68 E. L. THORNDIKE. 



the first three, one went in himself on the 26th time and fre- 

 quently thereafter, one on the i8th and the other on the 37th ; 

 the two last as well as the first did that frequently in later trials. 

 The other three all failed to go in themselves after 50, 60 and 

 75 trials, respectively. 



The case of No. 7 was especially instructive, though not 

 among these six. No. 7 had had some trials in which it was 

 put in through the door, but ordinarily in this particular experi- 

 ment was dropped in. After about 80 trials it would frequently 

 exhibit the following phenomena : It would, after eating the 

 fish, go up to the doorway and, rushing from it, search for fish. 

 The kitten was very small and would go up into the doorway, 

 whirl round and dash out, all in one quick movement. The 

 best description of its behavior is the paradoxical one that it 

 went out without going in. The association evidently con- 

 cerned what it had done, what it had an impulse for, namely, 

 coming out through that door to get fish, not what it remem- 

 bered, had a representation of. 



Still more noteworthy evidence is found in the behavior of 

 cats and dogs who were put in these boxes, left one or two 

 minutes, and then put through the proper movement. For 

 example, a cat would be put in B (o at back) and left two 

 minutes. I would then put my hand in through the top of the 

 box, take the cat's paw and with it pull down the loop. The 

 cat would then go out and eat the fish. This would be done 

 over and over again, and after every ten or fifteen such trials 

 the cat would be left in alone. If in ten or twenty minutes he 

 did not escape, he would be taken out through the top and not 

 fed. In one series of experiments animals were taken and thus 

 treated in boxes from which their own impulsive activity had 

 failed to liberate them. The results, given in the table below, 

 show that no animal who fails to perform an act in the course of 

 his own impulsive activity will learn it by being put through it. 



In these experiments some of the cats and all of the dogs 

 but No. I showed no agitation or displeasure at my handling 

 from the very start. Nor was there any in Dog i or the other 

 cats after a few trials. It may also be remarked that in the 

 trials alone which took place during and at the end of the ex- 



