A CANINE MIND-READER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 900, 22 September 1879, Page 2

A CANINE MIND-READER.

A very pretty illustration of that unconscious suggestion upon which the successes of " mind-reading," so called, depend, is furnished by the performances of a clever dog belonging to the wellknown spectroscopist and astronomer, Dr Huggins. This day, a mastiff of noble proportions, to whom had been given the name of Kepler, possessed many rare gifts, which had secured for him the admiration and regard of a large number of scientific acquaintances ; and among these was one which he was always ready to exercise for the entertainment of visitors. At the close of luncheon and dinner, says a writer m the Edinburgh Review, Kepler used to march gravely and sedately into the room, and set himself down at his master's feet. Dr Huggins then propounded to him a series of arithmetical questions, which the dog invariably solved without a mistake. Square roots were extracted off hand with the utmost readiness and promptness, If asked what was the square root of 9, Kepler replied by three barks ; or, if the question was the square root of 16, by four. Then various questions followed, m which more complicated processes were involved — such, for instance, "as add 7 to 8, divide the sum by 3, and multiply by 2" To such a question as that Kepler gave more consideration and sometimes hesitated m making up his mind as to where his barks ought finally to stop. Still, m the one his decision was always right. The reward for each correct answer was a piece of cake, which was held before him during the exercise; but until the solution was arrived at, Kepler never moved his eye from his master's face. The instant the last bark was given, he transferred his attention to the cake. Dr* Huggins was perfectly unconscions of suggesting the proper answer to the dog, but it is beyond all question that lie did so. The wonderful fact is that Kepler had acquired the habit of reading m his master's eye or countenance some indication that was not known to Dr. Huggins himself. The case is one of j the class which is distinguished by physiologistn as that of expectant attention. Dr. Huggins was himself engaged m working out mentally the various stages of his arithmetical process as he propounded the number of Kepler, and being, therefore, aware of what the answer should be, expected the dog to cease barking when that number was reached, and that exception suggested to his own brain the unconscious signal which was caught by the quick eye of the dog. The mathemetical training of poor Kepler has, unfortunately, come to an untimely end. The interesting arithmetician died of an attack of typhus fever, to the great sorrow of his large circle of friends, at the beginning of last year, and|he now sleeps under the shadow of the telescopes at Tulse-hill. The memory of his high attainments, and of the distinguished success with which he upheld the reputation of his name, however, remains.

Not Unlikely. — " How long will it.be before you get work done V said a lady to an apprentice who was painting her house. "Well, I don't know, mar m," said he' "the boss has just gone to look for another job ; if he gets it, I'll be done to-morrow, but if he don't, I'm afraid it'll take me all next week."