Abstract
I BELIEVE “that the reasoning faculty in man and animals differs in degree only”. But I do not think Mr. Nicols' plumber's lead-pipe case (NATURE, vol. xix. p. 365) a well-tested instance of rat sagacity. We have not sufficient proof that the rats gnawed the pipe for the purpose of getting at the water; though, of course, they used the water after having come upon it. It seems more likely that they gnawed the pipe because it obstructed their tunnelling operations; else why did they cut it in two separate places? Mr. Nicols says “a rat will not drink foul water”. Neither will I when I can get better, but I am afraid I should need to put up with the foul if I lived in a sewer.
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MUIRHEAD, H. [Letters to Editor]. Nature 19, 409 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019409e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019409e0
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