42 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



Although there is some evidence that the sense of num- 

 ber attains a measure of development in dogs, the ability to 

 form mathematical conceptions of any kind appears to be 

 very weak in this species. The fact that shepherd-dogs, in a 

 way, keep an account of considerable flocks so that they will 

 know when one is gone astray, can readily be explained on 

 the supposition that they know their charges individually and 

 not in sum. The absence of arithmetical capacity is, how- 

 ever, less important than the lack of mechanical sense, for the 

 reason that such incapacity is also common in the lowest races 

 of men. Although dogs, as before noted, quickly and clearly 

 acquire a notion of property rights in all which pertains to 

 their owner's holdings, they appear never to extend their 

 sense of their own personal possessions beyond the original 

 limit to which they had attained when the species was domes- 

 ticated. The creature feels a sense of personal property in 

 his food and in his sleeping-place, but appears not to extend 

 his conception of individual rights beyond these primitively 

 established limits. 



All our well-bred household dogs quickly learn certain 

 bodily habits which are necessary to make them acceptable 

 members of a household. These habits are not well affirmed 

 by inherited instinct, but the ease with which the instruction 

 is acquired shows that they have become prone to submit to 

 such regulations. Culture on this line rests upon a primal 

 instinct, originating we know not how, which leads a number 

 of wild animals to conceal their excrement. On the other 

 hand, these creatures exhibit no sense of modesty, though 

 that, in a more or less complete measure, is characteristic of 

 all human tribes whatsoever. 



As regards the memory, dogs appear to have a consider- 



