Does it look as if the animal had begun to learn the first rudiments of the great science of rights, of his own rights and those of others?  This is an exceedingly difficult question, though often answered unhesitatingly in the negative.  But what of the division of territory by the dogs in oriental cities, a division evidently depending upon something outside of mere brute strength and power to maintain, and their respect of boundaries?  The female is allowed, I am told by an eye-witness long resident in Constantinople, to distribute her puppies in unoccupied spots through the city without interference.  But when she has once located them, she is not allowed to return and visit them, or pass that way again.  So the account by Dr. Washburn of platoons of dogs coming in turn, and peaceably, to feed on a dead donkey in the streets of Constantinople, would seem to be most naturally explained by some dim recognition of rights.  Rook communities have not received the attention and investigation which they deserve, but their actions are certainly worthy of attention.  Concerning the sense of ownership in dogs and other mammals opinions differ, and yet many facts are most naturally explained on such a supposition.

Just one more question in this connection, for we are in the borderland or twilightland where it is much safer to ask questions than to attempt to answer them.  How do you explain the “instinctive” fear of man on the part of wild and fierce animals?  They certainly do not quail before his brute strength, for a blow at such a time breaks the charm and insures an attack.  They quail before his eye and look.  Is not this the answering of a personality in the animal to the personality in man; a recognition of something deeper than bone and muscle?  And may not, as Mr. Darwin has urged, this fear in the presence of a higher personality be the dim foreshadowing of an awe which promises indefinitely better things?  Is, after all, the attachment of a dog to his master something far deeper than an appetite for bones or pats, or a fear of kicks?

A host of other and similar questions throng upon us here, to no one of which we can give a definite answer.  We need more investigation, more light.  We must not rest contented with old prejudices or accept with too great certainty new explanations.  The questions are worthy of careful and patient investigation.  The study of comparative anatomy has thrown a flood of light on the structure and working of the human body in health and disease.  We shall never fully understand the mind of man until we know more of the working of the mind of the animal.