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 



