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of a dog when he has bitten a child, is one of the most 

 extraordinary phenomena in nature. It is the first time per- 

 haps, and he has as yet had no experience of the consequences ; 

 yet he crouches beneath the table with a look totally distinct 

 from that of fear, and utters a pathetic deprecatory whine. 

 It is as much as to say, ' I was greatly provoked for the hun- 

 dredth time; he would compel me to do it, and yet I am 

 deeply sorry that it lias happened/ Of course, there are 

 stubborn dogs, like stubborn men, who woidd bite a dozen 

 people if they had but a motive strong enough, and never 

 either hang their heads or droop their tails for it. But it is 

 worth inquiry, not only from this instance, but from multi- 

 tudes of the same class and kind, whether the animal has not 

 a slight perception of right and wrong, apart from the conse- 

 quences altogether. 



" That the inferior animals, in many instances, possess the 

 ordinary passions, even more extensively than ourselves, will 

 be readily admitted. How many, such as the whale, the 

 stork, and the domestic hen, will die in defence of their 

 offspring — thus affording the strongest proofs in existence of 

 domestic affection ! The case of the pelican is, we know, a 

 story. The attachment of the cat to its own chimney corner, 

 has been the theme of many a tale ; and the well-known 

 instance, in which one carried her kittens singly, and there- 

 fore by repeated efforts, from Glasgow to Edinburgh, is an 

 extreme case. The affecting tale, related by Mr. Maxwell, 

 in his Wild Sj)0/is of the West, of the blind seal, is another of 

 the same. After all its removals from the house where it had 

 been domesticated, it found its way back ; its eyes were torn 

 from their sockets, and it was thrown into the Atlantic, yet 

 still it returned ; and finally, having been carried out to sea 

 so far that it was thought impossible for it to return, it made 

 its way back in a violent storm, and, exhausted by hunger 

 and fatigue, expired on the threshold of its inhospitable and 

 savage master. Who does not know the fidelity of the dog ? 



