74 DOG STORIES 



learn the meaning without asking it, and 

 merely by hearing them always used in 

 certain relations, they will have, I think, a 

 fair measure of the extent and nature of a 

 dog's knowledge of the language of his 

 masters. My dog has lived fewer years in 

 the world than I have passed in Wales, but 

 he knows just about as much English as I 

 know Welsh, and has acquired it just in the 



same way. 



F. P. C. 



TEACHING DOGS A METHOD OF COMMUNICATION. 



[Dec. 29, 1883.] 



MR. DARWIN'S " Notes on Instinct," recently 

 published by my friend, Mr. Romanes, have 

 again called attention to the interesting sub- 

 ject of instinct in animals. 



Miss Martineau once remarked that, con 

 sidering how long we have lived in close 

 association with animals, it is astonishing 

 how little we know about them, and espe- 

 cially about their mental condition. This 

 applies with especial force to our domestic 

 animals, and, above all, of course, to dogs. 



