344 Animal Life and Intelligence. 



There can be little question that they can. Many of the 

 higher animals understand perfectly some of our words. 

 The word "cat" or "rats" wilj suggest a construct to 

 the dog on which he may take very vigorous action. How 

 far they are able to communicate with each other is a 

 somewhat doubtful matter. But the signs by which such 

 communication is effected are probably far less arbitrary. 

 And, in any case, the communication would seem to 

 refer only to the here and the now. A dog may be 

 able to suggest to his companion the fact that he has 

 descried a worriable cat ; but can a dog tell his neigh- 

 bour of the delightful worry he enjoyed the day before 

 yesterday ? 



I imagine that what a dog can suggest to his neigh- 

 bour is what we symbolize by the simple expression 

 " Come." But I am fully aware that other observers will 

 interpret the facts in a different way. Here is an anecdote 

 that is communicated to me by Mr. Eobert Hall Warren, 

 of Bristol. " My grandfather," he says, " a merchant of 

 this city, or, as Thomas Poole, of Stowey, would have 

 preferred calling him, ' a tradesman,' had two dogs, one a 

 small one and another larger, who, being fierce, rejoiced 

 in the appropriate name of Boxer. On one of his business 

 journeys into Cornwall he took the smaller dog with him, 

 and for some reason left it at an inn in Devonshire, 

 promising to call for him on his return from Cornwall. 

 When he did so, the landlord apologized for the absence of 

 the dog, and said that, some time after my grandfather 

 left, the little dog fought with the landlord's dog, and 

 came off much the worse for the fight. He then dis- 

 appeared, and some time afterwards returned with another 

 and larger dog, who set upon his enemy, and, I think, 

 killed him. Then the two dogs walked off, and were no 

 more seen. From the description given, my grandfather 

 had no doubt that the larger dog was Boxer, and, on 

 returning home, found that the little dog had come back, 

 and that both dogs had gone away, and, after a time, had 

 returned home, where he found them." Now, some will 



