeon and many other ami
mails are so richly equipped with it
that, to say the least, their gift is al
together superhuman. Similar pow
ers are possessed by cats.
Although most men are without
| the instructive sense of direction, man
has it in a limited capacity; he has
| the rudiments of it. A trapper out
West once said to me when | was
speaking of dogs superiority in this
respect, that is, his ability to refrain
from running on a back trail: Man
has the gift whether or not he can use
it correctly. For instance, if you
blindfold a person in a room and turn
him around several times, and then
| tell him to go to the door, he will
attempt to do so. He thinks he
knows where the door is His action
| shows the sense of direction in a
rudimentary form That comment of
my hunter friend seems to me a very
acute contribution to the subject. and
/ wish to give to Tom Smith, now an
Alaskan trader, the credit for it.
ut is important that We should not
lose from view one primary truth of
psychology, namely, that all human
activity of intelligence is founded on
instincts. Man soon goes far beyond
these, and it is my firm belief that
animals go beyond them occasionally,
and in certain orders of mental ac-
tivity regularly.
Take again the faculty of scent.
No one would question that the So
called lower animals are our superiors
here; yet men possess the faculty in
greater or less degree, generally in a
degree enthusiastically less, so pitiful.
ly small as to be ridiculous. Excep-
tional individuals, however, have this
power in the greater degree We have
the special endowments of the lower
animals, even if we possess them on.
ly in crippled and atropnied form
and they must OF necessity, being
sprung from an identical ancestry
have ours, even if in vastly less de.
gree.
Reason is mans special and dis
tlnctive attribute. 1t may well be that
the animals only have far-off glim
merings of faculty, but still it is only
difference in degree. From the low
est range of human intelligence to the
highest the difference is as great. OF
nearly as great, as that between the
least favored human races and the
most highly endowed races of the 9th
er creatures; for instance, the wolves
the beavers, and the bees.
1--WE find a certain number of the
carnivorous animals, and practically
all of the herbivorous animals, lead
ing a more or less communal life;
yet, so far as We can see, they have
no language corresponding to oul
own. Is such necessary? May they
not communicate by other means
: than this?
at will be we'll for us carefully tt
examine this suggestion before con
temptuously dismissing all hypotfles
es which would render a different so
luton. Is not touch more subtle
: means of intercommunication in many
respects than even words?
1.-THE faculty of touch among us hu
mans is, as rule, poor, dwarfed
: rudimentary affair, but it is capable
of splendid development"
Mr.. Sampson, by way of illustration
here read from an essay of Helen KEEL
Ter, the deaf and blind girl, "a Cha
About Hands," published in a recen
number Of a magazine.
the power of scent" he continued
"is the chief and most trustworthy O
the animals senses. 1t is more close
ly allied than any other to touch
Here we have means of very Close
communication between animal
! which compares not unfavorably TO
many purposes with human speech.
Scent may also be supplemented
I by another faculty of man, which ht
! has in only very rudimentary form
, The same reasoning which has beer
. used IN regard to scent and touch ap
1 plies we'll here. Circumstances would
: seem to indicate that certain crea
i | lures nave this power in a far greatel