Note AN — Chapter VI · GENESIS OF THE REACTION OF THE HORSE

There is only one, and I believe it is only a seeming exception to be found in the literature on the subject. We are told that about the year 1840 a French revenue official named Léonard had two hunting dogs that, besides other things, were able to play at dominoes, and this not only with their master, but with anyone and without the master's assistance. The owner had educated them simply for the fun of it, and not for pecuniary gain. This statement is made by both writers who, apparently independently of one another, have discussed the case, Youatt[108] and de Tarade.[109] De Tarade himself played with them, and gives directions how to teach dogs to play the game. But his exposition is so naïve, and even ridiculous, for those who know anything about the subject, that we do not believe it necessary to attempt a detailed refutation. Youatt never saw the animals. But he tells us that not only the dog's partner, but also the master, sat at the game. Youatt's assertion, however, that "not the slightest intimation could have been given by Mr. Leonard to the dog," but that the animal carried on the game by means of its own observation and calculation, appears to me a rather bold statement. After my own experience with dogs, I firmly believe this to have been impossible. Hachet-Souplet,[110] who shares my conviction, explains the matter as follows: the dog would simply place a domino having the number of eyes named by his partner, thus the 6 adjacent to the 6, the 3 to the 3, etc. But even so a great deal would have to be attributed to the dog, (although in that case real counting would by no means be absolutely necessary, for an association between the number term and the total picture of the corresponding group of eyes would suffice.) But we must note that neither of the writers mentions that the numbers were always called aloud by the partner. After the failure of the experiments of Sir John Lubbock,[111] we must doubt very much if a dog is able to match one domino with another having the same number of eyes. We are therefore inclined to believe that this dog continually received signs from its master. These signs probably were visual, perhaps also auditory, and they were by no means involuntary. For in a book on the training of animals, which Léonard, the owner of the dogs, has published, and in which he describes minutely the method by which they had been trained in their various accomplishments, he does not mention with so much as a syllable the game of dominoes, a thing which he certainly would have dwelt upon, if he had believed in the animals' power of independent thought. He would not have remained silent concerning this greatest—though only apparent—achievement of his educational endeavors. But his whole book is evidence that he was too wise to have thus deceived himself, and our only alternative is to believe that he was playing a joke on his credulous admirers.