On the Different Forms of Acquiring Knowledge. 158 



The ants learned to attack, and to seize and kill their 

 former guest. Now in this case a new psychic element, 

 beyond the independent learning of the individual, evi- 

 dently influenced the conduct of these ants. It was 

 the stimulation of their imitative instincts, which was 

 brought about by the behavior of their companions. 

 We shall study this element more closely in the discus- 

 sion of the fourth form of learning. 



It need not be particularly mentioned that the sec- 

 ond form of learning is also met with in higher animals. 

 By its individual sensitive experience a hunting dog 

 ''learns to recognize" a new species of game which will 

 in future be chased with special eagerness, whenever it 

 is scented. But it is time to take up the question, 

 whether this second form of learning furnishes a proof 

 of animal intelligence. 



A disciple of pseudo-psychology will naturally feel 

 inclined to attribute the power of logical deduction to an 

 an ant, that after a single experience admits a new, 

 hitherto unknown, but genuine guest, let us say the 

 Atemeles, into her nest. He injects his own thoughts 

 into the ant's brain, and lets Formica reason as fol- 

 lows : "On account of its unwonted odor I at first took 

 that strange creature for a hostile being, or for a 

 Didelphys which it was my duty to devour; but, after 

 all, I experienced a very pleasant sensation in licking it. 

 Besides, it behaved exactly as a friendly ant would do, 

 and tapped me gently with its feelers. I guess, it will 

 be best to treat it as a welcome immigrant and admit it 

 with citizenship papers into our community." 



What an arbitrary humanization of the animal ! The 

 facts which evidently belong to the second form of 



