MENTAL LIFE OF MONKEYS AND APES 109 



and once by accident, when hammer and nails were left in his 

 cage over night, he succeeded in making several holes in the 

 bottom of his sheet iron water pan. There was no doubting 

 the keen satisfaction which the animal took in this form of 

 activity. 



It is impossible to say that the behavior was not imitative 

 of man, for Skirrl, along with all of the other monkeys, had had 

 abundant opportunity to see carpenters working. But this much 

 can be said against the idea of imitation, — no one of the other 

 animals, not excepting the orang utan, showed any interest what- 

 ever in hammer and nails. Occasionally they would be played 

 with momentarily or pushed about, but Sobke, Jimmie, Gertie, 

 Julius, although given several opportunities to exhibit any ability 

 which they might have to drive nails, made not the least attempt 

 to do so. Evidently we must either conclude that Skirrl had 

 a peculiarly strong imitative tendency in this direction, or in- 

 stead, a pronounced disposition or instinct for the use of objects 

 as tools. It would seem fair to speak of it as an instinct for 

 mechanical activity. 



Under this same heading may be described Skirrl's reactions 

 to such objects as a handsaw, a padlock, and a water faucet. 

 The saw was given to him in order to test his ability to use it in 

 human fashion, for if he could so expertly imitate the carpenter 

 driving nails, it seems likely that he might also imitate the use of 

 the saw. 



As a matter of fact, he showed no tendency to use the saw 

 as we do. Instead, he persistently played with it in various 

 ways, at first using it as a sort of plane to scrape with, later 

 often rubbing the teeth over a board so that they cut fairly well, 

 but never as effectively as in the hands of a man. After two 

 or three days' practice with the saw, Skirrl hit upon a method 

 which is, as I understand, used by man in certain countries, 

 namely, that of placing the saw with the teeth up, holding it 

 rigid, and then rubbing the object which is to be sawed over 

 it. This Skirrl succeeded in doing very skillfully, for he would 

 sit down on the floor of the cage, grip with both feet the handle 

 of the saw, with the teeth directed upward, then holding either 

 end in his hands, he would repeatedly rub a stick over the 

 teeth. In this way, of course, he could make the saw cut fairly 

 well. But still more to his liking was the use of a spike instead 



