If we mean by individuality differences in character and
disposition, then is there a fair measure of individuality
among the animals. No two animals are just alike, any more than
any two trees are just alike. But if we mean the possession
of striking original traits, unique powers and capacities, as
among men, then there is very little. Animals do not differ in
the degree that men differ. What one does all of its kind will
sooner or later do. Anything you can learn of one bird or beast
that is not true of every member of its species is unimportant.
I, myself, like to dwell upon what seems like individual
differences in the manners and characters of the birds and the
mammals. We all love the specific and characteristic; but we
are aware of these differences mainly because we have a few
birds or mammals under observation and not the whole class.
Some day we shall observe the same trait or habit in another of
the same class. We see something in the eye or the face of a
member of one’s own family and think it peculiar and original;
then, in the face of an Eskimo or a Cossack, we see the same
look.--JOHN BURROUGHS, _The Independent_.
(2276)
=Origins, Unknown=--See UNKNOWN REALITIES.