THE DISPLAY OF ENERGY .•^8.j 



in the number of cortical brain cells, has a decided correlation with 

 the degree and kind of intelligence that an animal shows. A comi)ar- 

 ison of the brains of normal with those of feeble-minded individuals 

 shows that in the latter the number or depth of the cerebral convo- 

 lutions is much less than in the former, thus giving an anatomical 

 evidence for differences in intelligence in man. 

 As one of the authors ^ has said. 



"With an increase of cerebral function the instinctive reflexes take more 

 and more to the background, and therein is a great distinction between 

 ' lower ' animals which are largely at the mercy of their environment and 

 heredity, and the ' higher ' animals, which to an increasing degree have risen 

 above environmental conditions, and become more and more ' the captains 

 of their souls.' The most prized possession of mankind is the ' capacity for 

 individuality,' yet even what passes for ' free will ' has its basis in the neurons 

 and reflexes built up in the brain, that after all must be regarded as the 

 mechanism through which consciousness, memory, imagination, and will are 

 affected, rather than as the seat of these manifestations of intellectual life." 



Types of intelligence differ widely in the animal scale. The so- 

 called "Gestalt" psychologist would consider modified or conditioned 

 behavior as evidence of some degree of intelhgence. Perkins and 

 Wheeler have shown that goldfish could be trained to make correct 

 responses to light of various intensities even when the absolute in- 

 tensities of the lights were changed as well as their positions. Scores 

 of similar experiments performed wuth higher animals could be cited 

 to show adaptative configurational behaviors. If, however, w'e take 

 the criteria given in the above paragraphs it would seem that memory 

 and a synthesis of previous action are necessary to the possession of 

 true intelligence. The "hold-up" bear of Yellowstone Park appears 

 to be intelligent when it lumbers out of the forest and holds up the 

 passing autoist for candy. It simply associates the moving cars and 

 their contents with sweets. Probably chance started it on its nefar- 

 ious career. A dog taught to do certain tricks seems intelligent but 

 has simply formed associations between the food given as a reward 

 and the act learned. A dog which welcomes its master after a long 

 absence probably does not remember or have a deep attachment 

 for its master, but simply responds to a blind though increasing urge 

 brought about by a stimidus pattern in which associations exist 

 between master and food, or some other goal. 



1 From Walter, H. E., Biology of the Vertebrates, p. 631. By permission of Tiie Macmillan 

 Company, publishers. 



