ANIMAL “ ASSTHETICS” AND “ETHICS” 279 
above laid down, what has to be proved is that they do 
frame them. Is there any case among the hundreds that are 
popularly adduced to show that dogs are ashamed of themselves, 
that they possess a sense of justice, that they feel the prick of 
conscience, that on the one hand they know when they have 
done wrong, or on the other hand enjoy a sense of conscious 
rectitude—is there any particular case so described in the 
popular phraseology of anecdote, which could not be more 
simply described ag the direct outcome of the coalescent 
situation, without the introduction of any implied reference 
to a standard of behaviour reached by reflective thought ? 
The pug that has taken a nap on the drawing-room sofa, leaps 
down and slinks off with a “guilty” look on his master’s 
approach. One can surely picture the previous situations, and 
be tolerably certain that they contained an element of reproof 
or something more energetic. The poodle that has successfully 
performed his tricks bounds to his mistress with an air of 
duty well performed. Has he never been petted and patted 
under such circumstance? Routine in many animals—so 
often creatures of habit—begets a customary sequence, the 
breach of which is at once felt. To this I ventured* to 
ascribe the conduct of the turnspit dog reported by Arago. 
He refused with bared teeth to enter out of his turn the drum 
by which the spit was rotated. The companion dog was put 
in for a few moments and then released ; whereupon the dog 
which before had been so refractory seemed satisfied that his 
turn for drudgery had come, and, entering the wheel of his 
own accord, began turning the spit as usual. The bared teeth 
may be here perhaps ascribed to an outraged sense of justice. 
But is it not a more simple, and just as probable, supposition 
that the behaviour was due to breach of customary routine. 
A trainer with whom I had some conversation on this matter 
pointed out a collie bitch, and said, “If I put her through her 
tricks in the usual order she does them like an angel; but if 
I try and make her alter the order she snaps and sulks like 
the devil.” 
* “ Animal Life and Intelligence,” p. 404. 
