Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-07-11
DR.. Hornaday Declares Animals
Disprove Statements OF
Burroughs and Long.
REASONING ABILITY LIMITED
But Directors of Bronx Zoo Assert
That They Do Not Possess Power
Experiences With Beasts.

soning powers. as John Burroughs as
sertS, is n problem that can be finally
solved only by the animals themselves.
If one could see DR.. Longs marvellous
woodcock putting its wounded leg in
splints or his oriole exhibiting the deft-
ness of a sailor in the making of knots
in the construction of its nest or his
friendly wolves or his sagacious pet
coon the controversy would be easily
and quickly settled. These particular
animals, however, are not mt present Ill
position to bear witness for the ben
eft of the public to their own eXtraor-
binary mental attachments. and the
question therefore remains to find some
of their kindred of the wild to testify
for them.
DR.. William r. HOrnaday. director.
of the Bronx park 700 ut New York,
the scientist and collector who has
made the zoo what ii is and who has
spent the last thirty-two years i'll The
study of every variety of animal life
as 1t is found in captivity and In the
iungleS and waste places of nearly ev-
cry continent of the world. was asked
these questions by reporter Of the
New York Times who interviewed him
at the 700:
"IIave the animals in the 700 any
| light To throw on this subjects"
Are we to believe these stories Of
| DR. Long or are we to conclude with
| Mr. Burroughs that animals are never
| gifted with a reasoning intelligence
and that hence what is told about them
| by the nature writer's is of necessity
| incredible:"
Il have heard many animal stories
during my travels" said Or. HOrnaday
reminiSccntly. quite as remarkable as
| these which are vouched for by Dir.
| Long. For instance, / remember the
yarn of II man down in Demerara-an
| educated fellow he was, too. and with
a reputation for rcliability-who as
| Sured me that one evening while he
| was padding up IL stream not far from
| the SeaShOre a creature with long hair
! flowing from its head. with white arms
and fish'S tail, rose from the water
| clutchcd the side of his boat and gaZed
| long and earnestly ut him and then
! sank back into the waves, emitting as
| it did so Il vail Of human agony and
despair. Pathetic. wasn't it? And
| the truth of the story was most SOL
| EMMY vouched for and was believed
by most of the people in that vicinity.
| in all my experiences as a collector
IN various parts of the world | have
found any number of men of this kind.
| men who have an incxhaustible fund
| e
| II their business to tell them to who
| ever will listen. Do | believe them?
| Well, | understand that Dir. Long says
| that whenever Il story is told to him
in good faith he feels he is in duty
| bound to believe it. That is n simple
rule, but it has its disadvantages if
one cares to sustain a reputation for
| reliability among scientists"
You don't believe, then, in the sto-
ries told by DR.. Long which the presi-
dent and Mr.. Burroughs have charac-
| teriZed as untrue:''
| Makes Others believe.
81 believe III them lust as much as |
| do in The existence Of the Dcmerarra
mermaid. Or. Long is most fascinat-
Ing tal&cr. and. whether he believes in
his own yarns or not. he seems to
have the faculty of making other peo-
re believe them, but-just let me say
this:
TO all persons. young and old. who
are interested in nature. who desire to
learn what is true. wish to express
my belief that DR.. Long is the most
visionary writer who has ever appear
ell before the American public in the
CuiSe of naturalist. Any man with
unlimited capacity for swallowing as
gospel truth every silly story that is
told to him by the animal liars of this
world is to be pitied. hut when any
man combines with limitl,.sS gullibility
ms DIR. Long appears to do. vauting
imagination which places upon the acts
Of wild creatures only the most far.
fetched and wonderful interpretations
he is to be feared and avoided, and
President Roosevelt and Mr.. Bur.
roughs are to be congratulated on hav.
Ing shown him up in his true light to
the public"
You believe. then, with Mr.. Bur
rouChs. that animals are without n
reasoning intelligence; that they act
entirely from instinct and are devoid
of anything like individuality?
ooh. no, ! don't-very far from itr'
, WIS the laughing rejoinder when
Mr.. Burroughs takes that position |
think he is quite as hard to follow as
DR.. Long. While engaged in hunt
ing and in collecting all kinds OF
, game in various parts of the world and
in studying animals here while they
are in captivity | have made enough
observations to satisfy me absolutely
that animals are possessed of great
intelligence, that they can and do rea-
son from cause To effect. that they
do not act solely from instinct and
that they have much the same pas
sions as men, only in less degree In
all this of course | believe | am quite
opposed to Mr.. Burroughs. At the
same time l do not in any way put
/ animals on pedestal of superhuman
intelligence, as does DR.. Long. But