46 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



be able to distinguish various other intonations— those which 

 express impatience and even an element of sorrow. This 

 last note verges toward the howl. 



It does not seem to me that we should regard barking as 

 a new and useful invention ; there are, indeed, few such in 

 the organic world. The sound appears to me to have been 

 derived from the primitive habit of howling. If we hearken 

 to this utterance we perceive that it is not an unbroken 

 sound, but is somewhat intermittent. At either end of the 

 prolonged sound we can often notice that it is divided into 

 rather distinct yelps more or less completely separated from 

 the other notes. The cries of a dog when beaten often 

 exhibit the same peculiarity ; so, too, the puppy, before he 

 has attained skill in barking, will often prolong each utter- 

 ance in a way which makes its relation to the ancient mode 

 of expression tolerably clear. At the risk of being deemed 

 fanciful, I venture to suofSfest that the bark is in effect a divis- 

 ion of the howl into clearly separated notes, the change hav- 

 ing come about as a similar alteration is effected in our own 

 speech, by the increase in the intelligence which the creature 

 is called upon to express. I conceive that while the primitive 

 and massive emotions found satisfying utterance in the long- 

 drawn notes, the more divided state of mind of the human- 

 ized successor has led to a change in its utterances. Although 

 these modifications of speech, if such we may term them, 

 have probably been developed on the basis of the dog's 

 human relations, there is, it seems to me, good reason to 

 believe that the diversities in note have come to have a 

 distinct conventional value between the individuals of all the 

 different breeds. Any one who closely observes these animals 

 must have noticed the fact that the degree of attention they 



