x SOME EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 191 



or tried to claw at the meat directly. About a fortnight after- 

 wards I began a long series of trials in which the string was tied 

 to a chair leg to make it more conspicuous. Sometimes I let 

 Jack pull the food down when the kitten frequently stole it 

 sometimes I pulled it myself. P'ourteen trials gave no result. 

 Next day, eight trials passed without result, but at the ninth, the 

 cat bit slightly at the string close by my fingers as I adjusted it, 

 and as soon as I had got it right, pawed the string down. The 

 biting was doubtless due to the string being slightly smeared with 

 fish, but the effect was apparently to call the cat's attention to 

 the string for the first time in all this long series. It is clear 

 that in pawing it his aim was to get the fish on the table. If he 

 had merely been attracted by the smear on the string, he would 

 have used his mouth. At the next trial, he sat still for a while, 

 and then pawed the string again. At the next, he took to wash- 

 ing himself, and I gave up for a time ; but en replacing the string 

 I saw him watching me, and he pulled it down at once. In the 

 next trial he did the same. Next day he appeared to have for- 

 gotten, but walked under the string and knocked it down with 

 his tail. At the second trial, he slightly brushed against the 

 string, but walked away. I had to rearrange it. He watched 

 me doing so, and pawed it down at once. He then pulled it five 

 times running without hesitation. 



I have described this experiment at length because, 

 putting all the facts together, they seem to show the 

 effect of attention in a very remarkable way. It really 

 seemed that though the string was constantly before its 

 eyes, the cat never took notice of it till the incident of 

 the biting, 1 and from its single success on this occa- 

 sion the trick in spite of one lapse later in the series, 

 and temporary forgetfulness on the following day was 

 substantially learnt. 



The experiment was tried with two other cats. Teufel, 

 a four-year-old half-Persian, belonging to Miss G. Thring, 

 who kindly made several experiments for me, only suc- 

 ceeded after his attention was called to the string by its 



1 It is possible that in the case mentioned in the earlier series the cat 

 did turn its attention once to the string, but as it acted prematurely, and 

 failed to get the food, this would disappoint it, and account for its not 

 attempting the same method again. That the cat should fail to take any 

 note of a string just before its eyes will surprise no one who has watched 

 cats attentively. I have known this same cat seize my ringers instead of 

 a piece of fish which I held out. Cats frequently have great difficulty in 

 finding food that lies just before them on the ground. 



