The Dawn of Reason; or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals

, jealousy, etc., are present. Books on natural history fairly teem with data in support of this proposition. Such authorities as Romanes,[41] Darwin,[42]

has been claimed, he alone of all animals expresses emot

een known to express pleasure through the agency of the smile. And, in the case of cer

e a noted "laugher," and his facial expressions as well as the sounds he uttered were so eviden

miles. The action of the facial muscles, as well as the facial expression engendered by this

r an absence of some little time. Their eyes sparkle and grow bright, while

s me that he kept a tame monkey in his house for a year; and when he gave it, during meal-times, some choice delicacy, he observed that the corners of its mouth were slightly raised;

chuckle. When I first saw and heard this manifestation of delight, I thought that the animal had been taught the accomplishment; his

a fact beyond dispute that certain monkeys and dogs are "laughing animals," and that man i

against a neighboring comb. It was perfectly apparent to me that if something were not done at once, the comb would continue to sag until it broke away from all its connections, and would then be precipitated to the floor o

to me very much like the noisy vociferation of conflicting counsels, which would undoubtedly arise among

lved out of chaos, and they set to work to prevent the fall of the comb, showing almost, if

ing it so that it could sag no further. When this had been done, they re-affixed the top of the comb to the ceiling of the h

rtitude and joy; for, after the supporting pillar had been built, I saw the queen, surrounded by a crowd of courtier-bees, on the comb near it, and am fully convinc

rwhelming diarrh?a, to which bees, at times, are very subject) while making a progression through her domains, and fell to the floor of the hive and d

ry had happened. The sick queen was immediately surrounded by a dense circle of her subjects

o bewailing their loss, and seemingly crazed by grief. All work was immediately suspended, and even the young were abandoned and left, for the time being, to shift for themselves. Those bees which returned to the hive laden with honey did not put it into the cells but retained it in their

nemy. This bird undoubtedly showed gratitude. Another correspondent writes: "Knowing your love for, and your interest in, all animals, I think my experience with two house wrens this summer will entertain you. These bird

about me, uttering sharp, complaining cries; they would now and then fly to the outhouse, and then back to me. At last it occurr

parents, much to the delight of all parties concerned. Ever since this episode the male wren has shown his gratitude in an unmistakable manner. He has followed me into the house on several occasions; he has learned where I sit when engaged in

ho runs may read." That these animals possess these emotions is a fact which hardly needs demonstration. They likewise have very retentive memories, so

d, this summer, after his antagonist had been handicapped by having that atrocious invention, a muzzle, affi

y house in the St. Louis Zo?logical Garden, who remarked that "That monkey will do me up so

been almost severed from his hand by the powerful teeth of the mandril. The keeper had been explaining something to some visitors, standing with his back to the animal, and with his hand r

nd of mine and who had been taken from his cage and given to me by the keeper. After playing with him for a time, I had placed him on the floor and ha

discovered that the tips of two fingers were bruised and abraded; the little fellow had evidently had them caught in some way beneath the heel of my shoe. He quietly and patiently submitted while we

friend to "doctor" the injury, although he did not evince an abiding faith in that friend's skill. In contradistinction to the mandril which evinced revenge, t

a tree, as if he were going to fly at me, stopped suddenly, and coolly put his paw to the part wounded, and held it out, covered with blood, for me t

al fell. When he arrived at the place where she was lying, she clasped her young one closer, and pointed with her fingers to the hole in her breast made by the bullet. "Dipping

rrow and reproach. "So intense is the grief of female monkeys for the loss of their young, that it

n, and lawgiver, plainly shows this. At the present time, science declares, emphatically, that man is but a mammal, whose brain has undergone exceptional evolutionary development. He is but the younger kinsman of other mammals whose evolutionary development has sought other channels; these, in turn, are but younger kin of yet older animals, and so on backwards, to the beginning of life in bathybian protoplasm. The resistless forces of evolution have placed him where h

duct and the result of the action of an essence or force unconnected with, or outside of, brain; and, furthermore, when we know that these lower animals have receptive ganglia

been able to differentiate the gray matter in the brain of an ant, and even, on two occasions, to bring out the cells and filaments of the cortex. Here in the brain of an a

rades out of the nest and carried them away; they thought that they were dead. He made some other specimens of the same species intoxicated, and the ants carefully bore their helpless compani

f Lasius flavus, and placed her near the entrance to her nest. In a short time a companion came to her assistance, and, lifting her with her mandibles, carried her into the nest. A specimen of F. fusca, destitute of antenn?, was attacked and severely injured by an ant of another species. An ant

oon as she discovered the condition of her friend, ran hurriedly backward and communicated the intelligence to the others. "They rushed to the rescue; some bit at the stone and tried to move it, others seized the prisoner by the legs and tugged with such force that I thought the legs woul

isoner, but she had only gone for assistance, and soon returned accompanied by a dozen companions, which made directly for the imprisoned ant and soon set her free. "I do not see how," says Belt in conclusion, "this action could be instinctive. It was sympathetic help, such as man only among the higher mamma

e part of the nest where she was. The other ants at once carried her to the covered part. "On March 4," says he, "the ants were all out of the nest, probably for fresh air, and had collected together in a corner of the box; they had not, however, forgo

e observer, informs me that he has frequently observed the large

-mothers. These foster-mothers clean it with their tongues, gently going over the entire surface of its body, and then feed it. The young ant is conducted by them throughout the whole nest, and shown all the devious passageways and corridors. When it makes its first visit into the outside worl

will be nourishing food for the larv? when hatched out, and, after carefully observing whether it is preoccupied by the eggs of some other butterfly (in which case she abandons it), she proc

onvey the eggs to his stomach, where they are hatched out. The breeding place of certain of the ichneumons is the body of a caterpillar. The ichneumon may be seen busily searching the bushes for her victim. When she finds it, she inserts her ovipositor into its body and lays her egg. If some other ichneumon has preceded her, she recogni

sting of the wasp. The insect thus secures for her young a supply of fresh food. This wasp not only knows the difference between the eggs that will produce female young, but she also makes this knowledge useful. She always supplies the females with more sp

ar. Time and again I removed her several inches from the eggs; she would run about in a distracted way, for all the world like a mother who had lost her baby, until she found the ball of eggs. She would then seize it and attempt to remove it to a place of safety. The natura

her leads forth the brood and shows unmistakable pride and affection in her children. On one occasion, when a storm was c

constantly sitting upon the heap without ever quitting it for a moment until the eggs were hatched."[58] This, I take it, is at least an instance of love of offs

rantulas, weevils, etc., as well as many of the crustacea will give battle on the slightest provocation, clearly showing by their actio

animals possess one or more of the finer emotions, which I

TNO

s, Animal I

in, Desce

per, Ani

ann, Anthr

n, Expression of t

mmalia, Vol. I. pp. 383, 410; quot

loc. cit. a

Huber, Vol.

Animal Intelli

es, op. ci

, Descent o

Ants, Bees, an

aragua, p. 26; quoted also by Ro

eisure Hour,

loc. cit. ante

Spence, Entom

ted also by Romanes, Ani

229; quoted also by Bingley, lo