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FIRST CLASS OP OBJECTS FOR THE SUBJECT. 89
(Eumaee, sapientia non uni tantum competit, sed qucecunque
vivunt etiam intellectum Tiabent.) Porphyry likewise endea
vours to show at length that all animals have under
standing. 1
Now, that it should be so, follows necessarily from the
intellectual character of perception. / All animals, even
down to the very lowest, must have Understanding that
is, knowledge of the causal law, although they have it in
very different degrees of delicacy and of clearness ; at any
rate they must have as much of it as is required for percep
tion by their senses ;
for sensation without Understanding
would be not only a useless, but a cruel gift of Nature.^
No one, who has himself any intelligence, can doubt the
existence of it in the higher animals. But at times it even
becomes undeniably evident that their knowledge of
causality is actually a priori, and that it does not arise
from the habit of seeing one thing follow upon another. A
very young puppy will not, for instance, jump off a table,
because he foresees what would be the consequence. Not
long ago I had some large curtains put up at my bed
room window, which reached down to the floor, and were
drawn aside from the centre by means of a string. The
first morning they were opened I was surprised to see my
dog, a very intelligent poodle, standing quite perplexed,
and looking upwards and sidewards for the cause of the
phenomenon : that is, he was seeking for the change which
he knew a priori must have taken place. Next day the
same thing happened again. But even the lowest animals
have perception consequently Understanding down to
the aquatic polypus, which has no distinct organs of sensa
tion, yet wanders from leaf to leaf on its waterplant, while
clinging to it with its feelers, in search of more light.
Nor is there, indeed, any difference, beyond that of
1
Porph. "De -
abstinentia, iii. 21.