THE HISTORY OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 123 



and right in much the same way that it perceives and 

 recognizes beauty. If the animal has the aesthetic 

 perception, it has the faculty which, at the next higher 

 stage of development, will perceive, and recognize as 

 such, both truth and right. We are considering no 

 unimportant question ; for on our answer to this de- 

 pends our answer to questions of far greater impor- 

 tance. 



Does it look as if the animal had begun to learn the 

 first rudiments of the great science of rights, of his 

 own rights and those of others ? This is an exceed- 

 ingly difficult question, though often answered unhes- 

 itatingly in the negative. But what of the division 

 of territory by the dogs in oriental cities, a division 

 evidently depending upon something outside of mere 

 brute strength and power to maintain, and their re- 

 spect of boundaries? The female is allowed, I am 

 told by an eye-witness long resident in Constantino- 

 ple, to distribute her puppies in unoccupied spots 

 through the city without interference. But when she 

 has once located them, she is not allowed to return 

 and visit them, or pass that way again. So the account 

 by Dr. "Washburn of platoons of dogs coming in turn, 

 and peaceably, to feed on a dead donkey in the streets 

 of Constantinople, would seem to be most naturally 

 explained by some dim recognition of rights. Book 

 communities have not received the attention and in- 

 vestigation which they deserve, but their actions are 

 certainly worthy of attention. Concerning the sense 

 of ownership in dogs and other mammals opinions dif- 

 fer, and yet many facts are most naturally explained 

 on such a supposition. 



Just one more question in this connection, for wo 



