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)
The fact that the lower animals are excited by the same emotions as
ourselves is so well established that it will not be necessary to weary
the reader by many details. Terror acts in the same manner on them as
on us, causing the muscles to tremble, the heart to palpitate, the
sphincters to be relaxed, and the hair to stand on end. Suspicion, the
offspring of fear, is eminently characteristic of most wild animals. It
is, I think, impossible to read the account given by Sir E. Tennent, of
the behavior of the female elephants, used as decoys, without admitting
that they intentionally practice deceit, and well know what they are
about. Courage and timidity are extremely variable qualities in the
individuals of the same species, as is plainly seen in our dogs. Some
dogs and horses are ill-tempered, and easily turn sulky; others are
good-tempered; and these qualities are certainly inherited. Every one
knows how liable animals are to furious rage, and how plainly they
show it. Many, and probably true, anecdotes have been published on
the long-delayed and artful revenge of various animals. The accurate
Rengger and Brehm state that the American and African monkeys which
they kept tame certainly revenged themselves. Sir Andrew Smith, a
zoölogist whose scrupulous accuracy was known to many persons, told me
the following story of which he was himself an eye-witness: At the Cape
of Good Hope an officer had often plagued a certain baboon, and the
animal, seeing him approaching one Sunday for parade, poured water into
a hole and hastily made some thick mud, which he skillfully dashed over
the officer as he passed by, to the amusement of many by-standers. For
long afterward the baboon rejoiced and triumphed whenever he saw his
victim.
* * * * *
[Page 70.]
The love of a dog for his master is notorious; as an old writer
quaintly says, “A dog is the only thing on this earth that luvs you
more than he luvs himself.”
In the agony of death a dog has been known to caress his master, and
every one has heard of the dog suffering under vivisection, who licked
the hand of the operator; this man, unless the operation was fully
justified by an increase of our knowledge, or unless he had a heart of
stone, must have felt remorse to the last hour of his life.
* * * * *
[Page 71.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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