As dogs, cats,
horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds, have vivid
dreams, and this is shown by their movements and the sounds uttered, we
must admit that they possess some power of imagination. There must be
something special which causes dogs to howl in the night, and especially
during moonlight, in that remarkable and melancholy manner called
baying. All dogs do not do so; and, according to Houzeau, they do not
then look at the moon, but at some fixed point near the horizon. Houzeau
thinks that their imaginations are disturbed by the vague outlines of
the surrounding objects, and conjure up before them fantastic images; if
this be so, their feelings may almost be called superstitious.
Of all the faculties of the human mind, it will, I presume, be admitted
that _Reason_ stands at the summit. Only a few persons now dispute that
animals possess some power of reasoning. Animals may constantly be seen
to pause, deliberate, and resolve. It is a significant fact, that the
more the habits of any particular animal are studied by a naturalist,
the more he attributes to reason and the less to unlearned instincts.
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