^^6 KOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Practical Judgment.'- And again, lie makes the following compre- 

 hensive statement, which is worth quoting in full : " However, this 

 may be, we have some ground for thinking that the more intelligent 

 animals have a knowledge of surrounding objects which they apjply in 

 action; that they are capable of learning to act in accordance with 

 physical changes which they witness; that they may be influenced by 

 the general similarities which unite individuals of the same class, and 

 can guide their action in dealing with any object by the relation in 

 which it stands to that which they desire. Further, evidence has been 

 brought that in the process by which they learn, not repetition of 

 instance, bnt concentration of attention is the important point. 

 Lastly, it is suggested that in somci cases they not only merely learn 

 to meet a given perception with a certain motor reaction, but also to 

 combine and adapt their actions so as to effect physical changes which, 

 as they have learned, aid them in gaining their ends." 



"We have thus gone over all the points enumerated on p. 134, 

 as descriptive of Concrete Experience and Practical Judgment, and 

 have seen some ground for imputing each and all to the higher 

 animals. At no point, perhaps, is the evidence conclusive, but it is to 

 be remembered that these functions are indicated so that evidence of 

 capacity for one is indirect evidence of capacity for another. We have, 

 therefore, a set of independent arguments all pointing in the same 

 direction, and it is on this convergence of evidence rather than on 

 decisive proof at any point, that our hypothesis must rest." 



But little credit has been given to animals by the laborators for 

 inhibition or self-restraint. Their experiments were not calculated t"^ 

 bring this quality into bold relief — quite the contrary. Such experi- 

 ments often tend to cause mental disorder, so that one is not observing 

 the animal at its best, but at its worst. Mr. Hobhouse, however, has 

 not wholly neglected this subject, for he remarks that '"the self-restraint 

 of the pointer is the result of severe training, but we must not regard it 

 as the result of mere blind habit superseding blind impulse, for, as 

 Diezel remarks, the same dog who will refrain from following a hare 

 in his master's presence, will eagerly chase it if unobserved. The 

 impulse is not instinct, but is controlled by the knowledge of results." 



This subject is another on which fruitful work might be done; and 

 here again one finds the greatest difference between individual animals 

 as also between individual men. The difficulties in carrying out ex- 

 periments on monkeys, because of their restlessness, are great and Dr. 

 Thorndike and Mr. Kinnaman deserve great credit for their persev- 

 erance, though I must say I should not have expected the most satis- 

 factory results from some of their tests. Dr. Thorndike points out that 

 the monkeys represent progress in mental development from the gene- 



