i 7 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



this view become. If we, with our much wider range of mental 

 vision, and infinitely greater imaginative grasp of remote possi- 

 bilities, the result of our reading and experience, are still bound 

 by the tether of our own brain limits to anthropomorphic criteria 

 when endeavoring to analyze superhuman existences, still more 

 is it likely that the dog, with his mere chink of an outlook on the 

 small world around him, is completely hedged in by canine no- 

 tions and standards when his mind has to deal with creatures of 

 higher and mysterious attributes. 



At any rate, it will not be difficult to show that the dog's 

 habits are generally consistent with this hypothesis. As far as 

 mental contact is concerned, he treats his master and the human 

 members of the household as his comrades, and behaves in many 

 ways as if he were at home with the pack. Thus all the tribal 

 virtues previously mentioned come into play. He guards the 

 common lair and becomes a watch-dog, and by his barking calls 

 his adopted brethren to his aid. He submits readily to the rules 

 of the house because an animal belonging to a community must 

 be prepared to abide by certain laws which exist for the common 

 good. He defends his master if attacked — or, possibly, if not a 

 courageous dog, gets up a vehement alarum to call others to his 

 aid — because he has an instinctive knowledge of the importance 

 of loyalty to a comrade, and because, as has been shown, loyalty 

 to a leader is especially necessary. He is ready in understand- 

 ing and obeying orders, owing to the fact that, when acting in 

 concert with wild companions, it was absolutely needful that the 

 young and inexperienced should comprehend and fall in with the 

 purpose of the more intelligent veterans. The same ancestral 

 habits and tendencies render him helpful as a sporting dog, and 

 in herding or driving sheep and cattle. This last employment is 

 very much like a mild kind of hunting, under certain special rules 

 and restrictions, and with the killing left out. It has been observed 

 that the Indian dholes will patiently and slowly drive wild ani- 

 mals in the direction of their habitat during their breeding season 

 before killing them, so as to have the meat close at home ; and 

 this could only be accomplished by the whole pack exercising a 

 patient self-control, and by the leaders constantly keeping in 

 check the fierce impulse of the younger members to rush in and 

 kill the weary and bewildered quarry. 



The peaceable disposition and readiness to submit to discipline 

 are also tribal virtues of which we take advantage. The dog, when 

 he slinks away with drooping tail when reproved, or rolls abjectly 

 over on his back and lies, paws upward, a picture of complete 

 submission, is still behaving to his master as his wild forefather 

 did to the magisterial leaders of the troop, or a victorious foe of 

 his own species. 



