The Scottish Naturalist. 97 



and valuable as exposing the weak points of the common run of 

 anecdotes of animal sagacity and its perversions. The Editor 

 of a certain Quarterly — devoted to Mental Science — himself 

 an eminent Psychologist — takes exception to tire case of Suicide 

 described by Dr. Brown of Rochester (p. 59), regarding it as a 

 mere " story," without proof positive — from the eye-witnesses 

 of the dog's death — that the said death was deliberate and volun- 

 tary. He suggested that the person, or persons, who had 

 actually seen the dog drown itself, should forthwith be " inter- 

 viewed," and all the facts of the case recorded, in order to 

 enable others to draw their own conclusions. I communicated 

 these difficulties in the acceptance of his apparent facts and 

 his personal conclusions, to Dr. Brown, with this result,— that 

 his case at once collapsed as one of proven or provable Suicide. 

 It is still possible that the dog did commit suicide, but there is 

 nothing like proof that it did so. Dr. Brown's own account (of 

 date April 7, 1875) of his further inquiry — for it appeared that 

 he had not himself been an eye-witness — is as follows : and it 

 is instructive as illustrating the danger of accepting any evidence, 

 on such subjects, that is not direct and personal, as well as the 

 the tendency to the substitution of inferences for facts : — 



"The owner of the dog ' Bruce,' of Upnor, has just been to 

 my house, and has supplied me with the following facts. The 

 case breaks down ; for it seems to be one of effort to obtain 

 relief by cool water, exhaustion accidentally causing drowning. 



" Case of the dog ' Bruce'' that drowned itself at Upnor, in 

 March or April, about eight years ago. — Mother of the dog, 

 spotted white and brown, and used for hunting rabbits. Father, 

 a water-dog (retriever or something of that sort). ' Bruce' had 

 red eyes, and was rather ferocious, not allowing any one to 

 touch him except his mistress ; body white, with long silvery 

 hair • head and ears brown. Owner, Mr. Hone, of the ' King's 

 Arms Inn,' Upnor. ' Bruce' was a puppy at this house. Mr. 

 Hone removed to Frindsbury. 'Bruce' did not like this, and 

 showed attachment to the Upnor house, nevertheless resided 

 with his master. Mr. Hone's brother took the ' King's Arms' 

 after Mr. Hone left Upnor. The dog usually disliked water, 

 because it was thrown into the water when young. 



" Mode of Bruce 's death. — A supper was given, and a sucking 

 pig eaten. ' Bruce ' ate some of the pig, and was supposed to 

 have got a bone in his throat, or to have eaten poison. There " 

 was no certain knowledge on this subject. For eight days the 



