And no one is likely to question the fact that animals habitually proceed from this first stage--the formation of constructs by immediate association--to the second stage of construction--the defining of constructs by examination. In many of the deer tribe, notably the prong-horn of America, this tendency is so strongly developed that they may be lured to their destruction by setting up a strange and unfamiliar object which, as we put it, may excite their curiosity. A strange noise or appearance will make a dog uneasy until he has by examination satisfied himself of the nature of that which produces it. Of this an instance fell under my observation a few days ago. My cat was asleep on a chair, and my little son was blowing a toy horn. The cat, without moving, mewed uneasily. I told my boy to continue blowing. The cat grew more uneasy, and at last got up, stretched herself, and turned towards the source of discomfort. She stood looking at my boy for a minute as he blew. Then curling herself up, she went to sleep again, and no amount of blowing disturbed her further. Similarly, Mr. Romanes's dog was cowed at the sound of apples being shot on to the floor of a loft above the stable; but when he was taken to the place, and saw what gave rise to the sound, he ceased to be disquieted by it. Every one must have seen animals defining their constructs by examination. A monkey will spend hours in the examination of an old bottle or a bit of looking-glass. At the Zoological Gardens connected with the National Museum at Washington, a monkey was observed with a female opossum on his knee. He had discovered the slit-like opening of the marsupial pouch, and took out first one and then another of the young, looked them over carefully, and replaced them without injury.[GF] There may possibly be some difference of opinion as to whether animals are able to infuse into their constructs of other animals the element of feeling. One would, perhaps, fain believe that the beasts of prey were wholly unaware of the pain they inflict on other organisms. But I question whether any close observer of animals could hold this view. Even if it were supposed that when two dogs fight they are blind to the pain they are inflicting on each other, their mock-fighting seems to imply a consciousness of the pain they might inflict, but avoid inflicting. And many of us have presumably had experiences analogous to the following: A favourite terrier of mine was once brought home to me so severely gashed in the abdominal region that I felt it necessary to sew up the wound. In his pain the poor dog turned round and seized my hand, but he checked himself before the teeth had closed upon me tightly, and piteously licked my hand. For myself, I cannot doubt that animals project into each other the shadows of the feelings of which they are themselves conscious.