Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles DarwinDarwin, Charles
Science
Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles Darwin
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology)
As man possesses the same senses as the lower animals, his fundamental
intuitions must be the same. Man has also some few instincts in common,
as that of self-preservation, sexual love, the love of the mother for
her new-born offspring, the desire possessed by the latter to suck,
and so forth. But man, perhaps, has somewhat fewer instincts than
those possessed by the animals which come next to him in the series.
The orang in the Eastern islands and the chimpanzee in Africa build
platforms on which they sleep; and, as both species follow the same
habit, it might be argued that this was due to instinct, but we can
not feel sure that it is not the result of both animals having similar
wants, and possessing similar powers of reasoning. These apes, as we
may assume, avoid the many poisonous fruits of the tropics, and man has
no such knowledge: but, as our domestic animals, when taken to foreign
lands, and when first turned out in the spring, often eat poisonous
herbs, which they afterward avoid, we can not feel sure that the apes
do not learn from their own experience or from that of their parents
what fruits to select. It is, however, certain, as we shall presently
see, that apes have an instinctive dread of serpents, and probably of
other dangerous animals.
The fewness and the comparative simplicity of the instincts in the
higher animals are remarkable in contrast with those of the lower
animals. Cuvier maintained that instinct and intelligence stand
in an adverse ratio to each other; and some have thought that the
intellectual faculties of the higher animals have been gradually
developed from their instincts. But Pouchet, in an interesting essay,
has shown that no such inverse ratio really exists. Those insects
which possess the most wonderful instincts are certainly the most
intelligent. In the vertebrate series, the least intelligent members,
namely, fishes and amphibians, do not possess complex instincts; and
among mammals the animal most remarkable for its instincts, namely, the
beaver, is highly intelligent, as will be admitted by every one who has
read Mr. Morgan’s excellent work.
MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS EXCITED BY THE SAME EMOTIONS.
[Page 69.]
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