a picture shown to it.

Not that these abilities exceed those of man, at first sight, but when
the matter is probed into deeply they _do_ out-strip ours in one
particular, and that is in celerity. For instance, if I write three or
four rows of figures, one beneath the other, doing so quickly, without
making any calculation myself, and then hold the paper before Lola's
eyes, so that I can look into them, I see her glance skim the figures
for a second or two, she will then hang her head, in evident
calculation--after which she looks out straight in front of her and
raps her reply. Rarely does her glance go over the paper a second time.
In early days I used to think that, before holding out my hand to
receive her answer, I ought to hold her head firmly and oblige her to
keep her eyes on the sheet, for it seemed to me she must needs look at
it for five minutes--_at least_. But Lola always tries hard to avoid
looking--so I let her have her own way, and am trying to account for
the cause of this quick glance by a closer study. It was the same thing
when I wrote down a question--her eye flew over the sentence in three
or four seconds, and the answer was given without a second glance.
People to whom I have not said anything about this have stood behind me
during these tests, and have generally been more impressed by the fact
of her _reading_ them than by the _swiftness_ with which it was done.
But it is the latter that amazed me most of all, for reading she and we
have in common--and is indeed so far simpler a matter that there is no
reason for a dog not acquiring it--but it is the _comprehension_ of
what it is doing, and the _speed_ with which it translates what it has
seen into intelligent replies that seem to me the most surprising part
of all. Another instance in connexion with what I term the "cursory
glance" may throw light upon this curious ability. I had heard of the
way in which Rolf was able to count the flowers in a bunch, and so--on
the 16 April, 1917, I thought I would try something of the same kind
with Lola. For this lesson I took a sheet of paper and peppered it with
dots, without any thought at regularity.

* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *

Lola's first answer after looking at it for about four seconds was
"34." "Are you sure?" I asked; "tell me again." She then responded with
"32." I took m