of the
general character of the people with whom he dwells, there are many
suggestive differences arising from failures of development which are
in the highest measure interesting to those who study the species. We
note, in the first place, that although for ages in contact with the
constructive work which occupies his masters, the dog shows no
tendency whatever to essay any undertakings of this nature. He is
quite alive to considerations of personal comfort and is particularly
fond of a warm bed; yet, except for a few unverified stories, we may
say that there is no evidence whatever to show that they ever try to
improve their conditions by deliberately providing themselves with warm
bedding. In no well-attested case has a dog shown any sense as to the
nature of any mechanical contrivance. They will learn which way a door
opens, and rarely if ever do they undiscerningly close it when it is
slightly ajar and they wish to pass through the opening; but I have
never been able to observe or obtain evidence to show that they would
without teaching pull down a latch in the way in which a cat readily
learns to do. Much as dogs have had to do with guns, they display no
kind of interest in the arms except so far as they are tokens of sport
to come. They connect the explosion with the capture of game, and will
search for it in the direction toward which the barrel was pointed. I
have not, however, been able to find that they know, as they might
readily do, and as a crow would surely do, when the weapon was loaded
and when empty. They show no interest in it, such as monkeys readily
display toward any mechanical contrivance to which their attention has
been directed. All these negative features indicate that the mechanical
side of the canine mind is entirely undeveloped.

[Illustration: Collie]

Although there is some evidence that the sense of number attains a
measure of development in dogs, the ability to form mathematical
conceptions of any kind appears to be very weak in this species. The
fact that shepherd-dogs, in a way, keep an account of considerable
flocks so that they will know when one is gone astray, can readily be
explained on the supposition that they know their charges individually
and not in sum. The absence of arithmetical capacity is, however, less
important than the lack of mechanical sense, for the reason that such
incapacity is also common in the lowest races of men. Although dogs, as
before noted, quickly and