THE MORAL SENSE OF THE DOG. 269 



rememoer the dinner-hour, and distinguish Sunday from week-days ; and 

 in places where they are in the habit oC going to church with their mas- 

 ters, they soon learn to behave themselves and sleep like good Christians. 

 They vary, like the rest of us, in their capacities for acquiring knowledge, 

 and each variety has its special gift. It is still an open question as to 

 how far the dog possesses the faculty of reasoning, it is said that a dog 

 tracking his master has been seen, when he came to where three roads 

 met, to examine two of them carefully, and then at once run along the 

 third ; that is, the dog reasoned, " He must have gone by A, B or C ; 

 but he has not gone by A or B, therefore he has gone by C." A dog, 

 however, if offered a large and a small piece of meat, does not as a.^ mat- 

 ter of course choose the large piece ; from which fact it is assumed that 

 he does not know the axiom " that the whole is greater than its part." 

 It is more probable that he takes the small piece first, as easiest to dis- 

 pose of, reserving the large piece to occupy his leisure time. 



That the dog has a moral sense we all see ; but his moral sense is one 

 suitable to his condition and to promote the chief end of dog, which, to 

 borrow the words of Professor Wilson, is to love man and keep his com- 

 mandments. A dog taught to steal will become as mean and slouching 

 as his master, and will hate to be detected ; but his wicked conscience 

 does not smite him. A dog virtuously brought up feels keen remorse 

 when he has transgressed the moral code. Dr. Calderwood, in his work 

 " The Relations of Mind and Brain," relates the following story: " A dog 

 belonging to a United Presbyterian minister killed the fowls while the 

 family were at church and buried them in the garden. The bodies were 

 found. The dog was taken to the garden and immediately confessed his 

 guilt. His master took him to his library, and having shut the door, 

 began a reprimand after this fashion : ' What a wicked thing you have 

 done in murdering the hens ! You are a minister's dog, and should have 

 been an example to other dogs instead of doing such a thing as this. 

 Then, this is the Sabbath day, and the deed is all the worse on account 

 of the day on which it has been done.' Thus admonished, the dog was 

 put out of the room and the door shut. Next morning he was found 

 dead, A veterinary surgeon was consulted, and declared that the dog 

 had died of a broken heart." 



Of course, duty ignorantly performed sometimes perpetrates injustice. 

 A dog in Haverhill, Massachusetts, met the newsboy every morning at 

 the gate and took his master's paper. When the subscription was 



