1242 General Notes. [ December, 
intellectual qualities which I never could have acquired in any 
other way. A trained dog or horse is such a rarity, even among 
the thousands of their species, that it is considered a proper ob- 
ject to exhibit ata circus. A horse which will promptly back at 
the word of command, or a dog that will bark or stand on its 
hind’ legs when told to do so, is considered quite accomplished ; 
but in India any well-trained elephant, at a word or touch from 
his driver, who sits astride his neck, will “hand up,” “ kneel,” 
“speak” (trumpet), “salaam” (salute with his trunk), stop, 
back, lie down, pull down an obstructing branch, gather fodder 
and “hand up” to his attendant, turn or lift a log, or drag it by 
taking its drag-rope between its teeth. He will also protect his 
attendants, or attack a common enemy with fury. I think I am 
safe in asserting that there are in India to-day scores of captive 
elephants who are capable of performing all the services enumer- 
ated above; but of course there are many which are not so intelli- 
gent. 
Contrast with this the performances of our most intelligent 
breed of dogs, the pointer. Even when young and trained under 
the most favorable circumstances, they are at best but capable of 
being taught only a few things, as to “ go on,” to “ charge,” to go 
in a given direction, and retrieve. The extreme difficulty of 
teaching a dog anything after he has passed his puppyhood is so 
universally acknowledged as to have given rise to the familiar 
proverb, “It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” What a 
strong contrast is seen in the wild “ koomeriah” elephant, caught 
when he was about sixty years old (by Mr. Sanderson), who “ was 
easily managed a few days after his capture.” Of all animals in 
the world what other would have so quickly learned that mind 
is superior to matter, that man is master of the dumb brute, or 
would have succumbed so gracefully to the inevitable ? 
INTELLIGENCE OF THE OrANG.—We will not.say anything about 
the place the orang has in the long chain of evolution ; but while 
abstract argument leads hither and thither, according as this or 
that writer is most ably gifted for the same, there is still one argu- 
ment or influence to which every true naturalist is amenable and 
