UNCOMMON AND MEMOEABLE 133 



fast as is sometimes supposed ; a bird before cracking a nut 

 will sometimes judge by its weight whether is has a kernel 

 or not ; is not this an act of comparison ? Jacko performed 

 such an act after a fashion of his own. He had a way of 

 taking my finger in his claw and playfully biting it, but 

 he first experimented on his own leg. As, however, the 

 untutored Baconian did not allow for the fact that his leg 

 was protected with feathers while my finger was not, his 

 friendly peck was sometimes harder than I liked. Was 

 not his hasty generalization a rudimentary form of the 

 inductio per enumerationem simplicem? In early boy- 

 hood I was sent (in forma invalidi) as a day-scholar to a 

 boarding establishment at Brighton. Jacko used to be 

 placed in the bow window of our lodging ; and from his 

 joyful uproar my friends could at once tell when he espied 

 me on my way home. When I went to Harrow the sense 

 of bereavement, seconded by old age, soon did its work; 

 and before my first term was over the loyal bird had 

 sickened and died. Hamerton, after hinting at the possi- 

 bility that all human reverence may gradually disappear 

 from the earth, comforted himself with the reflection that, 

 even in that case, the torch of reverence will still be kept 

 alight; for the reverence of dogs for their masters is in- 

 destructible. From one half -reasoning, wholly loving 

 animal to another the step is short. And thus when 

 I think of my dear Jacko I am reminded of the graceful 

 epitaph which that friend of my youth, Sir Francis Doyle, 

 wrote on a favourite dog : 



" Not hopeless round this calm sepulchral spot 



A wreath, presaging life, we twine; 

 If God be love, what sleeps below was not 

 Without a spark divine." 



LIONEL A. TOLLEMACHB. 



April 27, 1901. 



NOTE. The adoration of one's dog is not a little em- 

 barrassing and ironical. It puts one to the blush. Truly 



