LITERARY NOTICES. 



Animal Education.' 



Under this title Dr. Watson has pubHshed the results of a study 

 of the white rat made for the purjjose of correlating the psychical de- 

 velopment with the growth of the nervous system. The work is natu- 

 rally divided into three parts : (i) an experimental study of the 

 psychical development ; (2) an histological study of the central nerv- 

 ous system, for the purpose of tracing the development of medullation, 

 and (3) a correlation of the psychical facts with the neurological facts. 



Part I. The ability of the white rats at different ages to form 

 simple associations was tested by various forms of the labyrinth method. 

 The obtaining of food was employed as a motive. Usually the food 

 was placed in a box and the animals were given a chance to get it by 

 finding a hidden opening into the box, by opening a spring door, or by 

 wending their way through a labyrinth. The observer watched the be- 

 havior of the animals, and recorded the time required for the accom- 

 plishment of a given act. The results of this psychological study 

 include certain interesting points of difference between young and ma- 

 ture rats which cannot be better stated than in the words of the author : 



1 . No form of problem which the adult rat is capable of solving 

 presents insurmountable difficulties to the rat of twenty-three days of 

 age. 



2. a) The time of first success in solving problems conditioned 

 chiefly upon physical activity is shorter for young rats than for adults. 



b) For the second solution of such a problem, adult rats do not 

 require a longer time than young rats. 



c) Problems not so conditioned upon physical activity are solved, 

 even the first time, more ciuickly by adult than by young rats. 



3. a) Young rats make many more useless movements than 

 adult. 



1 Watson, John B. Animal Education : An experimental study on the 

 psychical development of the white rat, correlated with the growth of its 

 nervous system. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1903, 122 pp., 22 

 Figs., 3 Plates. 



