UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN LANGUAGE. 349 



various calls to them to attend food-supply, and many of 

 them know their own proper names. The military horse 

 knows the significance of the various drum and bugle calls, 

 and acts accordingly. The fireman's dog understands the 

 fire alarm, and its knowledge of the meaning of such a 

 signal leads on its part to the immediate and appropriate 

 action of awakening the fire brigade (Houzeau). 



Many animals, moreover, not only understand man's 

 questions, but reply to them in various ways. The sea bear 

 of the London Zoological Gardens understands its keeper's 

 verbal language, and replies to his verbal questions by 

 various sounds and gestures. The performing dog picks 

 out certain cards containing, in printed letters, appropriate 

 replies to the verbal queries of its master, as if it had read 

 the printed answer before using it. 



That form of man's language which is most generally 

 understood by the greatest diversity of genera and species 

 of other animals is probably his call, which is usually 

 associated, directly or indirectly, with food supply for the 

 day or shelter provision for the night. Not only, therefore, 

 is the call readily understood whether it is verbal or vocal, 

 by the aid of sonorous instruments or otherwise but it is 

 promptly obeyed. Even the mouse (' Animal World'), the 

 fishing cormorant of China (Fennel), and certain fish obey 

 man's summons by mouth, whistle or otherwise. 



Many domestic animals know their own names the 

 names, that is, attached to them by man and by which he is 

 in the habit of calling them. Their own name is indeed 

 the first word usually to which a definite idea is attached, 

 whether by the child or young animal (Houzeau) . 



This is therefore man's first lesson to both the bestowal 

 of a personal or distinctive appellation. Such animals as 

 the dog, horse, cat, and parrot, which live in more or less 

 intimate association with man, very soon come to learn 

 their own names, with their uses or applications by man. 

 Eastern sheep answer to their names or to the calls of their 

 shepherd, whose voice they distinguish from that of all 

 other men. Similar phenomena occur in Greece (Hartley). 

 This ordering or calling sheep by name is both an ancient 



