ve"; they do not reason themselves
into affection. Those we love become in a measure a part of ourselves,
we feel their sufferings and endure their afflictions, not through the
nerves of the body, but through the finer ones of the mind,--a plexus
of spiritual nerves which stretch unseen from soul to soul. So strong is
this sympathetic affinity that Comte was induced to look upon mankind as
an organism, and it gave rise in the mind of Leslie Stephens to the
conception of a common "social tissue."

Love and law rule the universe. It is this second moral element, that of
law, which we have next to consider. Inductive morality had its origin
in experience; it assumed the form of social restriction, then of fixed
law and precept, and culminated in the sense of duty--a conscientious
avoidance of that which was thought to be wrong, and an earnest desire
to do what was looked upon as right.

The history of this phase of morality differs essentially from that of
the phase we have just considered. The sense of duty, the conscientious
sentiment, so highly developed in man, seems largely non-existent in the
lower animals, so far as observation has taught us. Yet it is not quite
wanting, its rudiment is there, and this rudiment is capable of
development. It may be, indeed, that a highly developed sense of duty
exists in the ants and bees, to judge from their diligent labors for the
benefit of the community. But the clearest examples of conscientious
performance of duty are those seen in the case of the dog, in which
animal intimate association with man has developed something strongly
approaching a conscience. A dog needs only to be well treated to
display a sense of dignity and a self-respect analogous to these
feelings in man. A sensitive resentment against injustice in high-caste
and carefully nurtured dogs has often been observed; while shame for an
act which the animal knows to be forbidden has been seen in a hundred
instances. The sense of duty is occasionally very strongly developed.
Many striking examples of this are on record. A dog will often defend
his master's property with the greatest devotion, letting no temptation
draw him away from the path of duty.

An instance has been related to the writer in which an extraordinary
display of this feeling was made. A gentleman, on coming home at night,
found he had forgotten his key, and attempted to enter the house by the
window of a room in which his dog was on duty as a nigh