Difficulties and Methods 13 



studied, for there is no doubt that striking differences in 

 mental capacity occur among the individuals of a single 

 species. At the same time that he obtains the confidence 

 of each individual animal, he should be able to hold in 

 check the tendency to humanize it and to take a personal 

 pleasure in its achievements if it be unusually endowed. 

 This is, to say the least, not easy. Absolute indifference 

 to the animals studied, if not so dangerous as doting affec- 

 tion, is yet to be avoided. 



5. Methods of Interpreting Facts 



We may now turn from the problem of discovering the 

 facts about animal behavior to the problem of interpreting 

 them. If an animal behaves in a certain manner, what 

 may we conclude the consciousness accompanying its 

 behavior to be like? As we have seen, the interpretation 

 is often confused with the observation, especially in the 

 making of anecdotes ; but theoretically the two problems 

 are distinct. And at the outset of our discussion of the 

 former, we are obliged to acknowledge that all psychic 

 interpretation of animal behavior must be on the analogy of 

 human experience. We do not know the meaning of 

 such terms as perception, pleasure, fear, anger, visual 

 sensation, etc., except as these processes form a part of 

 the contents of our own minds. Whether we will or no, 

 we must be anthropomorphic in the notions we form of 

 what takes place in the mind of an animal. Accepting 

 this fundamental proposition, the students of animals 

 have yet differed widely in the conclusions they have 

 drawn from it. Some have gone to the extreme of declar- 

 ing that comparative psychology is therefore impossible. 

 Others have joyfully hastened to make animals as human 



