Reflection and Memory in Dogs. 203 
did with wonderful alacrity, and was then sent for the news- 
paper. Not quite satisfied, I asked that the performance 
should be repeated, and the lady at once consented. I now 
named the articles in a different order, but the result was 
the same; the dog was equal to the occasion, and each time 
brought the precise article he was sent for.” An animal 
which could thus identify any object so thoroughly with the 
name proper to it. would assuredly have no difficulty in learn- 
ing to “converse,” as Sir John Lubbock terms the result of 
his method of instruction with the printed cards. 
Notwithstanding the opinion of philosophers, even of the 
high standing of Descartes, I cannot bring myself to believe 
that animals do not reflect—i.e., cogitate on their ideas inde- 
pendently of any external stimulus—and turn over in their 
minds events recorded by memory. For, as their possession 
of the faculty of memory is beyond question, there can be 
no reason why it should not be exercised in the same manner 
as in ourselves, though less persistently and less compre- 
hensively. The familiar fact that the dog “hunts in dreams,” 
shows an abnormal stirring of the ideas stored up by memory; 
and this must surely occur more definitely, and in the normal 
manner, in his waking hours. The work of the retriever is 
of a very complicated character, demanding much judgment, 
since different animals employ different methods for eluding 
the pursuer, whose tactics must be varied accordingly. When 
the dog has mastered the difficult business of retrieving duck, 
we cannot suppose all the ideas associated with that work to 
lie absolutely dormant in his mind until they are suddenly 
aroused by the sight of a duck. Can we imagine him never 
reflecting on’ these ideas without an immediate stimulus? It 
is contrary to all analogy with our own mental processes, 
and, while we have no evidence on the negative, and much on 
the affirmative side, we are warranted in believing the mental 
operations to be of the same nature, much as they may differ 
in degree. 
That dogs, at all events, retain events in their memory for 
