78 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PL A Y 



visible reminder of loss, is undoubtedly part of the 

 animal faculties. Their affections do not go to sleep 

 the moment the loved object is removed, only to 

 awaken automatically at its reappearance. In one 

 respect the animal indulgence in sorrow is superior, 

 by its sense of reserve and discrimination, to that in 

 man. They keep their sense of proportion, and if 

 in many cases they show indifference where we should 

 expect emotion, they never make sorrow cheap by 

 wasting it on trifles. Animal grief, when it is shown, 

 is always respectable, never morbid. That is why, 

 in the cases where it is noted and authentic, it has 

 always awakened the interest and commanded the 

 sympathy of thoughtful mankind. There is nothing 

 more encouraging than unexpected testimony to a 

 cause. One of the earliest, and at the same time one 

 of the freshest, of English records of this form of 

 animal emotion, comes from a source which, judged 

 by the other work of the writer's life, is certainly 

 unexpected. Dr Caius, ' a most shining light of the 

 University of Cambridge, its jewel, its glory/ according 

 to his translator, in 1576, Abraham Fleming, 'wrote 

 an epitome concerning British dogs, not so concise as 

 elegant and useful, an epitome compact of the various 

 arguments and experiences of many minds,' for the 

 use of Conrad Gesner, the Swiss naturalist. Dr Caius 

 was a very strong as well as a very learned man 



