The Dawn of Reason; or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals. Jr. James Weir
origin of conscious mind. 1
The Senses in the Lower Animals
The sense of touch—The senses of taste and smell—Actinophryans having taste—The sense of sight—Modification of sight organs by surroundings—Sight in Actinophryans—Blind fish sensitive to light—Blind spiders—Blind man—Primitive eyes in Cymothoe—In the jelly-fish, sea-urchin, Alciope, Myrianida—The sight organs of the snail—Power of vision in the snail—Eyes of crayfish—Compound eyes—Vision in "whirligig beetle"—In Periophthalmus—In Onchidium—In Calotis—Organs of audition—In Lepidoptera—Hymenoptera—Orthoptera—Diptera—Hemiptera—Dyticus marginalis—Corydalus—Ears of grasshopper and cricket—Of the "red-legged locust"—Of flies—Of gnats—Auditory vesicles of horse-fly—Ears of butterflies—Cerambyx beetle—Long-horned beetle—Cicindelidæ—Carabidæ. 7
Conscious Determination
Definition—How conscious determination is evolved from the senses—The presence of nerve-tissue in Stentor polymorphus—The properties of nerve-tissue—Romanes' experiment with anemone—Action of stimuli on nerve-tissue—Reflection—Origin of consciousness—Time element in consciousness—Conscious determination in Stentor polymorphus—In Actinophrys—In Amœba—In Medusa—In a water-louse—In a garden snail—In the angle-worm—In oysters—In a ground wasp. 39
Memory
Discussed under four heads, viz. Memory of Locality (Surroundings), Memory of Friends (Kin), Memory of Strangers (Other animals not kin), and Memory of Events (Education, Happenings, etc.)—Memory of locality in Actinophrys—In the snail—In the ant—In sand wasps—In beetles—In reptiles—Memory of Friends—In ants—Experiments with ants, Lasius flavus, Lasius niger, and Myrmica ruginodis—Memory of kin in wasps and bees—Experiments—Memory of Strangers (Animals other than kin)—Recognition of enemies—By bumblebees—Memory of individuals not enemies—By the toad—By the spider—By ants—By snakes—By chameleons—By birds—By cattle—By dogs—By monkeys—Memory of Events (Education, etc.)—In the wasp—In fleas—In the toad—In other insects. 60
The Emotions
The higher animals—Laughter—In monkeys—In the dog—In the chimpanzee—In the orang-utan—Fear, dismay, consternation, grief, fortitude, joy shown by bees—Affection for the individual evinced by house wren—Anger, hate, fear, revenge, in the higher animals—Forgiving disposition in the monkey—Sympathy—In ants—Care of young by ants—Solicitude of butterflies—Of gadfly—Of the ichneumon fly—Of the mason wasp—Of the spider—Of the earwig—Anger and hate evinced by ants, centipedes, tarantulas, weevils. 88
Æstheticism
The love of music—In spiders—In quail—In dogs—Origin of love of music in the dog—Dog's knowledge of the echo—Love of music in rats—In mice—Singing mice—Love of music in lizards—In salamanders—In snakes—In pigeons—In the barnyard cock—In the horse—Amusement and pastime—In Actinophrys—In the snail—In Diptera—In ants—In lady-bugs (Coccinellæ)—Æsthetic taste in birds—The snakeskin bird—Humming-bird—Bower bird—The love of personal cleanliness—In birds—In insects—In the locust. 107
Parental Affection
Origin of parental feeling—Evidence of this psychical trait in spiders—In earwigs—In crayfish—In butterflies—In fish—In toads—In snakes—Instance of pride in parents—In the dog—In the cat—Parental affection in birds—Animals seeking the assistance of man when their offspring is in danger—The evolution of parental affection. 134
Reason
Definition of reason—Origin of instincts—Instances of intelligent ratiocination—In the bee—The wasp—The ant—Mental degeneration in ants occasioned by the habit of keeping slaves—The honey-making ant filling an artificial trench—Other evidences of reason in the insect—Termes—Division of labor—The king and queen—Bravery of soldier ants—Overseer and laborers—Blind impulse and intelligent ideation—Harvester ants—Their habits and intelligence—Their presence in Arkansas believed to be unique—Animals able to count—This faculty present in the mason wasps—Experiments—Certain birds able to count—Also dogs and mules—Cat recognizing the lapse of time—Monkey's ability in computing—Huber's experiment with glass slip and bees—Kirby and Spence's comment—Summary. 147
Auxiliary Senses
The color-changing sense and "homing instinct" so-called—These faculties not instincts but true senses—The chromatic function—Tinctumutation—Chromatophores and their function—Various theories—Experiments of Paul Bert with axolotls—Semper's contention—The difference between plant coloring and animal coloring—Effects of light—Experiments with newts—Lister's observations—Pouchet's experiments—Sympathetic nerves—Author's experiments with frogs—The sense-centre of tinctumutation—Effects of atropia—Experiments with fish—With katydid—The "homing instinct" a true sense—Evidences of the sense in a water-louse—Author's experiments with snails—Location of sense-centre