22 AUTHENTICITY OF ANECDOTES 



ticity, or the reverse, of published assertions regarding 

 animal sagacity. Suffice it that the following are inter 

 alia illustrations to be found in the Bibliography of 

 anonymous magazine articles, having all the aspect of 

 fiction, which proved to be in all respects true viz. ' The 

 Consciousness of Dogs,' ' Dogs whom I have' known, and ' An 

 Ugly Dog.' In the Bibliography, however, they do not appear 

 as anonymous, but are enumerated under the names of their 

 respective authors Cobbe and Murray. 



There are certain common sources of information con- 

 cerning animal habits on which it may be desirable to make 

 some remarks. I have myself derived much information 

 from children, school-girls, young ladies, elderly ladies, 

 farmers' wives, and other ladies who, with no bias or pre- 

 judice, no theories or speculations to support or to disturb 

 them, told truthfully what they were in the habit of 

 observing in their own home pets or household retainers ; 

 and these pets or retainers included a very considerable 

 variety of animal genera and species. The facts so observed 

 and described were those common facts that are capable 

 of verification by anybody of ordinary intelligence those 

 common facts upon which alone may be based a sound scien- 

 tific knowledge of the nature and range of animal mind. 



I have also derived much assistance in the collection of 

 data from newspapers. It is scarcely possible to take Tip 

 one of the best class that does not contain some reference, 

 direct or indirect, to animal habits in the form of anecdotes 

 of animal intelligence. Not only do newspapers give local 

 incidents, with the dates of their occurrence and the names 

 and addresses of the observers, so that the facts narrated 

 may be investigated by any enquirer, but the exigencies or 

 customs of the fourth estate nowadays lead newspaper 

 editors to draw largely for quotation and review upon serial 

 'and book literature. They furnish, in truth, a resume of all 

 that is going on in the literary or scientific world by quota- 

 tions from, and reviews of, magazines and works of every kind 

 including those relating to zoology and general natural 

 history. 



Attention is thus drawn to anecdotes and illustrations 



