The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-05-03

modern philosophers have the better
of the argument
Science has not yet discovered the
local habitation of the mind nor has
| II been able to separate II from the
motor and sonsory regions of the
brain and therefore we must confess
mt the outset that we are wording In
the dark Specializing regarding the
mental processes that govern the acts
of the brute creation and our conclu.
sions may he erroneous Here is
where Mr. Burroughs assumes too
much when he assures us with final
and convincing positivcnCss of u fact
that IL still an unsolvcd scientific prob
lem. The cortical ncurons of the Ger.
ebrum in man are supposed to be the
centcrs for the exercise of the higher
powers for In these cells are performed
those inscrutable processes of stor-
ing, harmonizing and recalling impress.
sions and through which we are en-.
abled to exercise those faculties called
memory, reason and the will and
these cells have been developed
through countless ages of doing things
related to our needs.
Modern naturalists tell us that the
law of action which enables the crea.
ture to build q nest, a dam or II web
is instinct and is innate and not an &c.
CURED faculty, therefore bee can
build more perfect comb than the
most skilled mechanic.
Therefore If its intelligence was OF
the same kind as the mechanic 1t
would respond to education and could
be taught forsooth to even write POI
etry and because the bee keeps on inn
itating its predecessors it's mind is a
thing different to that of the mechan-
ic. 1t is regarded merely as an lido
syncrasy of instinct that one bird ap-
parently as far advanced In evolution
as another will lay its eggs on the
bare ground while the other builds an
elaborate nest In tree. The Canada
goose is credited with higher order
of intelligence or instinct. In the
marshes and lakes of the north, where
it breeds 1t builds its nest on the
Rocky mountains, which 1t sometimes
chooses as a breeding place, and where
predatory animals are numerous, 1t
builds It's nest in a tree. This trait Is
declared by naturalists to be simply
an elasticity of instinct. To the same
resilency is attributed the trick Of the
weaver bird who, when she finds that
her nest is so heavy that 1t will topple
on the limb upon which It Is built, fas-
tens It with n string to the limb above.
A friend of mine had IA dog, who,
when retrieving birds that fell on the
| opposite side of a stream, after get
| ting the bird would go up stream some
| fifty yards and would thus gauge his
course back so that the current would
| land him without eXertion at his mas
| ter's feet. Facts like these are regard
ed as mere exceptions to the rule
where brute instinct approaches the
dividing line that separates it from
| human intelligence, that it is merely
an elasticity of instinct that nature
provides for emergencies and not an
adaptation of the faculties to circum-
stances
But where, in all this compaisant
and conceited assumption, is there
given a single scientific fact or conclu-
sion? 1t must be conceded that there
intervenes in the stage of evolution
ages between man and the brute and
to expect, under the most favorable
circumstances, an animal to exhibit
more than rudimentary reasoning
would be as presumptive as to say
that no animal under any circum-
stances is capable of reasoning. Our
remote ancestors lived in caves like
the tigers. They followed for ages the
pattern of their predecessors. They
did not write books nor build houses,
The ability to do these arose out of
the evolution of our needs even as
the bird supported its nest, with this
disadvantage to the bird that when
education reached the former he had
the start over the latter in evolution
possibly millions Of years from the
prmeval protoplasm. Wherein then,
except in evolution, lies the difference
between the mind of man and his con
genor of the field, who although he
has no moral sense and cannot write
poetry, uses his rudimentary faculties
much as we do ourselves and after all
is said we can only speculate on what
| is passing in his mind?-Dr. J. II.
Mackay