160 THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP 



than the Italian greyhound, nor more soft and 

 affectionate than the Blenheim. Many a deed of 

 heroism has been done by dogs which would, if 

 done by men, have been honoured by the Order of 

 the Victoria Cross. The St. Bernards belonging 

 to the monks on the passes between Switzerland 

 and Italy are especially celebrated for their 

 devotion to the business of saving human life. 

 They often lose their own lives in their efforts 

 to rescue travellers baffled and overcome by 

 storm. One particularly sagacious individual, 

 who lost his life in this way some years ago, wore 

 a medal stating that he had been the means of 

 saving twenty-two human lives. In devotion the 

 dog is superior to all other animals, not even 

 excepting man. ' How could one get relief from 

 the endless dissimulation, falsity, and malice of 

 mankind,' exclaimed Schopenhauer in one of his 

 inspired moments, 'if there were no dogs into 

 whose honest faces he could look without distrust?' 

 A dog will follow a handful of rags wrapped 

 around a homeless beggar, day after day, through 

 heat and cold and storm and starvation, just as 

 faithfully as he will follow the purple of a king. 

 The dog who stood over the lifeless body of his 

 master, grieving for recognition and starting at 

 every flutter of his garments, till he himself died 

 of starvation, had in his faithful breast a nobler 

 heart than that which beats in the bosom of most 

 men. And the devotion of Grey friars Bobby, 

 who every night for twelve years, in all kinds of 

 weather, slept on his master's grave, was well 



