304 HARVEY CARR 



not released. Additional stimuli of an auditory or cutaneous 

 character were requisite to overcome this deficiency. 



The comparative data confirm our previous conclusion that 

 the eye possesses some peculiar adaptive capacity. The adap- 

 tive power of anosmic animals is practically equal to that of 

 the normals, while the capacity of both groups is much superior 

 to that of the blind animals. The superiority of one group over 

 another is thus not a matter of the number of senses, but rather 

 of the kind of sense involved. Adaptation can not be con- 

 ceived as a pure process of learning, since the blind and par- 

 tially anosmic animals appeared to adapt as readily as did the 

 blind rats although their learning capacity is much inferior. 

 Neither can the differences in adaptive capacity of the various 

 groups be due to operative effects, for on this hypothesis the 

 adaptive ability of the anosmics should be inferior to that of 

 the blind animals. 



There is no conclusive evidence that smell is concerned in the 

 process of adaptation. Although the blind rats did adapt to 

 the distractive influences of olfactory alterations, it is entirely 

 possible that this effect was mediated through the kinaesthetic- 

 motor processes. There is some evidence that the distractions 

 mediated through one sense can be corrected for through another. 

 If smell is concerned in any overt manner in the process of 

 adaptation, one would expect the adaptive power of normal 

 animals to be greater than that of anosmic rats. Likewise blind 

 rats should manifest greater ability than that possessed by blind 

 and partially anosmic animal s r There are no facts which indi- 

 cate in any conclusive fashion the truth of either of these suppo- 

 sitions. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The results of this series of experiments confirm the conclu- 

 sions of other investigators that the maze habit consists essen- 

 tially of a tactual-kinaesthetic motor coordination. 



This act is dependent, nevertheless, both during and subsequent 

 to its development upon a wider sensory situation of which it is 

 a part. This fact was proven by an experimental control of the 

 relation between the animal and the environment. 



The sensory connection^ between the act and those aspects of 

 the environment which were altered was mediated almost ex- 

 clusively through vision and smell. 



