204 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



exercises over his strongest emotions, and the innate 

 moral sense which may be observed to render a 

 well- trained dog miserable if he fails in what is 

 expected of him. All these qualities are character- 

 istic of the dog. They are of a very high order : 

 and yet they would seem to be less highly developed 

 in the monkey than in the dog. The clue to the 

 dog's mind is probably that the ideas related to 

 these" qualities were originally connected with his 

 place in association with others in pursuing or 

 attaining a common object. The dog has probably 

 still some sort of conception of his place as member 

 of a co-operative group and of his master as the wise 

 and resourceful leader of it. In those most remark- 

 able displays of almost human intelligence on the 

 part of dogs, where the power of instantly compre- 

 hending the nature and possibilities of a locality or 

 the contents of a difficult situation is involved, we 

 probably see the dog's mind at its best. For here 

 the governing ideas are probably of the kind which 

 originally had their function in intelligent co-opera- 

 tion in hunting with companions. In the various 

 breeds of dogs we get these fundamental ideas 

 carried by development in widely different directions. 

 In the pointer and setter the co-operation of the 

 dog with his master to circumvent the game still 

 remains obvious, even under highly artificial condi- 

 tions. In many other characteristic qualities of 

 the dog's mind, as displayed in various breeds, we 

 may obtain much light on the working of canine 

 intelligence if we keep this clue to the dog's original 

 nature always before us. To many persons, for 

 instance, one of the most difficult cases to explain 



