Difficulties and Methods 9 



two others, and so on until all were ready to march. First 

 walked two ants bearing a body, then two without a burden ; 

 then two others with another dead ant, and so on, until 

 the line was extended to about forty pairs, and the pro- 

 cession now moved slowly onward, followed by an irregular 

 body of about two hundred ants. Occasionally the two 

 laden ants stopped, and laying down the dead ant, it was 

 taken up by the two walking unburdened behind them, 

 and thus, by occasionally relieving each other, they arrived 

 at a sandy spot near the sea." A separate grave was 

 then dug for each dead ant. "Some six or seven of the 

 ants had attempted to run off without performing their 

 share of the task of digging ; these were caught and brought 

 back, when they were at once attacked by the body of 

 ants and killed upon the spot. A single grave was quickly 

 dug and they were all dropped into it." No funeral pro- 

 cession for them! Of this story Romanes says, "The 

 observation seems to have been one about which there 

 could scarcely have been a mistake" (641, p. 91). One 

 is inclined to think it just possible that there was. 



3 . Methods of Obtaining Facts : The Method of Experiment 



Diametrically opposed to the Method of Anecdote and 

 its unscientific character is the Method of Experiment. 

 An experiment, properly conducted, always implies that 

 the conditions are controlled, or at least known ; whereas 

 ignorance of the conditions is, as we have seen, a common 

 feature of anecdote. The experimenter is impartial; he 

 has no desire to bring about any particular result. The 

 teller of an anecdote wishes to prove animal intelligence. 

 The experimenter is willing to report the facts precisely as 

 he observes them, and is in no haste to make them prove 



