256 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



estimate their number, nor can the hunter. The shepherd's dog 

 watches his flock of sheep, and goes after the individual mem- 

 bers that wander from it. But if one or two of them have been 

 sold or carried off by a wolf during his absence, he does not 

 miss them. 



It is wholly improbable that the so-called learned dogs, which 

 are said to have been taught to count, have really been lifted to 

 the abstract notion of numbers. They have simply been taught 

 to associate certain signs or words of their master with par- 

 ticular graphic signs, the geometrical figure of which has been 

 impressed upon their memory. In the same way that the horse 

 associates the words " gee ! " and " haw ! " with his right and his 

 left, and dogs associate the sound of the horn or trumpet with the 

 chase, they may associate with figures which are shown to them 

 the names as j^ronounced of those figures, but without compre- 

 hension of their numerical relations, and without distinguishing 

 them in any other way than by the difference in their shape. They 

 may be taught to arrange them when commanded in any particu- 

 lar order, without it being necessary to suppose that they have 

 any idea of their arithmetical significance. 



"When Sir John Lubbock speculated about teaching his dog to 

 read, he played upon this faculty of associating vocal signs with 

 certain forms or figures, and even with graphic signs, figures, or 

 letters. The dog certainly had no comprehension of the ideographic 

 value of the figures which were shown him drawn upon the paste- 

 board ; but their shape, stamped in his memory, was associated 

 with the sounds that were spoken to him when they were shown 

 him, and with certain acts that he was to perform to obtain 

 caresses and rewards from his master. He thus soon learned to 

 pick out the cards which he had to bring to ask for drink or food 

 or to go out in order to have his desire satisfied. The quickest 

 way of teaching children to read is to show them at the same time 

 the image of the object and the word that designates it, so that the 

 two shall be associated in their minds, and they are tempted to 

 speak in the same way. But to appreciate the abstract sense of 

 the noun or the verb requires a degree of intelligence and facul- 

 ties of comparison which none of our domestic animals has as yet 

 attained. 



It would, moreover, be very extraordinary to find in an animal 

 so far removed in organization from man as the dog a qiiasi- 

 identity of mental faculties, and an educability which is wanting 

 in entire human races. It is enough to show that between the 

 intellectual state of dogs and of Bushmen, Tasmanians, and Ved- 

 dahs, who can count only two, and then say " many," the differ- 

 ence is as slight as possible, and the passage insensible. 



It is, moreover, evident that horses and dogs know as well as 



