﻿ANIMAL 
  BEHAVIOUR 
  215 
  

  

  ings 
  of 
  an 
  organismal 
  registration 
  in 
  which 
  ideas 
  have 
  not 
  

   been 
  involved 
  ? 
  

  

  In 
  her 
  admirable 
  book 
  on 
  The 
  Animal, 
  Mind, 
  Miss 
  Wash- 
  

   burn 
  points 
  out 
  that 
  images 
  of 
  a 
  Hampton 
  Court 
  maze 
  are 
  

   difficult, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  slow 
  learning 
  and 
  the 
  nature 
  of 
  the 
  

   mistakes 
  do 
  not 
  suggest 
  working 
  with 
  ideas. 
  Similarly, 
  in 
  

   regard 
  to 
  puzzle-boxes, 
  she 
  says 
  that 
  the 
  slow 
  learning, 
  by 
  

   gradual 
  elimination 
  of 
  useless 
  movements, 
  suggests 
  the 
  ab- 
  

   sence 
  of 
  any 
  guiding 
  idea 
  of 
  the 
  action, 
  and 
  Professor 
  Thorn- 
  

   dike, 
  who 
  initiated 
  these 
  experiments, 
  corroborates 
  this 
  view 
  

   by 
  pointing 
  to 
  the 
  entire 
  lack 
  of 
  inferential 
  or 
  reflective 
  

   imitation. 
  That 
  is 
  to 
  say, 
  the 
  successful 
  behaviour 
  of 
  com- 
  

   panions 
  does 
  not 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  suggestive. 
  But 
  other 
  observers, 
  

   such 
  as 
  Professor 
  Hobhouse, 
  have 
  come 
  to 
  the 
  opposite 
  conclu- 
  

   sion, 
  and 
  in 
  any 
  case, 
  as 
  has 
  been 
  well 
  said, 
  " 
  We 
  cannot 
  

   conclude 
  that 
  an 
  animal 
  is 
  incapable 
  of 
  ideas 
  because 
  it 
  does 
  

   not 
  have 
  them 
  suggested 
  to 
  it 
  under 
  circumstances 
  that 
  would 
  

   suggest 
  them 
  to 
  our 
  minds." 
  

  

  11. 
  Secondary 
  Simplifications 
  of 
  Behaviour. 
  

  

  The 
  difficulty 
  of 
  understanding 
  animal 
  behaviour 
  is 
  in- 
  

   creased 
  by 
  the 
  occurrence 
  of 
  secondary 
  simplification. 
  We 
  

   are 
  familiar 
  with 
  this 
  in 
  the 
  individual 
  habituation 
  of 
  ex- 
  

   ercises 
  which 
  originally 
  required 
  attentive 
  selection 
  and 
  

   detailed 
  control. 
  What 
  required 
  conscious 
  regulation 
  from 
  

   step 
  to 
  step 
  becomes 
  ' 
  automatic 
  ', 
  requiring 
  very 
  little 
  atten- 
  

   tion, 
  and 
  the 
  objective 
  side 
  of 
  this 
  is 
  believed 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  es- 
  

   tablishment 
  of 
  nerve-paths 
  of 
  least 
  resistance, 
  of 
  linkages 
  

   such 
  that 
  one 
  phase 
  of 
  the 
  behaviour 
  automatically 
  evokes 
  

   the 
  next. 
  One 
  of 
  the 
  features 
  is 
  the 
  dropping 
  out 
  of 
  what 
  

   is 
  called 
  implicit 
  behaviour, 
  a 
  common 
  name 
  for 
  the 
  move- 
  

   ments, 
  too 
  slight 
  for 
  detection, 
  which 
  seem 
  at 
  first 
  to 
  inter- 
  

  

  