CHAPTER X 



SOME EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 



i. IN the hope of deciding whether animals can learn 

 oy perception of results (as distinct from " imitation " in 

 the usual sense), I made a number of experiments on a 

 variety of animals. I have not been able to cany the 

 experiments as far as I could wish, but they seem to me to 

 be suggestive of certain results both in regard to the special 

 point which I had in view, and in relation to the broader 

 question of the part played by accident and habituation on 

 the one hand, and by the " intelligent " apprehension of 

 means and ends on the other. My experiments were begun 

 with my own dog and cat. They were afterwards, by the 

 courtesyof Messrs. Jennison, 1 extended to several animals in 

 their great collection at the Belle Vue Gardens, Manchester, 

 including monkeys of several species, a young female 

 elephant, and an otter. It seemed to me that interesting 

 analogies and contrasts might be drawn by confronting 

 different animals with the same or similar problems, and 

 so, I think, it turned out. 



I must say a word about the methods used. Of the 

 character of the individual animals, a most important 

 point, I will speak as I come to each. Essentially, each 

 experiment consisted in setting the animal the task of 

 obtaining food by some method presumably strange to it. 

 For example, food was put into a box, which was 

 then shut, and left for the animal to open, or it was 



1 I must particularly thank Mr. George Jennison for many hours of 

 helpful collaboration. 



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