130 The Ohio Journal of Science [Vol. XVIII, No. 4, 



term "dair}' temperament," as it has been used, is based 

 entirely upon physical characteristics of the animal, and as 

 such is abstract and unusable. It is the purpose of this study 

 to attempt to measure "temperament" in cattle, and so place 

 it upon a quantitative basis. 



Historical. — In the study of human psychology, many 

 experiments have been carried on by which various emotions, 

 and mental and nervous disturbances have been registered. 

 According to C. S. Stumpf — "our conscious states, without our 

 willing it — indeed, even in spite of us — are accompanied by 

 bodily changes, which very often can be detected only by the 

 use of extremely fine graphic methods." (10) These have been 

 based mainly, but not solely on respiration. Respiration in 

 animals is controlled almost entirely by the nervous system, 

 the respiratory center being located in the medulla oblangota. 

 Connected with it is the vagus center, which in turn receives 

 nerves from the lungs, heart and stomach. The respiratory 

 movements are controlled primarily by the nerves to the inter- 

 costal muscles and diaphragm. The nerves supplying these 

 muscles do not come from the respiratory center, but come 

 from the cells of the grey matter of the spinal cord. It is by 

 influencing the activities of these cells, that the respiratory 

 center controls the act of respiration. In its turn the respiratory 

 center is under control of the higher nerve centers of the brain. 

 Due to the afferent nerves from the viscera and sense organs, as 

 well as from the higher brain centers, respiration is influenced 

 by the heart beat, activities of the stomach, and internal 

 organs, as well as by external changes. The automatic activity 

 of the respiratory center is chiefly regulated by the amount 

 of acid in the blood and the temperature of the blood. 

 Therefore the respiratory movements are also regulated by the 

 metabolic activities of the animal. As the rate of the heart 

 beat accelerates, so, too, does the rate of respiration. Respira- 

 tion then is not a separate activity, but is in harmony with, and 

 closely allied to various other physical and mental activities. 

 Respiration has been found to be a good index to the nervous 

 reactiveness and "temperament" of an animal, and has formed 

 the chief basis of this study, being used as a means of measuring 

 "temperament" or nervous reactiveness. As Zoneff and 

 Neumann say: " Insoeben wurde ich bei gelegentlichen Ver- 

 suchen, auf den Unterschied aufmerksam, den das Athem mit 



