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telligence is so clear as to almost startle us by the feeling that 

 behind the full, liquid eye of the horse, or prompting the fixed 

 gaze bent on us by our trusty canine companion, there may be 

 a mind kindred to our own and which lacks only the power of 

 articulate expression to respond to our thoughts by answering 

 sentiments. It is the absence of the power of speech in animals 

 which leaves us in doubt as to the exact degree of intelligence 

 possessed by them. If, when the farmer says, "Carlo ! the cows 

 are in the corn— turn them out!" the dog should turn his head 

 and reply, " Yes, sir, I'll have them out in a moment !" there 

 could be no doubt of the intelligent interchange of thought. 

 But the fact of his doing that which in the supposed case he 

 would express, proves as conclusively his comprehension of the 

 command and his purpose to obey. 



The horse or dog, however fully he may understand the direc- 

 tions he receives, can give no other response than by his acts, 

 and to words of praise or censure he can reply only by signs ; 

 these are clearly understood by us and show that our meaning 

 is comprehended by the animal, proving a real interchange of 

 thought. A popular author has said. "A dog may bark, a 

 horse may neigh, but it not by these sounds that they express 

 the delicate shades of ever- varying emotion ; it is by a thousand 

 varieties of gesture which few of us indeed can analyze but 

 which all clearly understand. A dog converses with his master 

 by means of his eyes and his ears and his tail, nay by every 

 muscle of his body." 



To test the existence and extent of intelligence we must deter- 

 mine the capacity for comprehending thought. We recog- 

 nize this capacity in a child long before it can express itself in 

 language. Its dawn is seen as the infant learns to associate cer- 

 tain articulate sounds with certain persons, acts, or things, and 

 to distinguish the meaning of tones which encourage, restrain 

 or chide it. It is only after a twelve-month or more of constant 

 tuition, lovingly and intelligently given, that our children begin 

 to express in language the thoughts which are awakened by our 

 w^ords and acts, yet the comprehension is as evident and the re- 

 sponse as apparent before that time, for the whole mental pro- 



