Wonders of animal instinct with illustrative anecdotes
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| Wonders of animal instinct with illustrative anecdotes |
THE marvels of animal intelligence claim now, more than ever, the attention of observers. Without admitting, like some people, that we come from a quadruped; without approving of the beast worship of the Egyptians; we believe that most animals which crawl or walk on the earth, or fly in the air, form communities like ourselves.
We believe that the lower animals possess, to a certain degree, the faculties of man and that our inferior brothers, as Francis of Assisi calls them, preceded us on the earth.. -We agree with Montaigne, Reaumur, La Fontaine, George Leroy, and Frederick Cuvier, in the intelligence of animals; we admit, with Cabanis, that there exists an intimate connection between the organisation and the intellectual faculties; and, with Gall, that the intelligence principally operates through the brain
.We do not believe that the habits, industry, and art of animals remain immutable. Has it not been observed, times out of number, that old animals are more cunning than young ones?
The Radiated animals owe their name to the disposition of their organs around a nervous centre and are also called zoophytes because they have something of the form and organisation of plants. Their nervous system is little de-developed; and it is difficult to note intelligence in these beings, that have neither head nor heart, neither arms nor legs; in which animal life is scarcely separated from matter; created only to eat. The sole organ they possess is a stomach, an alimentary bag, sometimes divided into many pockets or cavities, and having only one opening to receive the food.
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