INTERESTS, OPPORTUNITY AND MATERIALS 



Two strong interests come to expression in this report: the 

 one in the study of the adaptive or ideational behavior of the 

 monkeys and the apes ; and the other in adequate and permanent 

 provision for the thorough study of all aspects of the lives 

 of these animals. The values of these interests and of the 

 tasks which they have led me to undertake are so widely 

 recognized by biologists that I need not pause to justify or define 

 themi. I shall, instead, attempt to make a contribution of fact 

 on the score of each interest. 



While recognizing that the task of prospecting for an anthro- 

 poid or primate station may in its outcome prove incomparably 

 more important for the biological and sociological sciences and 

 for human welfare than my experimental study of ideational 

 behavior, I give the latter first place in this report, reserving 

 for the concluding section an account of the situation regarding 

 our knowledge of the monkeys, apes, and other primates, and 

 a description of a plan and program for the thorough-going and 

 long continued study of these organisms in a permanent station 

 or research institute. 



In 1915, a long desired opportunity came to me to devote 

 myself undividedly to tasks which I have designated above as 

 " prospecting " for an anthropoid station and experimenting 

 with monkeys and apes. First of all, the interruption of my 

 academic duties b3^ sabbatical leave gave me free time. But in 

 addition to this freedom for research, I needed animals and equip- 

 ment. These, too, happily, were most satisfactorily provided, 

 as I shall now describe. 



When in 1913, while already myself engaged in seeking the 

 establishment of an anthropoid station, I heard of the founding 

 of such an institution at Orotava, Tenerife, the Canary Islands, 

 I immediately made inquiries of the founder of the station. 

 Doctor Max Rothmann of Berlin, concerning his plans (Roth- 



