Abstract
IT might prove interesting to some of your readers to put the following incidents on record relative to intellect in brutes:— Some time ago I kept in town a bitch and three of its puppies; the former had a strong pair of lungs and a weakness for letting the passers-by know it; when the latter became of age they exhibited all the hereditary peculiarities of the mother, and when the four animals joined in chorus, which was their favourite amusement at night, the result was anything but agreeable. Some of my friends hinted to me that if that state of things continued I should probably be indicted for causing a nuisance, and I therefore determined to explain to my four animals that they really mustn't bark. One night I remained late in town, and having provided myself with a stick, I waited till I heard one of them bark, and I immediately afterwards went out and chastised him, or rather the one I thought had made the noise. I was, however, soon met by a difficulty; although I could recognise the bark of the old one, I could not discriminate well between those of the puppies; and whilst the old one was silenced after a few chastisements, the puppies were not; probably in mistake I had thrashed the wrong puppy. I therefore hit upon the plan of making the whole four responsible for each other, and as soon as I heard any one of them bark I applied my stick freely to the whole four, the one after the other. When this had been done two or three times I heard one of the puppies bark, and the next moment it gave a pitiful squeal; the mother had it by the neck. I went out and patted her, thus explaining that she had done well. She wagged her tail, as much as to say she understood me perfectly, and the dogs never barked again except upon the most provoking occasions.
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THOMSON, W. Intellect in Brutes. Nature 21, 324 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021324c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021324c0
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