work she did by that
method should have proved a sufficient reply to all doubters, and I had
been full of hope that her gifts would, in time, have been further
developed by her new mistress, yet it was to be otherwise. Ulse was to
have gone to her new home in Meran (in the Tyrol), but the regulations
as to travel obtaining during war-time prohibited this, so I placed her
under the temporary charge of a young lady, and while there she
unfortunately died of mange.

LAST WORDS

Everything that I have so far experienced or even heard of concerning
dogs, I have attempted to set down here, and to do so has taken some
fourteen months of close work. I have further added certain
observations dating from an earlier period. It is my full intention to
continue this work of experimentation, and should be glad if I might
hope that what I have communicated in these pages may raise a desire on
the part of some of my readers to embark on similar work in reference
to other animals; for, in so difficult a field of discovery it can only
be after much independent spadework has been done that the "complete
form" we are groping after will be laid bare. Up to the present it may
be thought that little of really practical value has been proved, and
to some this may suggest that the work is therefore superfluous. But,
do we study astronomy for mere _practical_ reasons? Does the seeker in
this field of science imagine that he is going to derive _practical_
results for us, _in the immediate future_, from his study of the
heavens? It is for purely _ideal_ reasons--and in order to give seeking
humanity that which is indeed theirs, that we humans send forth our
thoughts, exploring every region of the world--be this "of use" or not!
And in thus probing the depths of our own subject do we not come up
against those weightier questions which are of Cosmic importance? Does
not Nature here fix man's eye with her own gaze--granting him new
riches? For rich, indeed, is this gift that proves to him that not he
alone is dowered with a soul[25]--nor dwelling in a world destitute
of thought, nay--that his companion-beings along life's highway are
well able to respond to and comprehend all his labour, his love, and
his care for them. And above all, should it teach him to more clearly
apprehend them--doing so in the spirit of a know-er and with a kindly
sympathy begotten of that knowledge. For _To Know_--_to Understand_--means
to give to each its rights!