270 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 



even the Primates, without more conclusive evidence than is at 

 present forthcoming. But unconscious imitation of the follow-my- 

 leader type (the outcome of a direct suggestion) is a factor of prime 

 importance alike in animal and in human life. And of this Mr 

 Thorndike's experiments do not oiler any disproof. A cat with no 

 experience of the means of escape sees another perform a certain 

 act and learns nothing from the experience. This no doubt proves 

 that the cat had not in any sense grasped the problem to be put 

 before it ; and shows that when placed in similar difficulties it did 

 not go back upon its previous merely observational experience (if 

 such it can be called). But the previous experiments have already 

 gone far to disprove the rationality of the cat — have at any rate 

 thrown the onus of proof on the upholders of the alternative 

 hypothesis. The whole gist of the chance experience interpretation 

 of animal behaviour is that there must be such chance experience 

 to build on. The cat cannot gain this by looking on, never so 

 intently, unless it be provided with a rational, as well as a sensory 

 eye. lint the act of pulling the string is not of the type that can 

 reasonably be regarded as likely to afford a follow-my-leader 

 suggestion. It has been reached by the gradual elimination of 

 many failures ; it is a differentiated act, and one therefore so far 

 removed from the ordinary procedure of kittens. In all this I 

 think Mr Thorndike will agree. But his statements might well 

 lead readers of his work to suppose that he denied this influence of 

 suggestion. When he lays it down that " to say that a dog who 

 opens a gate, for instance, need not have reasoned it out if he had 

 seen another dog do the same thing, is to offer instead of one false 

 explanation another ecpially false," he is, I think, open to mis- 

 construction. Puppies at a gate do most certainly in some cases 

 (1 speak from observation) follow the lead in an unmistakable 

 manner, and unquestionably profit by the suggestive behaviour of 

 one of their number. To contend that they imitate with conscious 

 intent would be quite another matter. 



A series of experiments were made to ascertain whether 

 instruction (in the form of putting the animal through the 

 procedure requisite for a given act) was in any degree helpful. 

 The conclusion is that such instruction has no influencfe. Those 

 who have had experience in teaching animals to perform tricks will 

 probably agree here — though some trainers give expression to a 

 different opinion. It is, however, essential carefully to distinguish 

 between showing an animal how a trick is done, and furnishing 

 useful accessory stimuli (such as the occasional taps of the trainer's 

 whip) which temporarily enter into the association complex. If 

 the latter be eliminated the practice of trainers, I believe, bears 

 out the general result of the experiments. Mr Thorndike never 



