Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-06-12
Open. Points in Animal History

| come unaer our observation. That 10
nestle animals in many cases train
| their young | am certain. Many of
US have seen the old cat take the
kitten to the barn and station it by
| a rat hole; and l. 1t let its post he.
fore the appointed time IL was chas-
| tised by the parent An old hound
win deliberately coax a puppy away
TO the woods, and by example, teach
! him 10 follow rabbits or foxes. Old
dogs are frequently used by dog
| breakers to help IN teaching young
: dogs to range. Many a time l have
! noted the anxious look on the face OF
the old dog, when the pup d no;
| turn at tie whistle.
1t has been said that language was
necessary to tmpart knowledge and
that teaching could not go on without
/ il.
My father was a professional dog
trainer, and have seen him work a
| dog in the field for half day without
| speaking to it, werely by the sound
/ of the whistle, and by signs. All
| teach ng of dumb creatures is merely
a series of object lessons. Language
can be entirely dispensed with in
teaching any animal, and it is merely
used to juggle the uninitiated A
movement of me hand or even the
| finger is quite as good as the spoken
! word. Is it not gu te possible that
among animals in their wild state.
| parents go through certain object
essons, with tn deliberate intent
| that the offspring shall initiate them.
and that they repeat the perform. ance
! until the object desired is obta ned ?
! 1t is certain that the parents know
/ the danger into which the young may
tall. II Is just as certain that they
appreciate the ignorance OF their off
| spring; and would not maternal love,
which is undoubtedly the strongest
and most beautiful sentiment in the
wild prompt them to impart in dumb
language, If other modes of com NUM-.
cation are denied them. the necessary
knowledge? Ii seems to me that
everything points to 1t.
Memory. we certainly must admit
that animals .ossess. A dog will re.
member al his I fa a blow from a
stranger, Whenever he meets the
man who injured him, ais upper lip
goes up, and his under one comes
down. He cannot say Il hate you
You are the man who struck me, "
/ but he knows it as we'll as the man
does. A horse will remember having
travelled certain road, years after
ward, when his master has forgotten
the fact re will prove 1t to you by
turning in at some house where YOU
stopped, just as he had done before
Men who drive bake-carts and but
cher-carts tell me that some horses
viii memonze the entire route, ana
just wba, house to turn in at, and
what % skip When a certain house
has been skipped for two or three
times the horse learns the fact, and
the next trip cuts out the man whose
credi. is no good with the firm
without being told to do so
From these instances / deduee
that language is not entirely neces
saTy for the requirement or the re
tainment of knowledge. 1t may all be
done in a series of mental pictures
or In impressions, that are much
shorter cut to the end required than
language.
You may be walking along a coun.
try road and tie scent of apple bios.
SONS may set the kinetoscooe OF
your mind in acLion, and six months
Of your boyhood life may pass, like
lightning. all without eIort on your
/ part. and without any words, thought
or spoken. Or II may be an old famil-
lar song that viii set the pictures TO
moving Neither are the eyes entirely
necessary 10 produce a sense Of color.
for to some people. including myself
sound Ics color
There certain knowledge
which we call exper ence, impressions
and experiences. stored In our brain
cells, and if just the right thought
comes again. as surely as the repro.
Queer in the monograph responds 10
/ The kindred experience.
Furthermore. the line o. demarka-
tiqn between man and the lower ami.
NAL is very ragged The lower AMI.
mails often rise to the dign ty Of man
hood, while even many civilized men
are bestial
To say that horse or an elephant
is not a higher order of animal than
the cannibal who makes a business
OF eating his children when they arr
two or three years of age. would he
absurd, To call the intelligent act OF
one, reason, the other. instinct. IS alb
surd
If We arbitrarily deny reason to all
the orders Of the animal kingdom
lower than man. we certainly cannot
deny that instinct plays large part
In human life. Nearly all the acts Of
a child up TO the second or third year
are merely instinct. while a good per
cent Of tie acts of an adult are In.
stinctiye. rather than acts Of reason.
Reason slow. methodical, mathe.
matical: instinct acts like lig' laE.
In instinct ,Aere is but one Impulse
and that is usually the right one We
owe more to Instinct. in the daily
preseryatlo of our Ives, than we d.
to reason. i we stopped to reason,
wa sbould fail in the ,-rfs{s that d.