352 Life and Immortality. 
There is the bark of joy or welcome, when the animal sees 
its master, or anticipates a walk with him; the furious bark 
of anger, if the dog suspects that anyone is likely to injure 
himself or his master, and the bark of terror when the dog is 
suddenly frightened at something which it cannot understand. 
Supposing, now, that its master could not sce the dog, but 
could only hear its bark, would he not know perfectly well 
the ideas which were passing through the animal’s mind? 
Most certainly he would. There isa difference between the 
mew of distress and the ordinary conversation, the purr of 
pleasure, of a cat. A pet canary always knows how to call 
its. mistress, and when it sees her will give a glad chirrup of 
recognition quite distinct from its ordinary call. Bees and 
wasps have quite a different sound in their wings when angry 
than when in the discharge of their ordinary work. Any one 
conversant with their ways understands the expression of 
anger and makes the best of his way off. , 
All the foregoing are but examples of sound-language. 
The gesture-language of animals, however, is wonderfully 
extensive and expressive. A cat, could it say in plain words, 
“Please open the door for me,” could not convey its ideas 
more intelligently than it does by going to the door, uttering 
a plaintive mew to show that it wants help, and then patting 
the door. Dogs, or, in fact, all animals that are accustomed 
to live in the house, will act after a similar fashion. There, 
then, we perceive that the lower animals can form connected 
ideas, and can convey them to man, so that the same ideas 
are passing at the same moment through the minds of man 
and beast, evidencing that they possess the same faculties, 
though of different extent. 
Some few examples must suffice to show the power of 
gesture-language in the lower animals. I once owned a dog, 
a variety of hound, which was as companionable as any ani- 
mal could possibly be. He was never happy unless he was 
on the go. So fond was he of travel and sight-seeing, that I 
gave him the name of Rover. My occupation calling me 
