But most of us are so
influenced by the fashion of the day in dress, that the rights of the
case would not have prevented our laughing at the shrimp-like appearance
of those who first tried to bring in the present reform, and perhaps
some of the stanch supporters of the more natural style could not have
quite maintained their gravity, had one of their antiquated ideals been
suddenly introduced among the wide-spreading ladies of the late period.
To take another illustration. It would perhaps be in accordance with our
highest desires that instinct should approach to reason as nearly as
possible, and that all animals should act in the most judicious and
beneficial way. Naturalists would be inclined to agree in this, and if
this were the view we adopted, we should not laugh at dogs showing signs
of intelligence; neither should we at their acting irrationally,
because experience teaches us that they are not generally guided by
reflection. But most of us are accustomed to consider reason the
prerogative and peculiarity of man. And if we take the view that the
lower animals have it not, we shall be inclined to smile when any of
them show traces of it--any such exhibition seeming out of place, and
leading us to compare them with men. But when we are accustomed to see a
monkey taking off his hat, or playing a tambourine, or even smoking a
pipe, we by degrees see nothing laughable in the performance.
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