Strauss thought that the rising tide of popular sentiment about animals
was the direct result of the abandonment by science of the
spiritualistic isolation of man from Nature. I suspect that those who
have worked hardest for animals in the last half-century cared little
about the origin of species, while it is certain that some professed
evolutionists have been their worst foes. The fact remains, however,
that by every rule of logic the theory of evolution _ought_ to produce
the effect which Strauss thought that it had produced. The discovery
which gives its name to the nineteenth century revolutionises the whole
philosophic conception of the place of animals in the Universe.
Lamarck, whom Cuvier so cruelly attacked, was the first to discern the
principle of evolution. At one time he held the Chair of Zoology at the
University of Paris; but the opposition which his ideas met with crushed
him in body, though not in soul, and he died blind and in want in 1829,
only consoled by the care of an admirable daughter. His last words are
said to have been that it is easier to discover a truth than to convince
others of it.
An Italian named Carlo Lessona was one of the first to be convinced. He
wrote a work containing the phrase, “The intelligence of animals”—which
work, by the rule then in force, had to be presented to the
ecclesiastical Censor at Turin to receive his permit before publication.
The canon who examined the book fell upon the words above mentioned, and
remarked: “This expression, ‘intelligence of animals,’ will never do!”
“But,” said Lessona, “it is commonly used in natural history books.”
“Oh!” replied the canon, “natural history has much need of
revision.”[12]
Footnote 12:
See Dr. F. Franzolini’s interesting monograph on animal psychology
from the point of view of science (“Intelligenza delle Bestie,” Udine,
1899).
The great and cautious Darwin said that the senses, intuitions,
emotions, and faculties, such as love, memory, attention, curiosity,
imitation, reason, of which man boasts, may be found in an incipient, or
even, sometimes, in a well-developed condition in the lower animals.
“Man, with all his noble qualities, his God-like intellect, still bears
in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. Our
brethren fly in the air, haunt the bushes, and swim in the sea.” Darwin
agreed with Agassiz in recognising in the dog something very like the
human conscience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account