"Olaf Stapledon - Sirius" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stapledon Olaf)

easily do so, but a cat's organization would be very gravely upset by so great an addition. For a mouse anything of the sort would
be impossible.

Not that Trelone had at this stage any expectation of raising any animal so far in mental stature that it would approach human
mentality. His aim was merely to produce, as he put it, "a rather super-sub-human intelligence, a missing-link mind." For this
purpose the dog was admirably suited. Human society afforded for dogs many vocations requiring intelligence at the upper limit
of the sub-human range. Trelone chose as the best vocation of all for his purpose that of the sheep-dog. His acknowledged
ambition was to produce a "super-sheep-dog."

One other consideration inclined him to choose the dog; and the fact that he took this point into account at all in the early stage of
his work shows that he was even then toying with the idea of producing something more than a missing-link mind. He regarded
the dog's temperament as on the whole more capable of development to the human level. If cats excelled in independence, dogs
excelled in social awareness; and Trelone argued that only the social animal could make full use of its intelligence. The
independence of the cat was not, after all, the independence of the socially aware creature asserting its individuality; it was
merely the blind individualism that resulted from social obtuseness. On the other hand he admitted that the dog's sociality
involved it, in relation to man, in abject servility. But he hoped that with increased intelligence it might gain a measure of self-
respect, and of critical detachment from humanity.

In due course Trelone succeeded in producing a litter of big-brained puppies. Most of them died before reaching maturity, but
two survived, and became exceptionally bright dogs. This result was on the whole less gratifying than disappointing to Trelone.
He carried out further experiments, and at last, from an Old English Sheep-dog bitch, produced a big-brained family, three of
which survived, and reached a definitely supercanine level of mentality.

The research continued for some years. Trelone found it necessary to take more trouble about the "raw material" to which his
technique was to be applied. He could not afford to neglect the fact that the most capable of all the canine races is the Border
Collie, bred through a couple of centuries for intelligence and responsibility. All modern champions are of this breed, and all are
descendants of a certain brilliant animal, named Old Hemp, who was born in Northumberland in 1893. The Border Collie of to-
day is hardy, but rather small. Trelone, therefore, decided that the best raw material would be a cross between some outstanding
champion of the International Sheep-Dog Trials and another intelligent but much heavier animal. The Alsatian was the obvious
choice. After a good deal of negotiation with owners of champion sheep-dogs and enthusiasts for Alsatians, he produced several




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strains, which blended the two types in various proportions. He then applied his improved technique to various expectant mothers
of these types, and in due season he was able to provide several of his friends with animals of "almost missing-link intelligence"
as housedogs. But there was nothing spectacular about these creatures; and unfortunately all were delicate, and all died before
their somewhat protracted adolescence was completed.

But at last further improvements in his technique brought him real success. He achieved several very bright animals with
normally strong constitutions, predominantly Alsatian in appearance.

He had persuaded his wife Elizabeth that, if ever he succeeded to this extent, they should take a house in a sheep district in
Wales. There she and the three children and the forthcoming baby would live, and he himself would spend the vacations and