232 MOKAL CAUSES OF 



for which they certainly have to suffer. Thus temporary 

 irritation, loss of temper, anger in big dogs leads frequently 

 to transient, blind, unreflecting impulse, and through it to 

 crimes of which, as soon as committed, the animals become 

 ashamed and remorseful, their usual magnanimity and for- 

 bearance having been overcome, just for the moment. It 

 happens therefore and thus that regret and remorse are, in 

 certain other animals as in certain men, the occasional 

 sequelse of unguarded passion or its criminal results. Such 

 regret and remorse again for injustice or crime are not 

 only possible, but probable occasional causes of melancholia 

 and suicide. 



Grief from the loss of companions, playfellows, mates, or 

 young, masters or mistresses, of home, friends, and associa- 

 tions, is a common cause of melancholia, in which the suicidal 

 propensity is apt to be developed. 



The sense of bereavement in the bitch produces a whole 

 series of varied mental phenomena, which include perversion 

 of the sense of duty, and an abrupt stoppage of ordinary 

 labours ; implacable fury, succeeded by despair, gradually 

 giving place to settled melancholia (Pierquin) ; apathy, loss 

 or want of interest in, or desire for, life ; and hence fre- 

 quently suicidal impulse. 



There are innumerable perfectly authentic instances of 

 deaths from grief in various animals, death being usually 

 preceded by self-starvation and marasmus. In the dog, 

 mandarin duck, and other animals, such loss of friends and 

 friendships leads to dejection or depression of spirits, followed 

 or attended by refusal of comfort or consolation ; in other 

 words, the animal is really, as well as figuratively, * incon- 

 solable.' Jesse speaks of grief paralysing motion in the 

 swallow. 



Sorrow operates, and powerfully, even in the most un- 

 likely animals. For instance, Houzeau records the case of a 

 menagerie wolf that exhibited great grief at the withdrawal 

 of its keeper, and that died, indeed, of grief after a third 

 separation from the man to whom it had contracted an 

 attachment. 



On the other hand, c delirious with joy ' is an expression 



