A Fishing Pointer, 95 



know where it will or not be found. A young dog in 

 the same way dashes swiftly up a hedge, and misses 

 the rabbit that, hearing him coming, doubles back 

 behind a tree or stole ; an old dog leaves nothing 

 behind him, searching every corner. This is acquired 

 knowledge. Neither does all depend upon hereditary 

 predisposition as exhibited in the various breeds — the 

 setter, the pointer, the spaniel, or greyhound — and 

 their especial drift of brain ; their capacity is not 

 wholly confined to one sphere. They possess an 

 initiating power — what in man is called originality, 

 invention, discovery : they make experiments. 



I had a pointer that exhibited this faculty in a 

 curious manner. She was weakly when young, and 

 for that reason, together with other circumstances, 

 was never properly trained : a fact that may perhaps 

 have prevented her ' mind ' from congealing into the 

 stolidity of routine. She became an outdoor pet, and 

 followed at heel everywhere. One day some ponds 

 were netted, and of the fish taken a few chanced to 

 be placed in a great stone trough from which cattle 

 drank in the yard — a common thing in the country. 

 Some time afterwards, the trough being foul, the fish 

 — they were roach, tench, perch, and one small jack — 

 were removed to a shallow tub while it was being 

 cleansed. In this tub, being scarcely a foot deep 



