x SOME EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 233 



combination or repetition of minor movements. 1 I have 

 already referred once or twice to Jack's efforts with the 

 skewer. Even more remarkable was the combination of 

 efforts by which he pulled the string up through the 

 banisters. We cannot in such a case apply the conception 

 of a perceived object discharging a uniform motor reaction. 

 There is rather a combination of movements which are 

 not always the same except in this, that they are so 

 adjusted as to produce a certain perceptible change in the 

 external world. The string is seized in the place learnt 

 through two or three experiences to be best ; the dog 

 backs, and lets the string run through his teeth without 

 letting go, or perhaps helps himself with his paw ; and 

 finally darts forward for the bucket, all as the needs of 

 the moment dictate. 2 So again in opening the sideboard 

 drawer : Jack not merely pulls, but learns for himself how 

 to get his head into the drawer without shutting it again, 

 altering the method when he once hurts himself, and 

 finding another. So again I have seen him, when standing 

 up to pull open the door of his box by means of a wire, 

 accidentally pushing it with his paws again as he let go. 

 At a second trial he was careful to avoid this, dropping 

 the wire, and pushing his nose in as soon as there was 

 room. Similarly, I have seen the elephant shift the box 

 that she was opening when she had found that in a certain 

 position the door would slam to again before she could 

 get her trunk in. I have mentioned how well she would 

 pull in the rope by successive stages, and in the same way, 

 in an experiment in pulling a stick, which will be referred 



1 This at least is true of his action at its best. It was not always 

 equally decisive, and once at least the cat pulled at the door before the 

 bolt was properly out. 



2 Thinking memory might have exaggerated Jack's performance in 

 this trick I tried it again after writing the above. In the first trial he 

 succeeded with some difficulty by backing, and letting the string run 

 through his teeth as he pulled. At the second he tried another method. 

 Having pulled the string in a little way, he dropped it, and tried by 

 darting forward to catch it further on. In this he was defeated, because 

 the string slipped away more quickly than he could get forward. He 

 then put his paw on the string, holding it while he darted his mouth 

 forward. Repeating this once or twice he succeeded in getting the 

 bucket up on the whole perhaps his most intelligent performance, and 

 in detail quite novel. 



