xii ARTICULATE IDEAS 299 



I do not, any more than Mr. Lloyd Morgan, suppose a 

 dog to know that a chord is shorter than its arc, but 

 neither do I think an association of the idea of the drain 

 with that of the rabbit adequate or even relevant to the 

 case. Why should an " idea of the drain " cause the dog 

 to run to it ? The dog does not want to catch a drain, 

 but a rabbit. What is needed is the idea of the "rabbit at 

 the drain," and that, moreover, as an event that will shortly 

 take place. In fact, as we analyse the idea, it turns into 

 the judgment, " The rabbit will run to the drain " as it 

 did yesterday, and then it becomes an intelligible basis for 

 the clog's action in taking the nearest course. In any case, 

 whether we call it association or judgment, we have to 

 admit that the dog acted, not as he acted before, but with 

 a difference, and this difference is explained if we conceive 

 him as applying the results won from previous experience 

 to present circumstances in subservience to his desire. I 

 do not suppose that the little monkey Jimmy is aware that 

 a straight line is the shortest between any two points. 

 What I imagine is, that he found that if he had something 

 to stand on at a particular point, he could reach the 

 potato ; and he therefore brought things to stand on at 

 that point. 1 



I will add one more dog story, which seems to me to 

 indicate the intelligent use of experience as distinguished 

 from mere association, on the authority of Mr. Lloyd 

 Morgan himself. 



1 Many stories are told by animal psychologists, and referred to 

 association, when the whole point of the story is that the ordinary 

 associations of the act are not present, that is to say, the act is performed 

 under new circumstances, or in a new form, where everything but that 

 which is essential to the purpose is altered. Thus Wundt, who refers 

 everything to association, tells a story of his poodle, which frequently 

 crossed a river with his master, and if left behind, was compelled to swim. 

 The poodle much preferred going dryshod, and on one occasion, after 

 running up and down the bank " whining dismally," he suddenly saw a 

 strange boat pushing off to cross, jumped in, and crossed without wetting 

 himself. In joining the strangers, the dog was of course violating his 

 habits, and if we say that he had an association between boats putting off, 

 and crossing the river, we tend to overlook the central fact, that it is not 

 the idea of crossing the river that he needs, but the idea of getting into 

 the boat. This idea is associated with the presence of his master or his 

 friends, and the event shows that instead of being at the mercy of his 

 associations, he picks out what is essential, and drops the rest. 



