Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-09-12
REMARKABLE FRENCH poas-


velop the intelligence of dogs. He had
also had some experience as prestidi-
gitateur and these two professions
combined to render his exhibitions truly
wonderful. H. Rouil came by invita-
ton to Mr.. Hamerton's house, bringing
with him two of his dogs-Blanche, a
poodle, and LYDIA, a cross between a
poodle and spaniel A number of
guests were present to witness the per-
Torrance, and all agree in corroborat-
ing the statements of Mr.. Hamerton. A
large table was placed in the cen ter of
the room, and on it were laid some cards
on which the letters of the alphabet
were printed in large capitals. M. Rouil
then told Blanche to spell frontage
(cheese). She Immediately picked out
an F, and r, and an o, and then SEEM
ed to hesitate. " You only give us
three letters there are seven" said nj,
Rouil. Blanche then found M, A, G,
E, and the word was complete.
She was then asked to translate, and
the word pferd (horse) was written in
German characters on slate. Blanche
read it, or pretended to do so, and put
her paw on the slate as q sign she I'M
derstood. "Give it to us in French, :"
said Mr.. Rouil, and the word cheval was
Immediately produced. "Now in Eng
lish," and without hesitation, she found
the letters for horse.
She then performed the remarkable
feat of correcting mistake in ortho-
graphy. Mr.. Hamerton wrote the word
meson on the slate, instead of maison
(house), and, on being asked where the
error was, Blanche pointed to the letter
sc, and then picked out an ga" and
an 81"
In spite of her success, the animal
seemed to accomplish her work with
considerable effort, and made sounds of
complaint. The authority of her mas
ter, although exercised with great gen
tleness, seemed irresistible as that of
a magnetizer over his subject. Per-
ceiving this, Mr.. Hamerton suggested
giving her rest !; and sho was allowed
to retire to corner and enjoy some
bon-bons, while LYDIA took her place on
the table.
Some numbers were now substituted
for the letters of the alphabet. Sew
eral problems were written on the slate,
which LYDIA apparently solved without
difficulty.
Her master then proposed trying a
little mental arithmetic, and said, "Ly-
da, if you had ten pieces of sugar, and
met ten Prussian dogs, how many pieces
would you, French dog, give to each
Prussian ?" LYDIA replied to this ques-
ton by pointing out the zero with great
energy. "And how" said her master,
"if you were to share with me ?" Lyda
took the figure five and gave it to him.
M. Rouil then went out for moment,
while Mr.. Hamerton asked the dog for
several numbers successfully, which
she brought without the slightest hest
tation.
Blanche then came forward, and a
pack of playing cards was spread on the
table, M. Rouil holding another pack in
his hand, and asking the company to
choose card from it. Without making
any mistake, Blanche Immediately
brought the corresponding card from
the pack on the table.
She then played a game OF cards with
q young lady, and was beaten after
which she took refuge in corner with
an air of deep humiliation.
The most surprising feat of all came
next. A pack of cards was spread on
the floor in the next room, and the door
nearly closed. M. Rouil told one of the
guests to ask the dog in whisper to
fetch any card he chose to name. The
ace of spades was called for. Blanche
went in search of it, and Immediately
returned with the right card in her
mouth.
Mr.. Hamerton himself then examined
the dog again in her literary acquire
ments, and she translated the word
CHEN (dog) into English, and spelt the
word feu (ire) without difficulty but at
this point M. Rouil interposed, and said
gently, "That is very well for the sin
gular, now give us the plural Won
derful as it seems, Blanche at once
picked out the letter x and gave it to
Mr.. Hamerton.
This account is almost incredible !;
but the facts are vouched for by Mr..
Hamerton, who, however, offers no salts
factory explanation of them. "If the
dogs had been less clever )" he says,
we might have believed in their actual
knowledge; but they really knew too
much. Being convinced that there was
some communication between them and
their master, had invited several very
intelligent friends to be present, telling
them that my object was to discover the
system of M. Rouil, and asking their as
sistance. They watched as close as I
did, but could discover nothing" Dur
ing many of the performances, M. Rouil
stood before the fireplace at some dis
lance from the dogs, and made no mo-
ton with either feet or hands, nor did
he advance or retreat single step.
There could therefore be no commune
cation through the motions of his body.
The dogs performed equally well when
their backs were turned to their master,
which forbids the supposition that they
were guided by his eye. And the tones
of his voice, though encouraging and
exciting, as if he were speaking to q
child, revealed nothing that could be
interpreted as method of communica-
ton. The only supposition left was
that the dogs might be guided by the
sense of smell but, as M. Rouil stood
at some distance from the table, and
could not have known beforehand what
words would be called for, it was i'm
possible that he should have touched
the cards in any way to guide the dogs
by the scent. The whole performance
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