HAVE FISHES MEMORY. 



By L. Edinger/ 



Up to the present time the science of psychology, confining itself 

 in the main to obseryations made by the inyestigator upon himself or 

 other human beings, has attached little weight to psychic phenomena 

 in the lower yertebrates. Wheneyer it happened that the latter were 

 considered the methods of obserying and reasoning were peryerted 

 to an incredible degree. The point of yiew of writers like Romanes, 

 Buechner, Brehm, who eyerywhere discoyer human instincts, motiyes, 

 and reflections, was condemned by Wasmann with just and incisiye 

 criticism. Moreoyer, the old and eyer renewed attempt to lay down 

 a sharp line of diyision between ''reason" and "instinct'' has retarded 

 rather than adyanced the deyelopment of a trul}' scientilic knowledge 

 of animal psychology. Finally, a third hindering element is super- 

 added; many psychologists did not know how to obserye animals, and, 

 again, piost obseryers of animals were far remoyed from the problems 

 of science. So it could come about that, though a bit of animal ps}"- 

 chology has been deyeloped with apparent completeness, it proyes una- 

 vailable when the securit}" of its foundations is tested; and, on the 

 other hand, though a large number of obseryations hayc been made on 

 animals, they are not objectiye, inasumch as the obseryers were under 

 the influence of the yery psychologists whose science is untrustworth}'. 

 Experimental physiology of the neryous system has reached a certain 

 degree of perfection; in the anatomy of the brain of animals, too, 

 considerable progress has been made, great enough, certainly, to 

 justify the attempt to define the capacity of the apparatus already 

 known and to determine the additional functions that become p()ssil)le 

 with each step of brain difl'erentiation. A great task, partially capable 

 of solution eyen in the present state of science, offers itself to those 

 who, haying mastered all the scientific details, approach the obserya- 

 tion of animals with unbiased mind. 



1 The result of an investigation by a number of pei-sons, communicated to the neuro- 

 logical section of the Congress of German Scientists and Physicians at ^lunicli, 1809. 

 Translated from the supplement to the Allgemeine Zeitung, Nos. 241 and 242, October 

 21 and 23, 1899. Munich, press of the Allgemeine Zeitung, 1899. 



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