One morning, the sort of day when one cannot be sure of what it means to do, rain or clear, I again sought my dog's advice! It was very important to me that the hay should be carried, while the weather was dry, but I should have preferred having it loaded up towards evening, as the carts were wanted for other work--if only I knew what to expect! Lola decided for "r" (rain) in the afternoon, so I had the hay carried at eleven--_at three the rain began_, but my loads were saved! A long period of wet weather followed; after this had continued for a fortnight--a beautiful morning broke, fine and clear, so that every one about the farm said--"at last it's going to be fine again!" I enquired of Lola--"Will there be sun to-day?" "No!" she said: "Then tell me what the weather will be to-day?" I urged. "r." I was loth to believe her, yet, by eleven, the rain had begun again. Now all this seemed very nice, and I was quite delighted, for the importance of such accuracy in agricultural work was incalculable, but I soon found that I was "reckoning without my host!" After she had--as I have shown--gone on rapping out useful and correct replies for some time, she got sick of it, began to rap out all sorts of nonsense; indeed, I knew at once from her listless and unfriendly manner that her interest was falling off, and that the replies she was giving were false. It seemed to me, indeed, that she was doing this obstinately and on purpose, so as to put me off asking any more questions! And--if so--she certainly gained her point. The lesson of this, is that one has to bear in mind that one is not dealing with a _machine_, but with a living being--and with one that is in many respects exceedingly "unreasonable" and particularly "self-willed." I had been devoting myself to this work for some months, and had lost some of my earlier interest, but I started again three days ago so as to have another test to set down here. Lola proved to be up to the mark again, seemed interested, and I did my best to encourage her by saying: "You _will_ be pleased when you know _this_!" ... "This _is_ nice!" ... "See how much more a dog knows than many a man!" and so on. And as a result she announced on 5 January, 1917. For 6 January = b (a little rain). For 7 January = r (rain). For 8 January = r (rain). On 6 January, there was half a degree of cold, and snow fell later in the day. This answer was near enough, for she had not been taught "snow," yet the equivalent might doubtless be found in a little "rain," i.e. wet. On 7 January, we had a heavy fall of snow, and another on 8 January. So that this test succeeded, if we discount the snow instead of rain, a change occasioned by the colder atmosphere. ADVANCED ARITHMETIC