32 THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE HORSE. 



matter of routine, but I was surprised to find that, 

 on being taken to new places, the animal would, 

 merely at the word of command, go and shut any 

 door that happened to be open. Simple as was 

 this performance, it showed a higher intelligence 

 than any incident that I can at present recall, for it 

 proved that the horse understood the words of com- 

 mand, and by a mental operation obeyed the direc- 

 tions with regard to unaccustomed things. A 

 remarkable case of instinct, as differing from reason- 

 ing, is that of a thoroughbred horse belonging to 

 Mr. James Hunter, riding-master in Edinburgh, 

 which could select from a long row of similarly 

 built houses one that had no distinctive marks, in 

 which lived a lady who fed it on sugar. Now this 

 horse had either the reasoning powers of being able 

 to count from the beginning of the row, which is an 

 absurd proposition, or by some instinctive feeling 

 was led directly to the place. The intelligence 

 that directs horses to a desired point over an un- 

 known country is of the same kind as that which 

 governed Mr. Hunter's animal, and, like the same 

 quality that more particularly distinguishes the 

 homing pigeon, cannot be satisfactorily explained. 

 If the actions of one of the large horses of a 

 brewer's team be observed as it lets down the full 

 barrels into a cellar and draws up the empty 



