270 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 
even the Primates, without more conclusive evidence than is at 
present forthcoming. But unconscious imitation of the follow-my- 
leader type (the outcome of a direct suggestion) is a factor of prime 
importance alike in animal and in human life. And of this Mr 
Thorndike’s experiments do not offer any disproof. A cat with no 
experience of the means of escape sees another perform a certain 
act and learns nothing from the experience. This no doubt proves: 
that the cat had not in any sense grasped the problem to be put 
before it; and shows that when placed in similar difficulties it did 
not go back upon its previous merely observational experience (if 
such it can be called). But the previous experiments have already 
gone far to disprove the rationality of the cat—have at any rate 
thrown the onus of proof on the upholders of the alternative 
hypothesis. The whole gist of the chance experience interpretation 
of animal behaviour is that there must be such chance experience 
to build on. The cat cannot gain this by looking on, never so 
intently, unless it be provided with a rational, as well as a sensory 
eye. But the act of pulling the string is not of the type that cay 
reasonably be regarded as likely to afford a follow-my-leader 
suggestion. It has been reached by the gradual elimination of 
many failures; it is a differentiated act, and one therefore so far 
removed from the ordinary procedure of kittens. In all this I 
think Mr Thorndike will agree. But his statements might well 
lead readers of his work to suppose that he denied this influence of 
suggestion. When he lays it down that “to say that a dog who 
opens a gate, for instance, need not have reasoned it out if he had 
seen another dog do the same thing, is to offer instead of one false 
explanation another equally false,” he is, I think, open to mis- 
construction. Puppies at a gate do most certainly in some cases 
(1 speak from observation) follow the lead in an unmistakable 
manner, and unquestionably profit by the suggestive behaviour of 
one of their number. To contend that they imitate with conscious 
intent would be quite another matter. 
A series of experiments were made to ascertain whether 
instruction (in the form of putting the animal through the 
procedure requisite for a given act) was in any degree helpful. 
The conclusion is that such instruction has no influence. Those 
who have had experience in teaching animals to perform tricks will 
probably agree here—though some trainers give expression to a 
different opinion. It is, however, essential carefully to distinguish 
between showing an animal how a trick is done, and furnishing 
useful accessory stimuli (such as the occasional taps of the trainer’s 
whip) which temporarily enter into the association complex. If 
the latter be eliminated the practice of trainers, I believe, bears 
out the general result of the experiments. Mr Thorndike never 
