practise deceit and are
revengeful; they are sometimes susceptible to ridicule, and even have a
sense of humour; they feel wonder and curiosity; they possess the same
faculties of imitation, attention, deliberation, choice, memory,
imagination, the association of ideas, and reason, though in very
different degrees.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 57: From Chapter III of "The Descent of Man," 1871. All except
three of the author's foot-notes have been omitted.]

[Footnote 58: "The American Beaver and his Works," 1868.--Author's
note.]

[Footnote 59: All the following statements, given on the authority of
these two naturalists, are taken from Rengger's "Naturgesch. der
Saeugethiere von Paraguay," 1830, s. 41-57, and from Brehm's
"Thierleben," B.i. s. 10-87.--Author's note.]

[Footnote 60: A critic, without any grounds ("Quarterly Review," July,
1871, p. 72), disputes the possibility of this act as described by
Brehm, for the sake of discrediting my work. Therefore I tried, and
found that I could readily seize with my own teeth the sharp little
claws of a kitten nearly five weeks old.--Author's note.]

THE IMPORTANCE OF DUST: A SOURCE OF BEAUTY AND ESSENTIAL TO LIFE[61]

ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

The majority of persons, if asked what were the uses of dust, would
reply that they did not know it had any, but they were sure it was a
great nuisance. It is true that dust, in our towns and in our houses, is
often not only a nuisance but a serious source of disease: while in many
countries it produces ophthalmia, often resulting in total blindness.
Dust, however, as it is usually perceived by us, is, like dirt, only
matter in the wrong place, and whatever injurious or disagreeable
effects it produces are largely due to our own dealings with nature. So
soon as we dispense with horsepower and adopt purely mechanical means of
traction and conveyance, we can almost wholly abolish disease-bearing
dust from our streets, and ultimately from all our highways; while
another kind of dust, that caused by the imperfect combustion of coal,
may be got rid of with equal facility so soon as we consider pure air,
sunlight, and natural beauty to be of more importance to the population
as a whole than are the prejudices or the vested interests of those who
produce the smoke.

But though we can thus minimize the dangers and the inconveniences
arising from the grosser forms of dust, we cannot wholly abolish it; and
it is, indeed, fortunate