152 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



there is probably no Vertebrate animal (man 

 only excepted) whose intelligence will bear 

 any comparison with theirs. 



Among ourselves, the dog is usually con- 

 sidered to be the most intelligent animal next to 

 man ; and few will question the general correct- 

 ness of this opinion, though some authors rate 

 the intelligence of the ape or the elephant as 

 far above that of the dog. But in China, where 

 the dog is reared only for food, the case is very 

 different. * 



As Darwin has pointed out, f the dog has 

 learned, since he has been domesticated, 

 to express his feelings with tolerable complete- 

 ness by barking in different tones. An in- 

 telligent dog may be trained to comprehend 

 almost everything said to him in at least two 

 distinct languages. Ko mammal has yet been 

 trained to imitate the human voice, if we 

 except some well authenticated, though very 

 rare cases, in which a dog has learned to arti- 

 culate his master's name J ; but it is perhaps 

 not quite impossible that dogs (for instance) 



* Darwin, " Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii. p. 22O. 

 t "Descent of Man," vol. i. p. 54 

 J Jesse's " Anecdotes of Dogs." 



