the lives of more than forty people, although this number has sometimes varied over the years. Barry's most famous rescue was that of a young boy. He found the child asleep in a cavern of ice. After warming up the boy's body sufficiently by licking him, he moved the boy about and onto his back and carried the child back to the hospice. The child survived and was returned to his parents, although other sources say that the boy's mother died in the avalanche that trapped the boy. The Natural History Museum of Bern disputes the legend, attributing it to Peter Scheitlin, an animal psychologist. Death There is a plaque on a monument in the Cimetière des Chiens pet cemetery in France which states, "" ("He saved the lives of forty people. He was killed by the forty-first"). The story goes that news had come that a Swiss soldier was lost in the mountains. Barry was searching for the soldier and had picked up the scent, some forty-eight hours old, and finally stopped before a large bank of ice. He dug until he reached the soldier, and then licked him as he was trained. The Swiss soldier awoke startled and mistook Barry for a wolf and fatally stabbed him with his bayonet. James Watson in his 1906 work The Dog Book attributed the rumour to fellow author Idstone, also known as Reverend Thomas Pearce. However, the legend of his death is untrue. After twelve years of service at the monastery, Barry was brought by a monk to Bern, Switzerland so that he could live out the rest of his life. He died at the age of 14. His body passed into the hands of the Natural History Museum of Bern. A special exhibition was held in his honour at the museum to commemorate his 200th birthday in 2000. Legacy The Hospice has always maintained one St. Bernard named Barry in the original's honor. During Barry's lifetime, his breed did not have one specific name. By 1820, six years after his death, Barry was specifically referred to as being an Alpine Mastiff, while there was also a breed called the Alpine Spaniel which was recorded around the same time period. The English called the breed "sacred dogs", while the German Kynology proposed the name "Alpendog" in 1828. Following his death and up until 1860, the entire stock were called "Barry hounds"