COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY 23 
species of animals, which have for ages been in contact 
with man, have made great advances over their wild 
progenitors, evidencing a capacity for education— 
mental and moral—which is one of the best demon- 
strations of superiority. 
The assumption that man is only accidentally the 
superior of the brute would but lead to confusion, 
for it must be admitted that there is a scale, and that 
man ranks first. We are simply desirous of doing the 
lower creation that justice which we feel assured has 
not yet been allowed them, and of seeing the human 
family interested in those that we think scientific 
investigation is proving constantly are much more 
our fellow-creatures than has generally been supposed. 
If we compare the intelligence and general rectitude 
of behaviour of our best races of dogs with the same 
in any of their wild carnivorous allies, we are astonished 
at the great difference in favour of the dog. To what 
is this due? Largely to what he has become by virtue 
of association with man for hundreds if not thousands 
of years—that is, to education, after a fashion. Nor 
is such influence confined to the dog. Any observing 
person, of moderate experience in travel, can call to 
mind numerous instances of members of different 
classes of animals trained to the performance of many 
feats demanding intelligence. But while, in an irregular 
way, dogs have been trained to certain duties for the 
benefit of man for a considerable period, it can not be 
said that any one of the tribes of the lower animals 
has ever been subjected to any such mental or moral 
discipline as man receives and has received for long 
ages. We have ample evidence, in the condition not 
only of savage man, but in the neglected classes of 
large cities, as to what man would be without such 
culture. Sufficient has been said, it is believed, to 
show that we are not yet in possession of enough facts 
