Page:Dawn of the Day.pdf/59

Rh animals learn to control themselves and to dlissemble in such a way that may, for instance, adapt their colour to that of their surroundings (by means of the so-called chromatic function "), and feign to be dead or assume the shapes and colours of other animals, or of sand, leaves, lichen or fungi (the English savants call this "mimicry"). Thus, the individual ensconces himself behind the universality of the idea "man," or seeks shelter in society, or attaches himself to princes, classes, parties, opinions of the day or his surroundings: and we may easily find the animal equivalent to all those nice ways of feigning to be happy, grateful, powerful, Even the sense of truth, which is really the sense of security, man has in common with the animal: we do not want to be either deceived or mis-guided by ourselves, we listen with suspicion to the whisperings of our own passions, we conquer ourselves and remain on the watch against ourselves; in all these things the animal is as proficient as man himself; in the animal, also, self-control springs from the sense of reality (from prudence). It likewise observes the effects which it produces on the perceptive powers of other animals; it learns to look back from them upon itself, to regard itself objectively; it has its measure of self-cognition. The animal judges the movements of its foes and friends, learns their peculiarities by rote, it suits it own measures to theirs; it once for all re-nounces the contest with individuals of certain species,