5 



cieucy within the limits of the experiment. Only two elderly 

 aubjecta were obtained, hence too much reliability cannot be 

 attributed to the results from the last group, but apparently, 

 v.hile their initial rtte is intermediate betv.'ecn that of the 

 children and the norrr.al school pupils, they fail to reach the 

 final rate attaiiied by either of them. IJunn gives neither the 

 average nor the rate of gain for this last group, but the form- 

 er was easily obtained, and appears in the table below. 



Adults - first test - 42 sec. last test - 14 sec. 



Children- " " -384 sec. " " - 3?^ sec. 



Old persons'' " - 72 sec. " " _ 3^. sec. 

 Gain in first 5 tes ts : 



Adults 16 seconds Children 34 seconds 



G ain in second 5 tests: 



Adults 5 seconds Children 14 seconds 



It would appear from these results that, if the rate of im- 

 provement is the question considered, children learn about 

 twice as fast as adults. 



Turning to the field of animal behavior we find a somewhat 

 larger amount of experimental work on the matter under discus- 

 sion, although practically all of it occurs as a side issue 

 to some other problem. Slonaker undertook a study of the 

 normal activity of the white rat at iifferent ages, hoi ir.g to 

 ''ascertain how the age of greatest activity comi ared with that at 



1. Slonaker, J.R., The Normal Activity of the White Rat at 



Different Ages, Journ. Comp . Meur. & psych. 17, (07), 342-69. 



