strange that the problem
of precedence in the scale of animal intelligence should still be a
mooted question. The primacy of the animal kingdom remains, of course,
undisputed; but the dog, the elephant, the horse, the beaver,--nay, the
parrot, the bee, and the ant,--have found learned and uncompromising
advocates of their claims to the honors of the second rank.

Russel Wallace and Dr. Brehm have agitated the question, but failed to
settle it,--even to their own satisfaction. The reason, I believe, is
that the exponents of the different theories have failed to agree on a
definite standard of comparison. The mathematical principle implied in
the construction of a honey-comb, we are told, can challenge comparison
with the ripest results of human science. The acumen of a well-trained
elk-hound, a philosophical sportsman assures us, comes nearer to human
reason than any other manifestation of animal sagacity.
Elephant-trainers, too, adduce instances that almost pass the line of
distinction between intuitive prudence and the results of reflection.
Yet if those distinctions suffice to define the difference between
reason and the primitive instincts, they should reduce the scope of the
question in so far as to make it clear that, instead of measuring the
degree of the development of special faculties of the animal mind, we
should _ascertain the direction_ of those faculties. Instinct tends to
promote the interests of the species, and is limited to the more or less
skilful, but monotonous, performance of a special task. Within that
limited sphere its competence is perfect. Reason may be often at fault,
but its capacity enlarges with practice, and the scope of its
application is unlimited. It may be exerted in the interest of the
species, of the tribe, of the family; it may devote itself to the
service of an abstract principle or subserve the purposes of individual
caprice. It differs from instinct as a piano differs from a
barrel-organ. The pianist has to master his art by years of toil, but
can apply it to all possible variations or extravaganzas of music. The
organ-grinder can delight his audience as much by his first as by his
last performance, but his _repertoire_ is limited. Reason is indefinite,
free, and versatile. Instinct is exact, but circumscribed.

Tested by that standard, the difference between the intelligence of the
higher _quadrumana_--the anthropoid apes, the baboons, and several
species of the macaques--and t