o an item of expense, and commonly serves no
industrial purpose, he holds a well-assured place in men's regard as
a thing of good repute. The dog is at the same time associated in our
imagination with the chase--a meritorious employment and an expression
of the honorable predatory impulse. Standing on this vantage ground,
whatever beauty of form and motion and whatever commendable mental
traits he may possess are conventionally acknowledged and magnified.
And even those varieties of the dog which have been bred into grotesque
deformity by the dog-fancier are in good faith accounted beautiful by
many. These varieties of dogs--and the like is true of other fancy-bred
animals--are rated and graded in aesthetic value somewhat in proportion
to the degree of grotesqueness and instability of the particular fashion
which the deformity takes in the given case. For the purpose in hand,
this differential utility on the ground of grotesqueness and instability
of structure is reducible to terms of a greater scarcity and consequent
expense. The commercial value of canine monstrosities, such as the
prevailing styles of pet dogs both for men's and women's use, rests
on their high cost of production, and their value to their owners
lies chiefly in their utility as items of conspicuous consumption.
In directly, through reflection Upon their honorific expensiveness,
a social worth is imputed to them; and so, by an easy substitution of
words and ideas, they come to be admired and reputed beautiful. Since
any attention bestowed upon these animals is in no sense gainful
or useful, it is also reputable; and since the habit of giving them
attention is consequently not deprecated, it may grow into an habitual
attachment of great tenacity and of a most benevolent character. So that
in the affection bestowed on pet animals the canon of expensiveness
is present more or less remotely as a norm which guides and shapes the
sentiment and the selection of its object. The like is true, as will be
noticed presently, with respect to affection for persons also; although
the manner in which the norm acts in that case is somewhat different.

The case of the fast horse is much like that of the dog. He is on the
whole expensive, or wasteful and useless--for the industrial purpose.
What productive use he may possess, in the way of enhancing the
well-being of the community or making the way of life easier for men,
takes the form of exhibitions of force and facili