| 
442 General Notes. { April, ; 
“Accordingly, I prepared some pieces of stout card board, and — 
printed on each, in legible letters, a word such as‘ Food,’ ‘Bone, — 
‘Out, &c. The head master of one of the deaf and dumb schools 
kindly agreed to assist me. We each began with a terrier puppy, but 
neither of us obtained any satisfactory results. My dog, in 
was lost before I had had him long. I then began training à 
black poodle, ‘Van’ by name, kindly given me by my friend, Mr. 
Nickalls. I commenced by giving the dog food in a saucer, over 
which I laid the card on which was the word ‘ Food,’ placing also 
by the side an empty saucer, covered by a plain card. ‘Van 
soon learned to distinguish between the two, and the next stage — 
was to teach him to bring me the card; this he now does, and 
hands it to me quite prettily, and I then give him a bone, ora 
little food, or take him out, according to the card brought. He 
still brings sometimes a plain card, in which case I point out his 
error, and he then takes it back and changes it. This, hone 
does not often happen. Yesterday morning, for instance, Van 
selecting it from among other plain cards, though I changed the 
relative position every time. a 
“ No one who sees him can doubt that he understands the A 
of bringing the card with the word ‘ Food’ on it asa request pe 
something to eat, and that he distinguishes between ne 
plain card. I also believe that he distinguishes, for instanc® ” 
tween the card with the word ‘Food’ on it and the card wi 
“ Out’ on it. 
_“ This, then, seems to open up a method, which may be ¢ 
tied much further, for it is obvious that the cards may 
‘ . animals — 
my spare time is small and liable to many interruptio iho of 
also, we know, differ greatly from one another. N m 
your readers have favorite dogs, and I would express A anne! 
some of them may be disposed to study them 1n the m 
dicated, d inter 
“The observations, even though negative, woul its might | 
esting; but I confess, I hope that some positive iso insight 
follow, which would enable us to obtain a more cour ; 
into the minds of animals than we have yet acquired. 
* 
w 
ANTHROPOLOGY. l comme nced 
Tue Grann Traverse Recion.—Dr. M. L. Leach § Michige™ 
a series of contributions to the Grand Traverse Heraa, t 
; p. 
zashin 
1 Edited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W» Wasbingt™ 
