10 WALTER S. HUNTER 



hunt: so long had the memory endured and the association 

 remained uneffaced." ^* 



This is a fairly well known example of the type of proof used 

 by the "anecdotal psychologists." To some it may seem too 

 trivial either for serious analysis or notice. But such a judg- 

 ment is ill informed. We shall find similar arguments as late 

 as Cole's paper on the Intelligence of Raccoons. The obvious 

 criticism of Morgan's illustrations is that they may be simply 

 cases of sensory recognition of the commonest kind. A further 

 word will be said in connection with the criticism of Cole's work. 



6. Thorndike's Test 



A great many of the experiments which Thorndike presents 

 in his recent book on Animal Intelligence" involve more or less 

 intimately the question of the existence of images. However, 

 I shall limit my analysis to the case in which the problem of the 

 fact of images is most crucially attacked. The case I choose 

 is the famous one reported in the first monograph of Animal 

 Intelligence. I shall term it the "hand-clapping test" with 

 cats. Thorndike's own words are such an excellent example of 

 scientific description that I shall quote them at length:^" "The 

 only logical way to go at this question and settle it is, I think, to 

 find some associations the formation of which requires the pres- 

 ence of images, of ideas. You have to give an animal a chance 

 to associate sense-impression A with sense-impression B and 

 then to associate B with some act C so that the presence of B 

 in the mind will lead to the performance of C. Presumably the 

 representation of B, if present, will lead to C just as the sense- 

 impression B did. Now, if the chance to associate B with A 

 has been improved, you ought, when the animal is confronted 

 with the sense-impression A, to get a revival of B and so the 

 act C. Such a result would, if all chance to associate C with 

 A had been eliminated, demonstrate the presence of represent- 

 tions and their associations. I performed such an experiment 

 in a form modified so as to make it practicable with my animals 

 and resources. Unfortunately, this modification spoils the cru- 

 cial nature of the experiment and robs it of much of its author- 

 ity. The experiment was as follows: 



7 ^Ibid, p. 118. 



^ ^^ Thorndike, E. L. Animal Intelligence. New York, 1911. 

 ^^ Ibid, pp. 110-112. 



