The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1880-06-25
Professor Huxley on Dogs.


| Professor Huxley pointed out BY the aid
; Of a diagram, in which force was given tc
the Illustration by the skeleton Of the ami
nal being raised on its hind legs, that III
ternal construction the only difference be-
tween man and dog was one Of size and
proportion. There was not a bone in one
A (which did hot exist III the other-not a
single constituents iii the one that was not
to be found in the other. In the case of
1 the dog there was not that which, on SUI
/ perfcial examination, answered to the
collar-bone of the man; utsclose dissec-
ton would disclose, in the case, ,ofsthe low
er animal, a little bone val.yingill length
from third to half an inch, occupying tile
same place as the human collar-bone,
which was indubitably a rudimentary
collar-bone. 1t appeared to be of no func-
tional Importance, but there it was.
/ Considering the psychological nature Of.
the dog, the lecturer remarked that he
might be met at tie outset with the OBJ
lection, sTalk Of the mind of a dog; why,
I [ don't believe he has a mind" Well,
the only reason he had for assuming that
the dog had a mind was the same reason
by which he assumed that all present had
minds. There was no direct evidence Of
the fact any more in the one than in the
other. Run a pin into man, and there
was start and a cry, by which they came
to the conclusion that pain had resulted
Run a pin into q dog, and there was a
howl, and attempt perhaps to bite, by
which we inferred that the animal was in
a state of consciousness in which it also
suffered pain. Could they say that the
dog was a mere piece of animated ma
chincry? It was quite true: that certain |
philosophers had held views of that kind /
but common-sense people would not have /
it, and he believed the cOmmon-senae /
people were right. At the same time he
was disposed to think that in dogs the:
feeling Of pain was infinitely duller than
in human beings. As to the other senses
belonging to dogs, he was inclined to
doubt very much if dogs could see with
any thing like distinctness of man. Their
hearing was indisputably very acute; but
it was a remarkable fact that sense was
regulated on a totally different scale in
dogs as compared Nith human beings.
Did they ever hear of Il dog taking a
pleasure in music: On the contrary the
sound of mtlse seemed to cause liIa acute
pain, accompanied by a horrible sort of
fascination, which fastened him to the
spot at which he was subjected to the
torture. Else. when q German Dand was
doing its worst i'll the streets, why did he
sit I'D on his launches and howl when he
might gel, up and run away? Yet he Il
often wondered whether dogs really did
suffer pain from music, or whether they 4,
hovled purely in sympathy, as did the
jaekals ofthe pr;,iries. /;
The sense of smell in u dog was some
thing malyelous-narveIoU not only for
its tEelicacy, but for the fact that its dis
Of what was agreeable and
lisagreeable WAS exactly the reverse of
ours They never heard OF :; dog being
infatuated with lavender water or pat
.houli Or Eau lie Cologne; he rather re-
yelled i'll the smells which TO men were
4 source of unfeiSned horror and disgust.
He once possessed a dog which he fire.
luently left amongst the thousands 1re-
1lenting Regents Park, to secrete him
self behind Il tree. SO soon as the animal
@ III I,1 i,iI
MS nose to the ground, and III that manner
very soon tracked him to his lIiding-place.
That showed that the dog had the power
Of distinguishing The particular noditica-
5ion Of the leather OF the boots caused by
the wearing Of his master, i'll contradis-
tinction to the notifications produced BY
hundreds Of thousands Of other people
present at the moment.
As to the ability of dogs to tinl their
way from place to place, he believed there
was an unconscious registration III their
minds of the visual pictures presented to it
in the various tracks through Which they
passed, aud that the memory worked
backward until the animal reached its des-
5ination. No one could doubt the moral
disposition Of dogs. Some were trust
worthy, others more or less thieves; some
we're amHble, others vicious, and so on.
Neither was there any doubt that dog
had ideas of equality and inequality. They
could easily settle that point by offering a
log a large and a small piece of meat on
sl1e same dish, and by observing which he
,ook first. Indeed, there eFas no funda-
mental faculty connected with the reason
ng powers that might not be demonstrat-
I'd to exist in dogs.