94 E. L. THORNDIKE. 



account the various acts associated with various smells, and ex- 

 ao-<^erating the possibility of getting an equipment of associations 

 in this field which man lacks, one must recognize how far below 

 man any animal is in respect to mere quantity of asssociations. 

 The associations with words alone of an average American 

 child of ten years far outnumber those of any dog. A good 

 billiard-player probably has more associations in connection 

 with this single pastime than a dog with his whole life's business. 

 In the associations which are homologous with those of animals 

 man outdoes them and adds an infinity of associations of a dif- 

 ferent sort. The primates would seem, by virtue of their in- 

 cessant curiosity and addition to experience not for any practical 

 purpose but merely for love of mental life, to represent an ad- 

 vanced stage toward this tremendous quantity of associations. 

 In man not only this activity and curiosity, but also edu- 

 cation, increases the number of associations. Associations 

 are formed more quickly, and the absence of need for self- 

 support during a long infancy gives time. Associations 

 thus formed work back upon practical life, and by showing 

 better ways decrease the need of work, and so again increase 

 the chance to form associations. The result in the case of a 

 human mind to-day is the possession of a thesaurus of valuable 

 associations, if the time has been wisely spent. The free life 

 of ideas, imitation, all the methods of communication, and the 

 original accomplishments which we may include under the head 

 of invention, make the process of acquisition in many cases quite 

 a different one from the trial and error method of the animals, 

 and in general much shorten it. 



Small as it is, however, the number of associations which 

 an animal may acquire is probably much larger than popularly 

 supposed. 



My cats and dogs did not mix up their acts with the wrong 

 sense-impressions. The chicks that learned the series of twenty- 

 three associations did not find it a task beyond their powers to 

 retain them. Several three-day-old chicks, which I caused to 

 learn ten simple associations in the same day, kept the things 

 apart and on the next morning went through each act at the 

 proper stimulus. In the hands of animal trainers some animals 



