REASONING ANIMALS. 73 



We now come to the dog, which perhaps exhibits as high a 

 degree of intelligence as any of the other " lower animals," and a 

 higher order sometimes than the human. As an instance of this 

 we may take the historical case (which seems to be well authenti- 

 cated) of the human imbecile (not insane) and the Newfoundland 

 dog and child on the bank of the river. As often as the imbecile 

 would put the child in the water the dog would bring it out to 

 save it from drowning ; and when at last the child's life was in 

 danger through exhaustion, the dog forcibly restrained the idiot 

 from again putting it into the water. Here was a degree of rea- 

 son, fidelity, and affection in the so-called " dumb animal " much 

 higher than that in the human specimen before him. 



A short time since a gentleman of the highest veracity related 

 to me the following, which he personally witnessed : A child fell 

 into a canal. The father's dog was present and immediately 

 jumped in to save the child. As it came up the second time he 

 caught it and kept it above the water. Finding, however, that he 

 could not properly keep it up without some support, he swam with 

 his charge to a beam which crossed the canal just above the 

 water, and, placing his two fore paws upon the beam, rested there 

 and kept the child's head above water till both were rescued. 



ISTow, in this case, instinct or training might impel the dog to 

 jump in after the child, but it would not enable him to adapt him- 

 self to the circumstances (new to him) and utilize the beam as he 

 did. This required perception and reason. 



It was the late Henry Ward Beecher, I think, who related and 

 vouched for the following : A large and a small dog happened to 

 start from opposite sides of a stream at the same time to cross it 

 over a narrow board which spanned it. They met in the middle. 

 Both came to a stop, for they could not pass each other on the 

 narrow board. The little dog sat down on the board, held up his 

 head, and began to whine. The big dog stood a moment, appar- 

 ently cogitating what to do, when suddenly a thought struck him. 

 He spread his fore legs apart to the outer edges of the board, also 

 his hind legs, and then looked at the little dog as much as to say, 

 " Now is your time ! " whereupon the little fellow shot through 

 between the big dog's legs and safely reached the other side, wag- 

 ging his tail with delight and approval of so clever a trick ; while 

 the big fellow walked philosophically over to his side, no doubt 

 well satisfied with himself, as he certainly had good reason to be. 



Dogs, of course, could be trained to do that as well as many 

 other things, but these had not been so trained. The circumstances 

 were new and quite accidental, and the big dog who solved the 

 difficulty had neither the necessary instinct nor training to aid 

 him, but had to fall back on his own mental resources, and he 

 proved himself quite equal to the occasion. 



