To F. P. Cobbe   28 November 1872

My dear Miss Cobbe

I have been greatly interested by your article in the Quarterly.¹ It seems to me the best analysis of the mind of an animal which I have ever read, & I agree with you on most points. I have been particularly glad to read what you say about the reasoning power of dogs & about that rather vague matter, their self-consciousness.² I dare say however that you w^d prefer criticisms to admiration. I regret that you quote Jesse so often: I made enquiries about one case (which quite broke down) from a man who certainly ought to have known Mr Jesse well, & I was cautioned that he had not written in a scientific spirit.³ I regret also that you quote old writers;⁴ it may be very illiberal but their statements go for nothing with me, & I suspect with many others. It passes my powers of belief that dogs ever commit suicide; assuming the statements to be true, I sh^d think it more probable that they were distraught & did not know what they were doing; nor am I able to credit about fetishes.⁵

One of the most interesting subjects in yr article seems to me to be about the moral sense.⁶ Since publishing the Descent of Man I have got to believe rather more than I did in dog’s having what may be called a conscience. When an honourable dog has committed an undiscovered offence he certainly seems ashamed (& this is the term naturally & often used) rather than afraid to meet his master.⁷ My dog, the beloved & beautiful Polly, is at such times extremely affectionate towards me; & this leads me to mention a little anecdote. When I was a very little boy, I had committed some offence, so that my conscience troubled me; & when I met my father,⁸ I lavished so much affection on him, that he at once asked me what I had done, & told me to confess. I was so utterly confounded at his suspecting any thing, that I remember the scene clearly to the present day; & it seems to me that Polly’s frame of mind on such occasions is much the same as was mine, for I was not then at all afraid of my father.

This note is not worth sending, but I have nothing better to write & I remain with kind regards to Miss Lloyd⁹ | yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin