INSTINCT OR REASON?

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 21

INSTINCT OR REASON?

(By "Ajax.")

"Instinct" is one of those convent ent words by which man is accustomed to conceal his ignorance of the mental processes of the so-called lower animals under the pretence of explaining them. It satisfies his pride to deny them the faculty of reason, sometimes in the teeth of evidence that would satisfy any fair-minded jury, but the denial may merely serve to deepen the mystery which it professes to explain. Two striking examples of the miraculpus powers that seem to be attributed, to the instinct of animals by those who deny them the capacity to reason have lately been the subject of discussion in the, English Press. One of them wa's vouched for by "P.W.D.1.," of the *' Daily Mail,".who is learned in the lore of the country." A number of rooks who for years had been accustomed to build in an elm tree refrained in the spring from undertaking the usual repairs of last year's nests,'and held a council of war instead. To say this is, of course, to beg the question of their reasoning powers, but it seems to be established beyond question that rooks hold what we should call councils and courts, discuss their social problems, try offences against the community, of which nest-stealing appears to be one of the ■ commonest, and acquit or condemn, and perhaps destroy, the accused. Such, at any rate, is the appearance of their procedure, as repeatedly described by independent and reputable witnesses, and if the whole business is really instinctive and automatic one can only say that it impresses every observer as reasonable and cannot be described in any other terms. .- '■ . '

.On this "occasion there was no sorrowing defendant and no : question of "mens rea.'!>. The birds merely "held a two-days' council in the tree, and then demolished the nests, and flew away to look for new quarters." No clue was supplied or suggested to the nature of the . discussion;' till five months later, /jvhen the baby of the house was passing in its perambulator under the tree, and without warning of any kind, a large"; branch fell and nearly killed it. The flaw? in the branch which had made it snap in perfectly calm weather was then clearly visible. tt seems beyond question Ahat it had been obvious to the rooks five months previously.

Are we then) asks Mr. Arthur Machen in the "Observer" (15th December) to suppose rooks dowered with an innate power of detecting unsound boughs? If so, why.; the two days' council, which would seem to imply various opinions, the dis-. '■ enssion of pros and cons, and a reasoned argument leading to a logical conclusion? Att instinct whictt doubts and argues and only comes to a conclusion after along debate would be dignified by a higher name if the parties were *human. _ ■■'■:.'■ ; . . ,

The story told at Carlisle about the same time by Sir "Wilfrid Lawson, master of the Cumberland Foxhounds; was perhaps not .more intrinsically wonderful, but certainly seems harder to explain on the lines of, either instinct or reason, or of any .intelligible. eombina-' tion of th re*two.,,'t'A;-saek-"of hounds hadibeen brought by train from Sussex to Cumberland, a distance of about 350 miles. During the whole journey they werein a closed van which permitted no view of the country through which they were passing, and one might have supposed that the sense of direction, in which the dog is strong, must have been hopelessly confused by the shunting operations which carried them half way round the, railway circuit of London. Yet, during their first hunt in Cumberland the hounds disappeared to reappear in due course, and apparently in full; force, at their old kennels in Sussex. How did they manage- it? There are perfectly well-authenticated Btories of dogs finding their own way about by train, even to the extent of coming back by a return train after overrunning the desired station, but it is certain that a pack could not play the stowaway. In these days of motortraffic the roAds-must have been almost equally out of the question for so large a number. "They went,-no doubt," Mr. Machen suggests, "across country, and if they were seen 1 by anyone, 'Were taken for strays from the local pack." Yet they must have had many miles, of country to pass where there were no packs,, and one might have supposed that at any rate a rough logof one of the most wonderful journeys of modern times could havo been compiled from the observations of witnesses to. whom the passing of a pack of hounds at large was not an everyday occurrence. The details would Jeave the heart of the mystery untouched, but they would at least.make our admiration more intelligent. ' ,

The ways of the huntsman were also nnder discussion in England in November and did not excite the same admiration as those of the pack. I n . a community which.cannot afford to Te ZT^VV^ matters th° h™tsmen of North Devon excited general execration by chasing a hind into the 2" ** Miuehead, pursuing it in a motor-boat heading it off, and cutting its throat after at had been driven, back to the shore. I a the "Saturday Reyiew" (20th November) this gallant performance was celebrated by Mr °? lfe in SOme ™*"kab£

SPOBT AT MINEHEAD we? £*°* loCk and *»'*»**>■ (Satan, are you sleeping there below?), b4 ee atay g, Old-dUSted *** And the moorland is a brazier burning slow. ■ & ■ . Sbh,e S like a bonfire with flames all [ And the clouds like a whisper in the &nd the world is like a blessing, with the J -bunt in Minehead guessing ■" £ perfect day for slaughter,- and, by <jod! they ought to know.

Hounds are on the Devon hills, beside the Devon seas, (Satnn, are^you sleeping there below?) JThe gallant hunt at Minehead are ridjW at their ease . xt^? 11! 6"115 when a sta S will show; ■ Tell the men of England, tell 'em clear and true, How the hunt at Minehead told you so, Anat God is in his heaven, and it seems to men in Devon, 1 A perfect day for slaughter, and, by God; they ought to know."

33ie stag's asleep in covert, brow, bay and tray, and three. (Satan, are you sleeping there below?) But they've got a hind they've tufted, and they've run her to the sea, j And she's swimming all the way to 7 ? Plymouth Hoe. | Oet out the launches and man the ; motor-craft, Aa the life-boat Beems too slow, • Ar.d if hounds have torn her throat, or she is run down by a motor, I Its all the same at Minehead, and, by God! they ought to know.

"jSJrake, he's in his hammock till tho great t Armadas coma t <S»tan, ere you sleeping there below?)

But it.seems to me that Minehead must - have heard his drum, Wiien they gave the hind to hounds with a throw: "I loved the whole of England, but most of all the red Cliffs where the best of England grow. But-if these be men of Devon, I'll quit the port of heaven, And I'll drum them down the Channel, and, by God!.they ought to go."

"NOT VICTORY, BUT VALOUR." "Gallipoli To-day.' 5 By T. J. Pemberton. London: Ernest Benn. (Through Angus and Eobertson, Sydney). "The Ship of Remembrance." By lan Hay. London: Hodder and Stoughton. . ■ '

■ "It was not to victory, tut to valour," says Sir lan Hamilton (in the introduction to this book), referring to the New iiealand memorial on Chunuk Bair. . Mr. Pemberton tells the whole story of the war grav.s on Gallipoli, and the memorials of Anzae valour set up there. It is a wonderful story, and remarkably well told. His work is of great historical value, too, .for its introduction by Sir lan Hamilton, again raises the great question, "Was the truth told about Gallipoli?" Sir lan points out that General Lir&an yon Sanders gives the Turkish casualties as 218,000, of which 66,000 were killed. The Turkish official war history gives them as 186,297, of which 35,127 were killed. But the British Military Attache at Constantinople estimated 670,772 casualties in all, with 63,256 deaths from all causes. .As against this the. British deaths from all causc-3 were 32,562. By way of comment Sir lan remarks, with some justifiable feeling:— "If these proportions *of British and enemy losses are compared with the proportions on the Western front, where the Allies "lost two lives for every German' life, it will be seen that there were happenings even more dreadful- to New Zealand, Australia, and England than Gallipoli." Mr. P.emberton draws a striking picture of Gallipoli as it is to-day—a well-drawn picture, too, .of deep interest to. all Australians and New Zealanders, many'of whom have melancholy ■ reasons for an interest in •the place. To those whose loved ones sleep: on'the Peninsula it E'.ust be a comfort'in sorrow to know that all that man can do has been done to reverently and decently,mark; the places where they lie. .is Mr.' Pemb?rton rightly says: "One likes to feel that the principle underlying the action of the British and the Dominions' Governments is entirely a' spiritual and sacramental one; that these monuments and these ordered plots of earth are symbols of love and service; that they are the outward and visible form of a hallowed memory, Triiich is a means of peace to thosewho-perpetnate.it." The Turks have done nothing of the kind;, in fact, the-Turk would not. Mr. . Pemberton shows how "the Turk cannot build a house*nor shoe .a horse. He depended on the Greeks for-these complicated affairs of life. Now he depends upon the Ottoman Jews for the few things he desires, the making of ..which requires some technical skill; The Tuik is an expert in destroying' things, but he seldom constructs.'' -,; *"';.

""Gallipoli To-day" is in its way a literary classic: It must be read with Masefield's work >on Gallipoli: it is part of the \ one tragic yet glorious story.;-", ■ -,'-..., ■;.•':...- ■■-.--■.-. ...

•'■ Mr. Tan Hayj ■, the.; novelist, was one of the St. Barnabas. ..pilgrims to the war cemeteries .at Gallipoli, also to those at Salonikaj-icyfi little book written primarily for 7: the.iheDefit of those who have -never'been, and are not likely to go, there, where their loved ones lie, he describes how ''The graves of their honoured ' dead are neither forgotten nor neglected." At Salonika, he writes, more than'lo,ooo British lie sleeping, as well as French and Italians. The French graves are marked with woodencrosses,'the Italian with "marble crosses, the British with little headstones. The 1 British dead" rest apart. Graves on Mudros were also visited. But the visit to Gallipoli Mr. Hay describes as a "day of days." The pilgrims landed on V beach, where the s.s. Clyde was run ashore. She is there no more, but is sailing under a foreign flag, "to our national shame," adds Mr. Hay. After describing the cemetery and Helles memorial, Sir. Hay deals with Anzae and Suvla. He describes the extreme care with which the Australian and

New Zealand gravesare kept and Beach Cemetery in.Anzac Cove, he says, is a very beautiful place. It was near here that the original Anzac force was landed. Descriptions with illustrations are given of the Lone Pine; and New Zealand memorials, and the excellent work done by the St. Barnabas Society, which enables people of limited means to go out to the military cemeteries where their eons,' husbands, fathers, and sweethearts fought for the: • country and fell, and-where their bodies make •their last long : sleeping. The lesson. Lan Hay learned and the lesson he believes his fellow pilgrims learned as they/stood on the beaches and beneath the cliffs at Gallipoli, was this: "If they could accomplish that.surely we can brace ourselves to, do what little is demanded of us." "The talisman for which we are groping," he holds, "is Duty—the simple duty of living up to the tradition in which these men died, and. of carrying out* the trust which they have mainly bequeathed ' • us."

A WELCOME BOOK OF HUMOUR. "0 Toyo "Writes Home." By 0. Rom-inanne-Janies. . London: Herbert Jenkins.

A delightful book is "O Toyo "Writes. Home," charmingly illustrated by Joan Woolleombe; full of humour, tho more appealing as it is intended to be ingenuous, and the real opinion of the young Japanese student-girl. O Toyo goes to England, after having won a scholarship entitling her to a place in a good secondary -school. It seems impossible to imagine that the writer does not really see things Western through Eastern eyes, so well is the continuity of the style secured throughout the book. O Toyo's comments on the passengers on board the big liner which carries her to London deserve the adjective "priceless," particularly in regard to "Penelope. Hodge San," "an active and round-bodied lady who" car-lies-well-known Texts of Kristianity imprinted on her luggage." O Toyo comes across the exclamatory person for the first time, and remarks, "I hear because I am not deaf; I think the honourable World and all it contains .ia wonderful. But to shout, to cry, to. make a noise because this is so—how 'curious, how unbecoming." Then she finds "a distinctly renowned scholar, Miss Smiff, 8.A.," the principal of the school in which she is, a pupil, and her. comments are agiin priceless concerning the August Head Mistress. School daya are dea.lt with on the same lines; also Wembley, in which New Zealand comes in for special mention. O Toyo then pays visits by invitation of her school fellows, and enters the home of the "nouveau riche" first, and afterwards that of a crusted Conservative Major of tho Britis'- Army and of tho Old School. These as they appear to Eastern people are well worth studying. Her impressions of football and dancing are delightful. Tho book is a "treasure-trove" in its quaintness and bubbling humour, but needs to be read carefully to be , appreciated.— M.H.C.