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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd November 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1114, Untitled Article

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      of noting the differences of degree , and thus founding a science of Comparative Psychology , as we at last have founded a science of Comparative Physiology , we have shirked the inquiry , and even indignantly rejected every attempt to appreciate the mental characteristics of animate . For all the phenomena manifested by Man we have a dignified explanation summed up in the word Soul ; for similar phenomena manifested by Animals we have another phraseequally comprehensive and equally

      , vague , Instinct : and having thus named them we believed we had explained them , —having marked a difference in the terms we concluded there was an equivalent difference in the facts . How unscientific this procedure is need not be pointed out . Its main source lies in that erroneous method" of beginning Euclid with the twelfth book , i . e ., of always beginning with Man , the most complex and difficult of studies , instead of proceeding upwards from the simpler forms of animal life and intelligence .

      Last week we pointed out the ascending complexity of Life , beginning with the Plant , —passing through the Plant-Animal ( Zoophyte ) to the simpler forms of Animals and upwards to Man—in each stage of the ascent the Vegetative or Organic Life ( which forms the basis and starting point of the whole series ) gradually losing its predominance , which is gradually gained by the Animal or Relative LiTe . But in no case does the Vegetative Life disappear ; it forms the basis of Man no less than of the Zoophyte . Now , it is quite clear to us that a parallel series of ascending complexity in the manifestations of Mind should he drawn out

      by Pyschologists . Till that is done the philosophy of Mind must fall a victim to the haughty incapacity of Metaphysicians , and their pretensions to " analysis . " They , indeed , will regard such investigation with something of the superb pity felt by John Hunter ' s friends when they heard of his " wasting his time" in the dissection of snails and worms , little suspecting the flood of light which would be let in through that crevice upon the whole study of Man . What we have described as the Ascensional

      Method , that is to say , the following of Nature in her varied ascents , from the simple to the complex , from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous , from the general to the specific , is , we believe , a philosophic process which needs application to all departments of science , and a process which scientific men are gradually jearniug to appreciate . As an example we would refer to Professor Agassiz ' s luminous suggestion of a new principle of Classification in Zoology . On comparing the characters of fossil fishes especially with a view of ascertaining their natural relations to the living types , he was struck with the fact that those of earlier ages presented many structural peculiarities which occur only in the embryonic conditions of the fishes of our days .

      This led him to infer that embryonic data might be advantageously applied to the correct appreciation of the natural relation of the various members of one and the same family , and , perhaps , also to the determination of the relative position of closely allied types . We refer our readers to Jameson's Philosophical Journal ( vol . 50 , p . 22 / , sq . ) for the striking illustrations there given of einhryological changes as a foundation of natural classification ( and at the same time furnishing irresistible evidence of the doctrine of progressive development ) , our present purpose with the essay being simply to point out its bearing upon the general principle of following nature ' s order , and ascendiny from lower to higher forms , if we would understand the liii / her .

      It is well tsaid in Todd and Bowman ' s admirable Physiological Anatomy of Man ( the completion of which ia urgently demanded ) that " a power of perception and a power of volition together con-Htitute our Mimplcst idea of Mind ; the one excited through certain corporeal organs , the other acting on the body . Throughout the greatest part of the animal creation mental power exiata ranging fro in thin itH lowest degree— -u state of the blindest iinstinct prompting the animal to Heareh for foodto the docility , sagacity , and memory of the brute ;

      and to itH hi tf heut statu , the reasoning powers of man . " The only way to investigate thi « ascending Horiew i « to trace the upward development of the nervous Hystein . The Plant assimilates , grown , reproduces—but does not feel , and cannot move itself . Sensation and locomotion , the first rudiments of animal life , are been to becomu more and more perfect us the organism becomes more complicated , « . * ., an the nervoua Byntem becomes more elaborate . The earlier forma of mental manifestation we name Instinct : the more

      complicated formB , Intelligence ; but as the Nervous system is specifically nervous , whatever may be the amount of concentration in its central masses ( ganglia ) , so Mind is specifically Mind , whatever may be the intensity or variety of its manifestations . Man shares with the brute a twofold life—vegetative and animal ; he also shares with the brute a twofold mental action—instinctive and rational . In the ascending series , we see animal life encroaching on the supremacy of vegetative life , and ia like manner we see Reason gaining predominance over Instinct . The similarities of the nervous systems in animals and man give correponding

      qualities ; the differences of their nervous systems give different qualities ; and the physiologist who calmly compares the two , must admit that there is no essential distinction , there is only distinction of degree . To escape this conclusion , we know but one way , and that is with Descartes to assume boldly that Brutes are Machines 1 Mr . Thompson in his Passions of Animals , haa collected a quantity of material for which the psychologist will be grateful ; but we must at the outset declare , that the book is nothing but the merest collection of facts and anecdotes , put together

      without any idea of arrangement , and betraying a most unphllo 8 ophical mind . In the Introduction , he indulges himself with a feeble excursion , into speculative fields ^ we warn the read er to diligently skip it . At the commencement he makes a false move by citing Scripture as his authority for the fact , that man was the only being intended to be capable of reason and reflection ; a false move , because it is absurd to make Scripture a test of scientific questions , unless we intend to go whole lengths , and denounce Astronomy and Geology as heresies . But Mr . Thompson is not always so intelligible when left to himself . At page 7 we are told , that " although we can find no indication of intellectual faculties" in brutes , yet we cannot deny

      that some of them " possess a surprising degree of intelligence , combined with memory , purpose , and the power of discrimination . " If intelligence is not an indication of an intellectual faculty , of what is it an indication ? If memory , purpose , and discrimination are not intellectual faculties , what are they ? But , in truth , Mr . Thompson himself , when he ceases arguing , and confines himself to the simple statement of facts , repeatedly assures us that animals have intellectual faculties ; not io mention the whole scope of his work , which shows that animals have all the faculties of man ! In giving instances of animals dreaming , he says , they afford ' the strongest grounds for the assertion that animals possess an inward sense , analagous to the faculty of the soul . "

      The Passions of Animals is , nevertheless , a fascinating book . There are few persons so dead to the wondrous mystery of life around them , as not to be eager listeners to all that can be told them of Natural History ; and as to the intelligence of animals , their tricKa and contrivances , their instincts and affections , no man finds a more pleased and willing audience than he who can narrate his anecdotes of such things . We listen to Jones when

      he relates a story of his dog ' s sagacity , and are far more interested in it than when Jones becomes autobiographical , and enlarges upon his own eminent capacity . Mr . Thompson has here given us a goodly store of anecdotes . He has classified them too under separate heads ; and generally confines himself to the simple narration , without indulging in comment or rhetoric . For those who wish to investigate the subject scientifically , his book will afford an abundance of materials ,

      easy of access ; and if read in conjunction with the luminous and truly scientific essay On Animal Instincts and Intelligence ( recently published in " Chambers ' 8 Papers for the People" ) , which will furnish a point of view from whence the facts may be contemplated , we can promise the student a delightful and instructive investigation . Those who only need an amusing book , will find it one of the most amuding . The difficulty of extracting passages from such a book ih to know where to stop ; we will only give two or three here , reserving for our Notes und Extracts several passages to bo given from time to time : —

      " Then ; is a notorious instance on record of a dog , which ( dipping its collar at night , roamed round the adjoining lielda und worried the sheep , and" ufterwartlH wanhiijg itn jttw « in a utream , rtriurued honw , r « udjuHti : d ita collar , and keeping within itH kennol , throw off HUHpicioti . Here we have not only impulse , but « lflo a multiplication of actions arising from inward power auMliuttJ . li £ « uc « , unaccompanied by -perception , or tho iteration of uny outward agency .

      Aa orang-outang , in Paris , when left * tome 7 ^ T ~ tried to escape , and as he could not reach the ! v ^* his door , lie carried a stool to the spot , whiri , k ? removed , lie took another , * nd motmtrne ™ u 8 newed his efforts . Keason only could hare tmJ . ' * ; tiiis act ; rad , besides , thew a » t have beSTE ? bmation of ideas to have enabled it to get thl * i to assist itself in opening the lock , to copy 4 ^ had seen its keeper do , namely , to unlock the dn « and to move a stool about as it wanted it . " ' Stories of the sagacity of elephants are endless here are two which imply complicated processes of thought : — *

      " Another elephant that was exhibited ia Londn was made to go through a variety of tricks and among them that of picking up a sixpence with its trunk ; but on one occasion the coin rolled near a wall beyond its reach . Ab the animal -was stul ordered to get , it paused for a moment as if for consideration , and then , stretching forth its trunk to its greatest extent , blew with , such force on the money that it was driven against the wall , and was broueht

      within reach by the recoil . An officer in the Bengal army had a very fine and favourite elephant , which was supplied daily in his presence with a certain allowance of food , but being compelled to absent himself on a journey , the keeper of the beast diminished the ration , of food , and the animal became daily thinner and weaker . " When its master returned , the elephant exhibited the greatest signs of pleasure ; the feeding time came , and the keeper laid before it the former full allowance of food , which it divided

      into two parts , consuming one immediately , and leaving the other untouched . The officer , knowing the sagacity of his favourite , saw immediately the fraud that had been practised , and made the man confess his crime . " These axe remarkable facts illustrating—TENACITY OF LIFE . " Among the lower animals this faculty is the most remarkable in the polypi ; they maybe pounded in a mortar , split up , turned inside out like a glove , and divided into parts , without inj ury to life ; fire alone is fatal to them . It is now about , a hundred years

      since Trembley made us acquainted with these animals and first discovered their indestructibility . It has subsequently been taken up by other natural historians , who have followed up these experiments , and have even gone so far as to produce monsters by grafting . If they be turned inside out , they attempt to replace themselves , and if unsuccessfully , the outer surface assumes the properties and powers of the inner , and the reverse . If the effort be partially successful only , the part turned back disappears in twenty-four hours in that part of the body it embraces , in such a behind

      manner that the arms which projected are now fixed in the centre of the body ; the original opening also disappears , and in the room of feelers a new mouth is formed to which new feelers attach themselves , and this new mouth feeds immediately . The healed extremity elongates itself into a tail oi which the animal has no « r two . It two polypi be passed into one another like tubes , and pierceo through with a bristle , the inner one works its way through the other , and comes forth again in a ew days ; in some instances , however , they g ™ w tofccthcr . feelers surround the > mourn

      and then a double row of If they be mutilated , the divided parts grew tet " again , and even pieces of two separate "divid ^ will unite into one DO . , onfnorlive a long time after , the loss of some f ^ f , ™^ tion of their bodies . A Carabus granu a us Jj seen to run without a head ; and a Cerceris , c t . ^ of its head at the moment it was inBertinB t ; nlie j its the cell of a bee , to deposit its eggs , contin attempt , and turned back ^ it after it was placed of opposite direction . Crickets will live to **™ iours days without heads , and will linger for eeverai , ^ when deprived of their entrails ; and wasps w niiuu ucuuvtu ui n »«^»« ^ .. — . . j j

      tempt to Kting after their bodies are dwjjjj wC fina " Ascending higher in the animal woru ^ ^^ that reptileB , und many Bpeciea ol fl * . n , erb j , illy the most violent injuries . -kels art- V viUllity difficult to kill ; and the shark V ™*™*^ after every cruelty has been heaped » P . > " \ s heyon A " The tenacious power of life in the w _ h fay thc measure extraordinary ; it is neither am vhcn exhauBtion of an w-pump , n « v : £ n c ritatu * 1 »» frozen into a solid maas . The lriton cr ^ , , the power of reproducing parts und join ^ it ha « been deprived , and even an eye ., pixt ; , nes feet have been known to replace themst b eB in the course of one summer » o that . on 1 | llft be were reproduced . If tho ^ dujnandra U Btand i » g ° deprived of ita head , the trunk remain * a { itn feet , und turiiB on being touched . 1 ftboU

      which the brain hu « been aD' 1 * " ^ " ' thoir *» y . *» - for months with cloeed eyes , fee J »* g ^ t a he-dhave survived for twenty-three duyn wxti

      Untitled Article

      THUS IlKAtJTIBB « ' " ^^ Ln a * W * Tkr / W . J-o . lta . uu . and Collected « f the «*•** % **«• ** . . * volB . iSi ! cona Natioem ) iDioI i IUvino in a former article expreseod our

      Untitled Article

      1114 1 Rt ) t % t& * bt % * TSAfD ! lDAY

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 22, 1851, page 1114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1910/page/14/