Judging (?) 



I suppose there is little necessity ^ta^x^rhmd^aity' 6? "toy 

 readers, that even if they do possess a fox terrier with a 

 head y^in. in length, that stands I4^in. in height from the 

 ground to the shoulders, and weighs i61b., they do not, of 

 a certainty, own a champion. Possibly, when this volume 

 has been carefully perused, any uncertainty its readers 

 have possessed as to the merits of their favourites may 

 have been removed. 



So much for figures alone. If one cannot select the best 

 animals by means of numerals, can we do so by the means 

 of points, or by any process at all ? Points by which to 

 judge are well enough in theory, but sadly out of place in 

 practice, being wearisome, and thoroughly uncertain, for it 

 is quite as much a matter of opinion as to how many points 

 may be given for a certain property, as it is of the general 

 excellence of the animal. One judge will say, " That 

 dog has a good head," and award the complement 

 of points accordingly ; another will say, " No, his head is 

 not perfect, it is too thick or too narrow (as the case may 

 be) round the skull," and he only awards three-fourths of 

 the full number of points, and so the thing goes on. The 

 British public like figures, and there is a show of learning 

 about tables which is, however, rather apt to lead people 

 astray. 



A few years or so ago the editor of the Fox Terrier 

 Chronicle endeavoured to find out the ten best terriers 

 by the aid of his readers^an ingenious and interesting 

 device ; but even he and the instigators of his idea did not, 

 I fancy, find perfection in arriving at the result sought to 

 be achieved. Each reader of the journal in question was 

 allowed to give one vote each for the ten fox terriers he 

 thought to be the best. In the end forty-one papers were 



