The Universal KinshipMoore, J. Howard (John Howard)
Philosophy
The Universal Kinship
Moore, J. Howard (John Howard)
Evolution; Human beings; Sociology
There is less variety among the individuals of non-human races than
among individual men, just as there is less variety among individual
savages than among the members of a civilised community. But there
is mental diversity among all beings, and we only need to whittle
our observation a little to recognise the fact. You never hear the
keeper of a menagerie or any intelligent associate of dogs, horses,
birds, or insects say there is no individuality among these animals.
Brehm, the great German naturalist, assures us that each individual
monkey of all those he kept tame in Africa had its own peculiar
temper and disposition. And this is no more than what everyone who
knows anything about it knows to be true of dogs, horses, cats,
cattle, birds, and even fishes and insects. Any intelligent
dog-fancier or pigeon-fancier can tell you the personal
peculiarities of every one of the fifty or a hundred dogs or pigeons
in his charge. He has watched and studied them since they came into
existence, and through this continuous association he has come to
_know_ them. He simply makes discriminations that are not made by
the casual or superficial observer. The Laplander knows and names
each reindeer in his herd, though to a stranger they are all as much
alike as the multitudes on an ant-hill. The Peckhams of Milwaukee,
those indefatigable investigators of spiders and insects, are
constantly telling us of the wonderful individuality possessed by
these lowly lessees of our fields and gardens. In their work on
‘The Habits and Instincts of the Solitary Wasps,’ speaking of
the ammophiles, these authors say: ‘In this species, as in every
one that we have studied, we have found a most interesting variation
among the different individuals, not only in methods, but in
character and intellect. While one was beguiled from her hunting by
every sorrel blossom she passed, another stuck to her work with
indefatigable perseverance. While one stung her caterpillars so
carelessly and made her nest in so shiftless a way that her young
could survive only through some lucky chance, another devoted
herself to these duties not only with conscientious earnestness, but
with an apparent craving after artistic perfection that was touching
to see.’ The variation in the mental phenomena of animals,
including man, is partly innate, and partly the result of
environment or education.
Animals not only vary in their mental qualities, but they also
_inherit_ these variations, just as they do physical properties and
peculiarities. Evidence of this is furnished by every new being that
comes into the world. Insanity runs in families, and so does genius
and criminality. Even the most trifling idiosyncrasies are often
transmitted, not only by men, but also by dogs, horses, and other
animals. Such qualities of mind as courage, fidelity, good and bad
temper, intelligence, timidity, special tastes and aptitudes, are
certainly transmitted in all the higher orders of animal life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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