ss to enumerate one or two adventures in
which I was engaged.

Chapter III.

I had taken much pains to improve the sagacity of a favourite Spaniel.
It was my purpose, indeed, to ascertain to what degree of improvement
the principles of reasoning and imitation could be carried in a dog.
There is no doubt that the animal affixes distinct ideas to sounds. What
are the possible limits of his vocabulary no one can tell. In
conversing with my dog I did not use English words, but selected simple
monosyllables. Habit likewise enabled him to comprehend my gestures. If
I crossed my hands on my breast he understood the signal and laid
down behind me. If I joined my hands and lifted them to my breast, he
returned home. If I grasped one arm above the elbow he ran before me.
If I lifted my hand to my forehead he trotted composedly behind. By one
motion I could make him bark; by another I could reduce him to silence.
He would howl in twenty different strains of mournfulness, at my
bidding. He would fetch and carry with undeviating faithfulness.

His actions being thus chiefly regulated by gestures, that to a stranger
would appear indifferent or casual, it was easy to produce a belief that
the animal's knowledge was much greater than in truth, it was.

One day, in a mixed company, the discourse turned upon the unrivaled
abilities of _Damon_. Damon had, indeed, acquired in all the circles
which I frequented, an extraordinary reputation. Numerous instances of
his sagacity were quoted and some of them exhibited on the spot.
Much surprise was excited by the readiness with which he appeared to
comprehend sentences of considerable abstraction and complexity, though,
he in reality, attended to nothing but the movements of hand or fingers
with which I accompanied my words. I enhanced the astonishment of some
and excited the ridicule of others, by observing that my dog not
only understood English when spoken by others, but actually spoke the
language himself, with no small degree of precision.

This assertion could not be admitted without proof; proof, therefore,
was readily produced. At a known signal, Damon began a low interrupted
noise, in which the astonished hearers clearly distinguished English
words. A dialogue began between the animal and his master, which was
maintained, on the part of the former, with great vivacity and spirit.
In this dialogue the dog asserted the dignity of his species and
capacity of intellectual improve