Note 52 — HERBERT SPENCER AND THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC

See the chapters entitled "Orpheus at the Zoo," in Mr. Cornish's Life at the Zoo. Every one who has kept dogs or snakes must have noticed how vivid their musical perceptions are. My own dog has a decided musical faculty in him. He is exceedingly susceptible to the mezzo-soprano voice in the upper part of its middle register. Tones produced there—but no others in that or any other voice—he will try to imitate. It is not a howl, but a real attempt to hit the right pitch and to shape the sound with his mouth. "Excited speech" has nothing to do with his musical perceptions. The excited speech usually comes later, from the singer whom he is favouring with this sincerest form of flattery.