The Intelligence of Brutes.
FROM “The Harmonies of Nature,” an interesting volume published by the Appletons, we extract the following paragraphs on the intelligence of animals:— As the mammalia are man's nearest relations, in a physical point of view, they are also endowed with an intelligence superior to that of the other animals, and not seldom prompting them to actions which seem rather to belong to the sphere of reason than to that of brute instinct. The chimpanzee, for instance, will lock and unlock a drawer, will thread any needle, and cannot be taken in by the same thing twice. A dog in a monastery, perceiving that the monks received their meals by rapping at a buttery door, contrived to do so likewise, and when the allowance was pushed through it, and the door shut, ran off with it. This was repeated till the theft was detected. Another dog, belonging to Mr. Taylor, a clergyman who lived at Colton, near Wolsely Bridge, was accused of killing many sheep. Complaints was made to his master, who asserted that the thing was impossible, because he was muzzled every night. The neighbors persisting in the charge, the dog one night was watched, and he was seen to draw his neck out of the muzzle, then to go into a field and eat as much of a sheep as satisfied his appetite. He next went into the river to wash his mouth, and returned afterwards to his kennel, put his head into the muzzle again, and lay very quietly down to sleep. Mr. Morland, a surgeon in Paris, had taken into his house the dog of a friend which had broken its leg, and good-naturedly cured it. Sometime after, the dog scratched at the door of Mr. Morland's study, and, on being admitted, introduced another dog, to whom some accident had happened, and who could hardly crawl along after his guide. The first dog plainly showed by his caresses what he wanted, and the surgeon admiring his sagacity, took charge of his protégé and cured him likewise. As the elephant surpasses all that breathes on dry land in bulk and muscular power, his mental faculties also assign to him one of the first places in the animal creation. When tamed he becomes the most gentle and obedient of all domestic quadrupeds, and in most cases is exceedingly fond of his keeper, and soon learns to distinguish the various tones of the human voice, as expressive of anger, approbation, or command. His strength is rendered doubly serviceable to man by the intelligence he evinces in its use. He will load a boat with amazing dexterity, carefully keeping all the articles dry, and disposing them where they ought to be placed. In propelling wheel-carriages heavily laden, up a declivity, he pushes them forward with his forehead, and supports them with his knees. In Ceylon, where the elephants are frequently employed in dragging and piling felled timber, they manifest an intelligence and dexterity which is surprising to a stranger, because the sameness of the operation enables them to go on for hours, disposing of log after log, almost without a hint or direction from their overseer. Sir E. Tennent mentions two elephants thus employed in the yards attached to the commissariat stores at Colombo, who accomplished their work with equal precision and with greater rapidity than if it had been accomplished by dock laborers. When the pile attained a certain height, and they were no longer able, by their conjoint efforts, to raise one of the heavy logs of ebony to the summit, they had been taught to lean two pieces against the heap, up the inclined plane of which they gently rolled the remaining logs, and placed them trimly on the top.