tion. But let us consider the matter a moment. This thing between the cowbird and the warbler has been going on for innumerable generations. The yellow, warbler seems to be the favorite host of this parasite, and something like a special instinct may have grown up in the warbler with reference to this strange egg. The bird reacts, as the psychologists say, at sight of it, then she proceeds to dispose of it in the way above described. All yellow warblers act in the same manner, which is the way of instinct. Now if this procedure was the result of an individual thought or calculation on the part of the birds, they would not all do the same thing; different lines of conduct would be hit upon. How much simpler and easier it would be to throw the egg out - how much more like an act of rational intelligence. So far as I know no bird does eject this parasitical egg, and no other bird besides the yellow warbler gets rid of it in the way I have described. I have seen a green-backed warbler rearing the young cowbird.

"Another correspondent is sure his dog thinks when he sits up in front of him while he is reading, and taps him on his back or leg as a reminder that he wants the ball in his master's pocket to play with; and that his parrot thinks when, on hearing him. enter the house, it begins savagely to bite its cage and to make hideous noises, all with a view to obtaining its freedom, so that it can make its way to its beloved master, and caress and play with him. If

REASON AND INSTINCT

9

such things indicate powers of thought, then nearly all animals think. The bee does when it goes forth from the hive in quest of honey; the big midsummer spider does when it shakes its net to frighten you away; the mother bird does when she flutters over the ground at your feet to decoy you away from her nest, etc. But none of these acts can properly be called the result of thinking.

"When a parrot takes a crust of bread and soaks it in its cup of water before eating it, that looks much more like the result of a mental process." I

There are many instances of animal sagacity which seem to show a certain degree of reasoning. The following is quoted by Professor James: "I have two dogs, a small, long-legged pet dog, and a rather large watch-dog. Immediately beyond the house court is a garden, into which one enters through a low lattice gate which is closed by a latch on the yard side. This latch is opened by lifting it. Besides this, moreover, the gate is fastened on the garden side by a string nailed to a gate-post. Here, as often as one wished, could the following sight be observed. If the little dog was shut in the garden and wanted to go out he placed himself before the gate and barked. Immediately the large dog in the court would hasten to him and raise the latch with his nose, while the little dog on the garden side leaped up, and catching the string in his teeth, bit it thru. Certainly reasoning here seems to prevail.

1 1 Outing Magazine, 1905.

"In face of it, however, and altho the dogs arrived of themselves and without human aid at the solution of the gate question, I am able to point out that the complete action was pieced together out of accidental experiences, which the dogs followed, I might say, unconsciously.

"While the large dog was young, he was allowed, like the little one, to go into the garden, and therefore the gate was usually not latched but simply closed. Now if he saw any one go in he would follow by thrusting his snout between the gate and the post, and so pushing the gate open. When he was grown I forbade his being taken in, and had the gate kept latched. But he naturally still tried to follow when any one entered, and tried in the old fashion to open it, which he could no longer do. Now it fell out that once, while trying, he raised his nose higher than usual, and hit the latch from below, so as to lift it off its hook, and the gate opened. From thenceforth he made the same movement of the head when trying to open it, and of course with the same result. He now knew how to open the gate when it was latched.

"The little dog had been the large one's teacher in many things, especially in the chasing of cats, and catching of mice and moles, so when the little one was heard barking, the other always hastened to him.

"If the barking came from the garden he opened the gate to get inside.

"But meanwhile the little dog, who wanted to get

REASON AND INSTINCT

II

out, the moment the gate opened slipped out between the big one's legs, and so the appearance of his having come with the intention of letting him out arose, and that it was simply an appearance transpired from the fact that, when the little dog did not succeed at once in getting out, the large one ran in, and nosed about the garden, plainly showing that he had expected to see something there.

"In order to stop this opening of the gate, I fastened a string on the garden side, which, tightly drawn, held the gate firmly against the post, so that if the large dog raised the latch, and let go, it would every time fall back on the hook, and this device was successful for quite a time, until it happened one day that on my return from a walk upon which the little dog had accompanied me, I crossed the garden, and in passing through the gate the dog remained behind, and refused to come to my whistle.

"As it was beginning to rain and I knew how he disliked to get wet, I closed the gate in order to punish him in this manner.

"But I had hardly reached the house ere he was before the gate, whining and crying most piteously, for the rain was falling faster and faster. The big dog, to whom the rain was a matter of indifference, was instantly on hand, and tried his utmost to open the gate, but naturally without success. Almost in despair, the little dog bit at the gate, at the same time springing into the air in the attempt to jump over it, when he chanced to catch the string in his

teeth. It broke and the gate flew open. Now he knew the secret, and thenceforth bit the string whenever he wished to get out, so that I was obliged to change it."

If every story of animal intelligence could be carefully analyzed and the history of its development known it would probably be evident, as in this case, that the mentality displayed was hardly worthy the name Reason. There is an association of means and end. The dog remembered that a certain result followed a certain action. In the first instance, when the gate was not hasped, simply pushing against it caused it to open. Accidentally discovering that raising the hasp with his nose, the result open gate followed, simple memory of the association of the two occurrences caused him to repeat the movement. To this class of phenomena psychology has given the name Recept. This word is derived from Latin re (back), capio (to take), meaning something remembered.

This is in distinction from the larger word Concept, from the same root, but the prefix con, together, shows that it covers the association of things received. This term is applicable only to reasoning. In reasoning we put things together and pick out the essential quality of observed facts. In this instance, that the pushing of the gate must take place while the hasp was lifted, so that the hasp would not drop into its place again. Then there is formed in the mind a * Psychology.