Book II. Bodies of themselves and their Companions, but thofe alfo of their Masters (witnefs King Porus, whom Alexander defeated) and that fo dextroufly, that we could not do it ourselves, with fo little Pain to the wounded Perfon: When we see all this, I fay, why do we not confefs in the fame Manner, that this is Knowledge and Prudence? For to argue, in order to difparage them, that they know it only by the Inftruction and Documents of Nature, this is not robbing them of their Claim to Knowledge and Prudence, but afcribing it to them with more Reafon than to us, to the Honour of fo infallible a School-Mistress. 1 Dogs capable of Reafon. Chryfippus, though in all other Things, he had as mean an Opinion of the Condition of the Animals, as any other Philofopher, obferving the Motions of a Dog (that had either loft his Master, or was in Pursuit of fome Prey) at a Crossway, where three Roads met, and feeing him lay his Nofe in one Road after another, and obferving that, when he had no manner of Scent of what he was feeking in two of them, he darted into the third Road without any Boggle, the Philofopher was forced to confefs, that that Dog must reason with himself in this Manner, I have traced my Mafter to this Crofsway, and one of these three Roads he must needs be gone; but I do not "perceive that he took this Road or that: He must there⚫fore infallibly be gone the other;' and that, having made himself fure that he was in the Right by this Inference and Reasoning, he made no farther Ufe of his Senfe in the third Road, nor laid his Nofe to it, but ran on in it, without any other Motive, except the Strength of his Reason. This Paffage, which is the pure Art of Reafoning, and this Stating of Propofitions divided and united together, and the proper Examination of the Parts, is it not of as much Ufe to the Dog to know it of hiinself, as if he was inftructed in the Knowledge of that Figure in Geometry, which they call a Trapezium? Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrh. Hypot. L. i. c. 14. p. 15, Nor Animals capable of being in ftructed. Nor are the Animals incapable of being inftructed in our Fashion. We teach Blackbirds, Ravens, Magpies, Parrots, &c. to talk; and the Readiness with which we must acknowledge they give us their Voice and Breath, rendering both fo fupple and pliant, as to be formed and reftrained to a certain Number of Letters and Syllables, fhews us that they are indued with Reason, which renders them fo teachable and willing to learn. Every one has feen enough, I should think, of the many Monkey Tricks that are played by Dogs, which Tumblers lead about the Streets; their Dancings, in which they keep exact Meafure with the Sound of the Mufic; their various Motions and Leaps, at the Command of their Leader; but I am more ftruck with Admiration at the Performance, which is, nevertheless, very common, of those Dogs that lead the blind Beggars in the Fields, and in Towns: I have taken Notice how they stop at fuch Doors where they have been used to receive Charity, how they keep out of the Way of Coaches and Carts, even when there has been room enough for themselves to pafs: I have feen them, in walking along by a Town-Ditch, get out of the plain smooth Path, and chufe a worfe, only to keep their Master farther from the Ditch. How could this Dog be made to conceive that it was his Business to be mindful only of the Safety of his Mafter, and to prefer his Service to his own Convenience? And how came he to know, that a Way was wide enough for him, which was not fo for a blind Man? Could he comprehend all this without a Faculty of Reasoning? We must not forget what Plutarch tells us of a Dog he faw at Rome, with the Emperor Vefpafian, the Father, at the Theatre of Marcel- A Dog which feigned itfelf lus. This Dog belonged to a Tumbler, dead. who acted the Farce of a Pofture-Mafter, and the Dog alfo played a Part. Amongst other Tricks, he was commanded to feign himself dead for a Space of Time, by reafon of eating fome poisonous Drug. After Plutarch. de Solertia Animalium, c. 18. I he Book II. he had fwallowed a Piece of Bread, which was pretended to be this Drug, he began foon to tremble and stagger, as if he had been aftonished; and at laft, ftretching himfelf out on the Ground, and appearing Stone-dead, he fuffered himself to be dragged from one Place to another, as the Bufinefs of the Farce required; and, when he knew it was Time for hime to come to Life again, he began first to ftir himself very gently, as if he was juft awakened out of a profound Slumber; and, lifting up his Head, ftared about him, in fuch a Manner as furprized all the Spectators. of Sufa. The Oxen that were employed in watering the Royal Gardens at Sufa, turned certain great Wheels The Oxen in the to draw the Water, to which Buckets were Royal Gardens hung (whereof there are many fuch in Languedoc) and they were ordered to draw each a hundred Turns a Day. They were fo accustomed to this Number, that it was impoffible, by any Force, to make them draw one Turn more; but, when they had done their Task, they ftopped quite fhort. We cannot count a Hundred, till we are in our youthful Years; and have lately discovered Nations that have no Knowledge at all of Numbers. It requires a greater Share of Understanding to give Nightingales teach their Young to fing. Inftruction than to receive it. But fetting afide, what Democritus held and proved, that we learn most of the Arts we have from the other Animals, as Weaving and Sewing from the Spider, Building from the Swallow, Mufic from the Swan and the Nightingale, and the Ufe of Medicine from feveral of the Animals, by imitating them: Ariftotle is of Opinion, that the Nightingales fpend a great deal of Time and Pains in teaching their Young to fing; and that to this 'tis owing, that those which we breed up in Cages, that have not had Time to learn of their Dams, want much of the Grace of their Singing. From hence we may judge, that they improve by Difcipline and Study: And, even amongft the wild Ones, 'tis not every one alike, fince each takes its Learning according to its • Plutarch. de Solertia Animalium, c. 20. Сара Capacity: And fo jealous are they one of another, whilft learning, that they emulate one another, and contend fo furiously, that the Vanquished drops down dead for want of Breath, rather than Voice. The younger Nightingales ruminate, are penfive, and begin with the Imitation of fome Staves: The Scholar liftens to his Master's Inftruction, and follows it very carefully. They are filent by Turns: One may hear Faults corrected, and obferve fome Reproofs by the Teacher. Elephants indance to Mufic structed to I have formerly feen, fays Arrius, an Elephant having a Cymbal hung at each Leg, and another at his Head, at the Sound of which all the others danced round him, rifing and falling at certain Cadences, according as they were guided by the Inftrument; and the Harmony was delightful. At the Spectacles of Rome, it was common to fee Elephants trained up to move and dance to Vocal Mufic, and fuch Dances too, wherein were fuch Figurings in and out, fuch Croffings, and fuch a Variety of Steps, as were very difficult to learn. And fome have been known to practise their Leffons in private by themfelves with great Care and Study, that they might not be chid and corrected by their Keepers. A Barber's Magpye that imitated the Sound of a Trumpet. But this other Story of a Magpye, for which we have the Authority of Plutarch" himfelf, is very ftrange. This Bird, which was in a Barber's Shop at Rome, imitated with her Voice every Thing that she heard, to a Degree that was miraculous. It happened one Day that fome Trumpets were founded a good while before the Shop: After that, and all the next Day, Mag was very penfive, quite mute, and melancholy; which every body wondered at, and believed that the Sound of the Trumpets had totally ftupified and ftunned it, and that her Voice and her Hearing were both gone together. But it appeared, at length, that it had been in a profound Meditation, and mufing all the while within itself, how to exercise and prepare its Voice to imitate the Sound of Pliny affirms the fame Thing, Nat. Hift. lib. viii. c. 3. น Plutarch. de Solertia Animalium, c. 18. I thofe those Trumpets, fo that the first Effay it made was perfectly to imitate their Repetitions, Stops, and Changes; and this new Leffon made it quit and defpife all it had learned before. The Invention Though it be not quite in Method, which I am fenfible I do not strictly purfue, nay, more in the Examples I bring, than in the rest of my Difcourfes: I will not omit to produce this other Inftance of a Dog, which, Plutarch fays, he once faw aboard a Ship: This Dog being unable to come at fome Oil at the Bottom of a Jar, which he could not reach with his Tongue, by reafon of the narrow Mouth of the Veffel, went and fetched Stones, and let them fall into the Jar, 'til the Oil rofe fo high that he could lap it. What is this, but the Effect of great Subtlety? 'Tis faid, the Ravens of Barbary do the fame, when the Water they would drink is too low ". Of the Subtle ty and Penetration of Elephants. Ꮓ This Action bears a near Resemblance to what is reported of Elephants by Juba, a King of their Country, that when, by the Craft of the Hunters, one of them is caught in the deep Pits that are dug, and covered over with Bushes to intrap them, its Companions haften with Stones and Logs of Wood to enable him to get out. But this Creature, in many other Performances, discovers fuch a Measure of human Capacity, that, should I give a Detail of all the Facts, known by Experience, I should easily gain Affent to what I have commonly maintained, that there is a wider Difference betwixt fuch and fuch Men, than there is betwixt fuch a Man and fuch a Beast. The Keeper of an Elephant, at a private Houfe in Syria, robbed him at every Meal of one half of his Allowance. One Day his Master took in his Head to feed the Elephant himself, and poured into his Manger the full Measure of Barley, which he had ordered for his Meal. The Elephant, giving his Keeper an angry Look, feparated one half from the other with his Trunk, and × Plutarch. de Solertia Animalium, c. 12. y Id. ibid. c. 12. z Id. ibid, c. 16. thrust |