The Dawn of Reason; or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals

A concise popular-science survey argues that mental traits extend through animals below humans, demonstrating sensory capacities, simple consciousness, and the gradual emergence of deliberate action. It systematically examines the senses, including touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, and describes how sensory input and nerve elements produce conscious determination and reflexes in simple organisms. Memory is analyzed by categories (locality, kin, strangers, events), while chapters document emotions, aesthetic responses, parental care, and rudimentary reasoning across invertebrates and vertebrates. Specialized topics include color change and homing as true senses, death-feigning and mimicry, social organization and division of labor in social insects, and experimental evidence supporting evolutionary explanations for instincts and intelligence.