Educability : Methods of Learning 201 



as tests of the dancer's abilities, because it is not accustomed 

 to obtain its food as the result of strenuous and varied activi- 

 ties. There are problems and problems; a condition or 

 situation which presents a problem to one organism may 

 utterly lack interest for an organism of different structure 

 and behavior. What is a problem test in the case of the cat 

 or even of the common mouse, is not necessarily a problem 

 for the dancer. Similarly, in connection with the labyrinth 

 method, it is clear that the value of the test depends upon 

 the desire of the organism to escape from the maze. The 

 cat, the rat, the tortoise do their best to escape ; the dancer 

 is indifferent. Clearly, then, methods of training should be 

 chosen on the basis of a knowledge of the characteristics of 

 the animal whose educability is to be investigated. 



The simplest possible test of the intelligence of the dancer 

 which I could devise was the following. Beside the cage in 

 which the mice were kept I placed a wooden box 26 cm. long, 

 23 cm. wide, and 12 cm. deep. Neither this box nor the 

 cage was covered, for the animals did not attempt to climb 

 out. As a way of passing from one of these boxes to the 

 other I arranged a ladder made of wire fly-screen netting. 

 This ladder was about 8 cm. broad and it extended from the 

 middle of one side of the wooden box upward at an angle 

 of about 30 to the edge of the box and then descended at 

 the same angle into the cage. 



A dancer when taken from the nest-box and placed in the 

 wooden box could return to its cage and thus find warmth, 

 food, and company by climbing the ladder. It was my aim 

 to determine; by means of this apparatus, whether the 

 dancers can learn such a simple way of escape and whether 

 they learn by watching one another. As it turned out, a 

 third value belonged to the tests, in that they were used also 

 to test the influence of putting the mice through the act. 



