BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L C. 51 
went across the creek alone. After two or three hours 
ridmg the cattle were all put on to their camp—by the 
stockman on one side of the creek, by the dog on the other, 
the work having been done quietly and without excitement. 
Mr. Brown’s offer of a first-rate horse in exchange for the 
dog was instantly and unhesitatingly refused. The dog 
was not only well-trained, but had well-bred parents of 
exceptional intelligence. 
When I lived on New England, the sheep were washed 
in a somewhat primitive fashion before being shorn, the 
yards by the washpool not being too well constructed. 
On one occasion, Alexander Grant, a Highlandman, who 
spoke the Gaelic, came in with a flock of strong wethers, 
one of which jumped the yard, and was immediately chased 
by two or three yelping curs, which seemed intent upon 
hunting the wether into the bush. Sandy and his dog 
were. however, equal to the occasion. The dog understood 
no language but the Gaelic, but he obeyed the words of 
command as his master yelled at the top of his voice. 
Sometimes pressing in close to the wether, at other times 
keeping wide, according to instructions, he brought it back 
to the yard and through the gate in spite of the yelping 
curs which persisted in getting in the way. This dog was 
not by any means well-bred ; on the contrary, he had the 
appearance of having a kangaroo dog for one of his parents. 
Most of us who have had to work a sheep station know how 
wonderfully collies do their work, and how collie pups 
which have never before had anything to do with sheep, 
will take to it—“‘ instinctively,’ we usually say—-when they 
see sheep for the first time, although they have not been 
with their parents or any other sheep-dog from the time 
they could lap milk for themselves. Are we justified in 
speaking of this as instinct ? Can the inheritance from their 
parents of an acquired knowledge be regarded merely as 
instinct ? Even if it be instinct, it is instinct of a far higher 
description than that which comes as an inheritance from 
untaught parents. 
The cases I have quoted may not immediately concecn 
us who are here this evening, even if they are accepted 
as evidence of that mental development which I believe 
the lower animals are capable of. We know, however, 
