70 Animal Intelligence 



A page or two later we find a less ponderous account of 

 a cat's success in turning aside a button and so opening a 

 window : 



"At Parara, the residence of Parker Bowman, Esq., a full- 

 grown cat was one day accidentally locked up in a room without 

 any other outlet than a small window, moving on hinges, and 

 kept shut by means of a swivel. Not long afterwards the win- 

 dow was found open and the cat gone. This having happened 

 several times, it was at last found that the cat jumped upon the 

 window sill, placed her fore paws as high as she could reach 

 against the side, deliberately reached with one over to the 

 swivel, moved it from its horizontal to a vertical position, and 

 then, leaning with her whole weight against the window, swung 

 it open and escaped." (Animal Intelligence, p. 425.) 



A description has already been given on page 31 of the 

 small box (C), whose door fell open when the button was 

 turned, and also of a large box (CC) for the dogs, with a 

 similar door. The thumb-latch experiment was carried 

 on with the same box (G) for both cats and dogs, but the 

 door was arranged so that a greater force (1.3 kilograms) 

 was required in the case of the dogs. It will be remembered 

 that the latch was so fixed that if the thumb piece were 

 pressed down, without contemporaneous outward pressure 

 of the door, the latch bar would merely drop back into its 

 catch as soon as the paw was taken off the door. If, how- 

 ever, the door were pushed outward, the latch bar, being 

 pressed closely against the outer edge of its catch, would, 

 if lifted, be likely to fall outside it and so permit the door 

 to open if then or later sufficient pressure were exerted. 

 Eight cats (Nos. i, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 13) were, one at a time, 

 left in this thumb-latch box. All exhibited the customary 

 instinctive clawings and squeezings and bitings. Out of 

 the eight all succeeded in the course of their vigorous 



